Rubber Over Feed?

The activities of today has been quite interesting and definitely not a day I would ever expect to have...and it is only 2 pm. I can only image what is to come.  Let me back up...

We purchased our home 5 years ago. It is property situated in front of a sheep pasture. We loved the fact that we could look out the back windows and see the sheep grazing in the warm sun on a crisp spring day. It is awesome (really...I am in awe) when the sheep give birth to lambs, and the babes frolic in the tall grass with each other. They way they pounce and play is so darn cute! What we didn't realize (and didn't love) is that sheep, and other farm animals for that matter, come with friends. One, off the top of my head, goes by the name of Mickey. Oh yes, and there's Mickey's girlfriend, Miney. (so the fact that I have small children is evident once again; I suppose you aught to get used to that! haha!) Yes, I'm speaking of mice! We periodically have seen or heard one in our kitchen cupboard over the years. We set a trap, catch it and that was that. We had this problem under control, no big deal. Then, we decided to keep chickens. Oh, our beloved chickens...who wanted them anyways. Oh, wait. That was me. ALL ME! Scratch that last part. Anywhoo, our coop is out in the far corner of the yard behind the detached garage. Although the garage is a hike away from the house, we still use it as if it was attached. The cars go in there, the bikes, outside toys, tools, you know, garage stuff. Slowly, but surely, we have started hearing mice in the garage. Not that big of a deal since the garage is not connected to the house; we set some traps and caught some mice. I made a point to be much neater with the chicken food storage and I even brought home barn cats to help with this problem. James just loved that! He was at work, came home and we had not one, but two cats! Did I mention James hates cats? Oops.....  

That pretty much brings me to today. I had planned my day to run errands this morning; Logan needed some new sneakers and I needed to get some grocery shopping done. I round up the kids and we head out to our minvan. We purchased the van last August and I love it. It was brand new then, a Town-n-Country. This is what I find.....     

A dang mouse got into my vehicle, ate my cupholder and shreaded the papertowels! What the heck!?!?!? First off, why would a mouse want to be in there eating a rubber cup holder when there is yummy chicken food 20 feet away? And how in the world did it get in anyways? A better question....is it still in there? Am I going to see it run across the floor when I am traveling 55 mph down the county road?

Hopefully this will take care of the problem!

A day in the life of me, on Dew Thyme Family Farm. I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Day 2: And the Saga Continues

It official, the mouse IS living in the minivan. Which means I drove all over yesterday with a mouse on board! EEKKKK!!!  This is how I know he is there.....

The trap when off but no caught mouse

Do you notice anything different between the first picture of the trap and this one besides the absence of bait? How about that the dang mouse not only is breaking my car, but now my mouse trap!!! The metal part where to bait goes is gone!

THE WAR IS ON LITTLE MOUSEY! THE WAR IS ON!

Day 123,456 or so it seems

This just keeps getting worse! I am in total shock! Okay, back up.......

For the last few days, I have had mouse traps in the front and back of the van with no hits. I also haven't found anything else chewed up or out of place. I'm thinking my little friend has decided to terrorize someone else's vehicle. So I decide that today I am going to clean the car, I mean really clean it, so it looks like it is brand new. Give any mouse absolutely no reason to want to be in there. Not that the car is that dirty anyways, but I was going to detail it! So, I get started, vacuuming away. I start at the driver's seat and work my way around. La dee da....it's a beautiful day......sun is shining....I'm cleaning the car....life is good.... I get to the back and this is what I see:

 Don't see anything wrong? How about a close up....

The mouse ate right through the side panel of the van! The hard plastic wall!! What the heck!?!??!?!?! This is just getting crazy now!!!  He better have eaten his way out of the van because if I catch him........!!!