A mouse in the house!

As you may or may not know, we live out on a farm out in East Gippsland, Victoria.  Over the last week or so we have had heaps of rain - no flooding thank goodness - but definitely a lot of rain.  One of the common problems we deal with living out on a property is rats and mice.  Normally they stick to the machinery and hay sheds - but with the season we have had they have multiplied so much and they just seem to be everywhere.  It is not uncommon for the dogs to leave me 'presents' of the odd dead rat, mouse or hare near the clothesline. 

Well, on Tuesday morning I opened the door to the laundry to let our cat out (she sleeps in there at night) and she presented me with a 'present' of a lovely (dead - thank goodness) mouse.  I was extremely proud of her - as this is the first mouse she has caught (and she is only 6 months old) - and then also a little worried as she had obviously caught it during the night INSIDE the house in the laundry.   I can only imagine that it was trying to get out of the rain and find a nice dry spot to live and it somehow squeezed under the outside laundry door.  I looked around but found none of it's friends or relatives and so left it at that. 

I did not expect, however, to open the case on my sewing machine this morning, and open the compartment that holds the sewing tools, sewing machine feet etc and find that THAT was where the mouse had been living!  How dare it!  I could not believe my eyes.  I was - and still am, very upset that the little mouse had camped out IN MY SEWING MACHINE!   I had only put the machine on the floor in the laundry on Sunday when I was cleaning up as we were having friends over for tea.  Normally it lives on my dining room table.  So in two days a mouse had set up camp there - I couldn't believe it!  I haven't done any sewing all week - so today was the first chance I had to take the machine out.  I have just finished cleaning and disinfecting now.  Thank goodness we have a cat and that she caught this mouse before it did any more damage or got into the rest of the house.  So a big cheer for our cat Mittens!

Well done and keep up the great work!  And here's a warning to any other mice - stay clear of my house and especially my sewing machine - there is a cat on patrol! 
Jody