Books, Bedlam, and A Lively Hope

Of Pigs and Pests

10:36, Thursday, March 13, 2008 .. Posted in Small Homemaking .. 1 comments .. Link

I don't know if you can appreciate by this scant photo just how big these pigs are, but trust me, they are huge. These pigs live across the road from us, and are always a subject that comes up when we meet up with other neighbors. The monstrous size of these animals is a suitable topic of conversation around here. It wouldn't surprise me if they have caused one or two vehicles to drive off of the road because the driver got scared at first glance. The first time we saw them, we looked twice, too.

People always ask me if we get much of an odor living so close to a pig farm, and the truth is, only on a still night. A farmer at church who has some pigs always says that if you farm pigs right, there shouldn't be a smell, and I have found that to be fairly accurate. If you want to talk about stench, I lived near a dairy farm for several years and THAT really smelled.

No, the worst thing about a pig farm is the swarm of flies that infest your property and live far too long into the winter. It can be the first week in January and there you are, reaching for a fly swatter, thinking "How is this thing still living?" There comes a time of the year here when almost every move you make is motivated by killing flies, and trying to keep flies out of the house. You tie obscure contraptions filed with nauseating concoctions to trees in hopes that the flies will land in them and drown. You place a moratorium on opening the front door. You worry about the cleanliness of every surface in your kitchen. You put your toothbrushes away. You actually start to save flies that you have swatted to prove to your husband that yes, they can grow to the size of quarters.

So, short of filling my garden with venus fly-traps, I'll be open to suggestions on fly management as the weather warms up. But for right now, we are experiencing a few mice wandering back after a long absence. They seem to love getting into the large storage drawer under the oven and rattling the cookie sheets in there. In fact, it woke me up last night. Yuck!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep mice from getting into that handy storage drawer under the oven?

Leave a Comment

My goodness, I thought it was a cow!

08:14, Thursday, March 13, 2008 .. Posted by AprilinRI
I wish I could offer some useful advice, but I suspect citronella candles may not be up to the task!
I have had success blocking mice in general by carefully hunting every opening in my little apartment and wedging a hunk of steel wool into this hole. I found small cracks between the wall and the floor in a hall closet and bedroom. After identifying and blocking these holes, my little mouse could not seem to find his way to my kitchen!

Blessings,
April

***Thanks, April. Part of the problem with the mice is that we are renovating and not very weather-tight. We have holes everywhere! It's just that one drawer that really gets me because of our baking dishes in there. Anyway, about the pigs, we thought they were cows for a minute TOO!****

Edited by Mennobrarian on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 08:21

{ Last Page } { Page 20 of 74 } { Next Page }

About Me

Links

Cleaning Recipes
A Handy Guide to Food Shelf Life

$HB\'s avatar$

Books, Bedlam, and A Lively Hope

Of Pigs and Pests

My goodness, I thought it was a cow!

About Me

Links

Categories

Recent Entries

Friends