The Mouse Was Still On The Loose

We got up around our normal time and there was solid overcast with light rain. The mouse traps were empty (no mice), but the cheese had been taken out of one of the traps. The cheese must not have been too appealing because the mouse left it next to the trap. I had my usual breakfast then started to work up a blog entry. The Verizon Wireless National Access signal was really slow and intermittent this morning. J turned on her AirPort, and discovered an open network for a hotel in Torrey! I turned on my AirPort too, and while I could get enough signal to connect to the Wi-Fi network, the connection was way too slow. J used her Hawking Wi-Fi antenna to get a better signal, and she was able to work with it. I went back to using my USB727 stick with the slow National Access signal and finished the blog entry. I did some computer work before having ...

Lunch around 12:30. I did some more computer work, then left in the Jeep by myself around 1:45.

I went to the Chuckwagon General Store in Torrey to buy some mouse size glue traps. I had seen them next to the regular spring traps yesterday, but didn't really want to capture a mouse on one that would then probably poo and pee all over the place until we were able to remove the mouse and the trap. However, after the regular spring traps didn't work last night, we both thought a second line of attack was warranted.

I went to a hotel parking lot in Torrey to use their free Wi-Fi, and the signal was much faster today than before. I quickly uploaded the remainder of my images to my stock agent and also did some other things online.

I returned to the RV around 3:35 and did some more computer work. We turned on the generator around 4:15 for an hour and a half to charge our house batteries, and I processed some images for a stock submission from our stay in Death Valley National Park, California, in December 2008 (left). Then I did some computer work.

We had dinner around 6:15 of leftover pork chops for me and leftover chili for J.

Caught The Mouse

I prepared a cardboard box to put the mouse and glue trap in in case we caught it in the night so we could toss it outside until we could dispose of it in the morning. Well, as soon as I finished taping up the box, and while I was washing my hands, J saw the mouse jump up out of the corner of our office and then I saw it run behind me along the hallway and into the kitchen. When I looked around the corner, it was stuck on the glue trap we had placed at the gap of the slide by the kitchen sink — bingo!! We picked up the mouse and trap with some tongs, then took it outside and disposed of it. It was so nice to have gotten that bugger out of the RV! It was a Deer Mouse, the primary reservoir species for hantavirus — oh joy!

I did some computer work and we turned on the generator for an hour to make up for the solar-electric power we didn't get today. I showed J some mounting brackets and power cords that I had found on eBay for our new Garmin nüvi 765t GPS so we could have one in each vehicle, and she thought the $42 price tag was steep and suggested that we might as well just buy another GPS. I checked eBay, and some used Garmin nüvi 765t GPS units are ending soon, and one is dirt cheap — J was right!