Mice.
I have issues with them.
I am a fairly independent strong woman, but when it comes to mice, well, not so much.
Why am i thinking about this right now?
Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time there was a little family. There was the daddy, the momma, and two little girls. They lived in the middle of a city surrounded by people and the occasional squirrel or jay that would visit their tiny backyard. A good friend taught the momma that the little black seed shaped 'things' in the double jogger were in fact mouse poops. Lesson number one for the momma: keep the stroller in the house, not the garage. Mouse poop problem solved. After 4 years, they moved to a beautiful camp in the redwoods. They lived in several different homes under the canopy of trees: a room, a yurt, and then a triple wide trailer. Lesson number two for the momma: always appreciate the roof over your head. Awning, tent, or shingled, any roof works and home is truly where the heart is. They were happy with their little triple wide trailer. After a few months, they found out there were going to have another baby. The momma has heightened senses during her pregnancies. She could smell things no one else could, she could hear things no one else could, she felt things much stronger than anyone else in the family. As most mommas know, there is a nesting period during pregnancy. When spring sprung, this momma wanted her nest prepared for the new baby growing inside her. Just like the critters of the forest, she was preparing her home. Several families of mice found her home to be a lovely place to prepare their own nests. The old triple wide had a welcome sign on it's heating system under the house for the little critters. This family of four would watch mommy and daddy mice run through their home preparing, building, storing. They were clever mice. They would jump over traps or scurry around them. They were not afraid of humans either. It was like nothing the family had ever experienced before. One night a mouse jumped up and bit the daddy on the hand. It had gotten out of control. Seeds were found in the beds, the toys, the drawers. Mice were everywhere. Lesson number three: block the source of entrance before things get out of hand. At the end of the momma's pregnancy, her crazy nesting hormones had taken over, she couldn't take it anymore. She ducked taped all the vents and cleaned everywhere, everything. The family defeated the mice and the momma was able to nest the way she needed. After living a year mouse free, the family of now five, moved again, into a different house. Not a yurt or triple wide, but an actual house. However, this house had a mouse problem. They would scurry all over. They were hording dog food in the dishwasher, in the fire place, in shoes, the sofa from the previous dwellers. Lesson number four: open pet food bowls are just asking for a mouse problem. Once that was discovered, the family was able to rid yet another house of mice. Every year, a few times throughout it, the family has a little rodent, or two, try to come in and make itself comfortable. Every year the momma freaks out a bit. Lesson number five, for the husband, deal with the freaking out and don't say "we live in the forest we are going to have mice", it doesn't help. She remembers her home being infested, the need to tidy and clean and being overtaken by sick little poopers who carry disease and germs, who would likely run over her baby and sleep with her big girls. She remembers watching their shadows with her sensitive eyes run over the shoes in the bedroom closet as she lay in bed trying to sleep, awakened by tiny little squeaks. Now she looks at the mouse trap every day as she walks out the kitchen door into the garage. Looking to see if a mouse has been caught before trying to enter her home, her nest. This morning the trap was empty, this evening the trap was gone.

I have a mouse issue. I was traumatized during my sensitive hormonal state. They come when i am not prepared. They come when i am feeling comfortable or when my husband is out of town. They come when i talk about them. I should have knocked on wood this afternoon at that birthday party when we started talking about worms, snakes, mice and spiders. I was too comfortable. I don't want to find the trap. I am hoping that someone else needed the trap, came into our garage and 'borrowed' it. but i am afraid that i will find it under the car or accidentally step on a struggling or dead rodent not paying attention when i am putting the bikes on the car. My imagination creates what that would feel like on my foot. I think it would feel like what it felt like stepping on my cats hairball one early morning as i walked out of my bedroom barefoot in high school, still waking up, not a good way to wake up. I have a mouse issue. Why me?

It could be worse you say. Yes. I know. There is always something worse. There is always something better. We all have issues. This is just one of mine. I know i have more lessons to learn.