Wake Up…I feel something jabbing my ribs and the words…WAKE UP, whispered loudly. Wait, what? My wife whispers louder and tells me she hears “something” downstairs! I groggily get out of bed and as she motions for me to “get a move on”, I listen and realize she is right, something IS moving around downstairs. I nod and whisper, “I hope I did not leave the sliding doors ajar”. Slowly leaving the bedroom, I say, “Maybe I should take a stick or something” to which my wife replies, “Whatever…you need to, “Man Up”and get down there and take care of the intruder in my kitchen!” Now, I have to tell you, a challenge like that is pretty harsh especially coming from a West Texas girl. Rolling my eyes (luckily this was in the dark) I tell her that it’s probably some animal from the valley behind our home but I don’t want to startle a raccoon with nothing but a look of concern on my face.
Taking a broom from the upstairs closet, I make my way downstairs and warily approach the kitchen noting that the sliding doors to the deck are secured. Standing at the entrance to the kitchen, I hear the sound of cook ware moving about in a corner cabinet. I ease the door open and shove the broom handle into the space wildly flailing it within the cabinet and hear some tiny feet scurrying away. I shout upstairs that “the coast is clear and it was just a mouse”. To which my wife replies, “A mouse? Well, kill it, I do NOT want any critters wandering about our home.” Yeah, she actually said, “critters”. As I return to bed my wife tells me to call Lawrence Benford, our friend who owns and operates Blue Light Exterminators a local pest control business that has been servicing many of my clients throughout Austin for years!
We have lived on a beautiful valley in our Lost Creek Neighborhood since 1992 and have seen a veritable Noah’s Ark of “critters” making their way across our back yard but we have NEVER had a mouse! The following day (ignoring my wife’s suggestion) I purchased an assortment of mouse traps from a big box store and set them around the house with all the confidence guaranteed on the packages of each trap. Two days later we hear the sound of scurrying feet in the ceiling and I realize (as my wife is adamantly pointing it out) that the guaranteed traps are NOT working. So…back to the store for several more including a particularly promising one that is supposed to “shock” the rodents.
Arriving from my second trip to the store, I happily spread the new traps about thinking that the pestilence in our home would soon be coming to an end.That very evening my son motions to me that he hears a noise in the pantry. I grab a broom and tell him to open the door and as he does a tiny field mouse rushes out causing my son (the rough & tumble football running back, Rugby Player) to leap in the air and let out a cry of distress. Swinging wildly I miss and the critter escapes beneath the stove and to parts unknown. We both look at each other incredulously and I immediately start in on him for his reaction! At that point my wife walks in and announces that we are “not much help when it comes to defending our home from unwanted intruders”. As we stare at her open mouthed, she walks to the phone and calls Lawrence Benford while laughingly deriding our skills as hunters and protectors of the cave =0
Okay, you know where this is going. Lawrence showed up promptly and as we walked around the house announced to me that with the colder weather we have had this year it has been quite common for assorted rodents to try and “move in” to more comfortable and well stocked quarters.Austin is evidently going through something of an invasion of sorts at every type of property from mansions to condos to commercial spaces feeling the onslaught of the aggressive rodents! As we walked around our home, Lawrence pointed out some tiny worn spots in the little bit of siding we have on the back of our home that was an avenue where a mouse could gain entry. After scouting the area he filled any spots that could be used and set out some traps of his own. Long story short, mice gone and have not returned and all at a cost LESS than the amount of money I spent on all those traps!. So, if you have any sort of “pest” problems,I highly recommend calling Blue Light Exterminators. If you are not in the Austin area, call a LOCAL pest control business and stay with a company in your town!
Related posts:
