#oh yeah tldr i was homeless for a while for about three months in 2015.

[aethernightmare]

So yesterday I stumbled across two small mice in the basement. Which, while cute, prompted a whole deep clean because we can't be having mice living in our pantry.

Unfortunately they did destroy some of my stuff, including a blanket that was made for me from scratch, as well as a few other irreplaceable memorabilia. (Dudes, why were you in my section where there's not even any food?? When my mom has a whole section of cheap/broken holiday crap?? The unfairness is unreal.)

But the more concerning thing is that despite sorting, reorganizing, and cleaning behind everything, we didn't find any more mice. This is a young mouse, and with the way they ruined some of my fabrics, they were likely born around here. But we couldn't find a nest (or parents) beyond that. And we don't have any clues as to where they came in.

Though it did give me the opportunity to sort through some other (non-affected) stuff and get it donated. Though I did let go a few things with sentimental value in the upset/overstimulated heat of the moment. Which hurts in hindsight. Both because I'm tired of losing things lost friends gave me, but also because I hate that it serves as a reminder that I don't have a full life of my own at the moment. It's crammed into someone else's basement with enough clutter that it was enticing to a family of field mice to take up residence. And that makes me sad. This stuff should be on bookshelves or draped where I can appreciate them. Not rotting down here. But that feels like my whole life at this point, really. It could survive literal homelessness, but not here.

I ended up letting the little guys go outside under some wild grape and berry vines, where they'd have adequate natural food and shelter as field mice. But I can't really do much beyond that. I'm not currently in a position to keep them or raise them until they're full-grown.

And, though I am loathe to admit it, since I live in a farming area, and have to grow some of my own food, mice are still technically pests. I like to be as harmonious with nature as I can, but also can't have them eating my livelihood. So escorting them out is the kindest option available to me.

So it's clean for now, and I have some of said salvageable stuff put into more secure totes. But now we'll just have to monitor the basement (and rest of the house) more closely. See if we can identify how they got in to begin with, so we can seal it back off. Because these mice were too young to have gotten in by themselves.

I know we've really needed to repair the house siding for a while now, but they didn't have any available bookings all year (due to pandemic backup), and I just hope the whole house framework isn't deteriorating or something. And there was too much evidence (shredded fabric, poop, pee stains, sunflower seed shells??) for them to have newly stumbled in. Also sunflowers aren't stored in the basement, so must have also been brought from outside.