Sunday, January 4, 2015
Breakfast at home with Patrick: egg and cheese on biscuit, water. This morning Patrick reported that a mouse was making rustling noises outside our back door. He had seen it, and this had never before occurred in the sevenish years we have lived here. We surmised that it came from one of two places: (a) Maybe it had come up from a drainpipe. A grate covered the drain, but it was not secured and could easily have been pushed up by the mouse to permit it to leave the drain if it had originated there. After presumably leaving the drain, it would be unable to lift the grate to permit it to return. The other possibility was (b) it arrived from further back in our back yard where there are lots of grass and trees where small animals might live undetected. The path between our back door and the rest of the back yard is a set of concrete steps. Since it's a small mouse, it's possible that it easily came down the stairs, perhaps falling down them, and not knowing that there was no easy way to return and not big enough or strong enough to leap up the stairs it descended. Not knowing exactly what to do, we thought about it and came to no good conclusion. The sounds seemed like paws scratching at the door, which seemed harmless, so no immediate action was taken, and we decided to investigate solutions soon. I walked for 90 minutes to Noriega and back, discovering a 4-month-old donut shop called Twisted Donuts & Coffee where I bought several donuts and received some donut holes for free. I also discovered a place at 16th and Noriega that sells a chinese donut called youtiao. Lunch at home with Patrick: burrito. Dessert: Nutty Monkey (nutella, fresh banana, hazelnut in a raised donut). The other donuts we saved for later: The Bubbly Donut (chocolate champagne frosting on a cake donut), cake donut with rainbow sprinkles with (strawberry?) glaze, cake donut with shredded coconut on chocolate glaze. Patrick and I drove to East Palo Alto to pick up three DROPPAR at Ikea. We then drove to Sunnyvale for Cousins Reunion at Honma House with Akemi, Kiana, Matthew, Jeremy, Lani, Rob, Katie, Nathan, Tina, David, Jessica, David, Claudia, Angel, and Dex. We exchanged secret Santa gifts. (1) Jeremy received a woven bag made from reused materials and inside was a graham crackers box and inside that was chocolate bear wrapped in foil. (2) Lani received a Sure Clip nail clipper with built-in magnifier light [from Tina]. (3) Kiana received a Starbucks mug, a snowman christmas tree ornament, and a Starbucks coffee cozy [from Dex]. (4) Claudia received a large silver night light [from the Honmas]. (5) Angel received a Darth Maul action figure [from the Honmas]. (6) David (of Tina and David) received an iPhone 3GS with assorted accessories [from Frank]. (7) Akemi received a dvd of The Big Lebowski and a four-disc compact disc set of Genesis [from Rob]. (8) Akemi choosing for Rob (who was temporarily absent) received a small plush football [from Angel], an Avengers Rubik's cube [from Jessica and David?], and a bobblehead picture frame in the form of a monkey [from Jessica]. (9) Dex received a Coach gift box containing wooden earrings with intricately carved kangaroos [from Jessica]. (10) Katie received a cookbook called Great Good Food [from Dex]. (11) Matthew received a tauntaun sleeping bag and a very large cardboard box [from Frank]. (12) Nathan received a Harry & David gift box which contained various kinds of candy and a craft flower [from Kiana]. (13) Frank received a box of Deavas Belgian organic fair-trade chocolates [from Tina and David]. (14) David (of Jessica and David) stole the iPhone 3GS and accessories from David (of Tina and David) [given by Frank]. David (of Tina and David) stole Great Good Food from Katie [given by Dex]. Katie selected a new gift: two necklaces, a paper snowflake, a small decorative jewel or rock of some kind, a pedometer, and a castanet [from Akemi]. (15) Tina received an ornamental Chinese scroll [from Claudia]. (16) Jessica received a game called Mille Bournes [from Nathan]. (17) Patrick stole the Starbucks mug, a snowman christmas tree ornament, and a Starbucks coffee cozy from Kiana [given by Dex]. Kiana stole the iPhone 3GS with assorted accessories [given by Frank] from David (of Jessica and David), and she is its final owner. David (of Jessica and David) stole Mille Bournes from Jessica [given by Nathan]. Jessica wanted the iPhone 3GS with assorted accessories but could not steal it because Kiana was its third and final owner according to our game rules. Jessica selected a new gift: a 3-D puzzle of reindeer [from Katie]. (1) Jeremy received a Thermodo thermometer for Android and iPhone [from Frank]. One gift remained: a large box of Lindt chocolates [from Tina and David]. I learned later that Jessica traded the 3-D puzzle with Kiana for a car charger (since she didn't have a car yet). The Honmas hosted a delicious dinner: rice, steamed broccoli, spinach salad, ham, Hawaiian sweet bread rolls, various beverages. Dessert: chocolate cake [I think brought by Tina and David]. Drove home. Upon arrival Patrick and I heard noises from the mouse outside our back door that were different than the noises this morning. As Patrick went to bed, I told him that in the morning I would remove the screen from our window to permit me to crawl outside so that I could deal with the mouse. (We didn't want to open the door because we thought it might run inside.) Late snack: two donuts from Twisted Donut & Coffee: (a) rainbow sprinkles with strawberry glaze on a cake donut, (b) one blueberry donut hole. Both were sinfully delicious. I realized from sounds near the back door that it sounded like the mouse was chewing through wood, which made our mouse problem significantly more pressing than before. I removed the screen from the adjacent window and peeked outside. Indeed, the mouse had chewed or clawed away large holes at the bottoms of both sides of our door frame, presumably seeking an exit of its creation. I realized I had to deal with the mouse before going to bed. I investigated trapping options on the web and came across a lot of different solutions, and several of them gave me an idea. In the garage I had some unused, new, plastic paint buckets. I took one and its lid, smeared butter in its bottom and a little bit on the sides near the bottom, tied a string to the handle, crawled out the window, laid the bucket on its side in the area where the mouse was located, and placed a small bit of cheese inside. Within a few minutes the mouse had emerged from its hiding place behind an outdoor floor mat hanging off the edge of a low wall, and once I saw it enter the bucket, I pulled on the string to turn the bucket upright. Success on the first attempt! I had trapped the mouse, and it was unable to escape the bucket due to the slippery butter. Oddly, it ignored the cheese. I think it would have entered the bucket with no bait; just to explore a new object in its territory. While searching Google for "what to do with a caught mouse" I realized that what I caught is more likely a vole than a mouse. Upon further reading, I identified our vole as a microtus oregoni, aka creeping vole or Oregon vole or Oregon meadow mouse, but Wikipedia says it is found only as far south as Mendocino. I confirmed that the mouse/vole was still in the bucket before going to bed. I did not put the lid on. I still don't know what to do with it now that it has been caught. Very late meal: leftovers. To bed very late.