Last year, we had a lawn service cutting our grass, but this year I decided to do it on my own. On Sunday, I took out the lawn tractor for the season’s first cut. I put the fuel in and started to turn the key, but nothing happened. I realised that the battery was dead. Opened up the hood to take it out and saw some movement under a grille over the big fan on top of the engine. There was a bunch of cotton stuffed in there and a small furry face with big black eye looking at me. As I rattled the grille, that mouse scurried around inside and she has 4 babies suckling on her. Mom ran away while I unscrewed the grille leaving all those little babies behind. I couldn’t just kill them, so left them out on the driveway and went inside the house. When I came back after 10 minutes, the babies were gone. Either their mom carried them away or some birds had a yummy snack.

I was so glad that the battery had died. Can’t imagine how messy it would have been if the engine turned over and started. And cleaning up all those mashed mice… urgh!

I was looking around the garage for some more gardening stuff and discovered another nest in the wheelbarrow. This time, I just picked up those babies and chucked them in the woods. I don’t think they survived the fall. If I find any more mouse nests in the garage, I am going to turn into a cold-hearted killer and reach for a hammer to smash their skulls. I remember when we were kids, my brother and I used to have a competition for killing mice. Next time when he comes to visit, we should have another round. :)

One thing I must do other than putting some mouse traps around the house is install some shelves in the garage and clean up all the crap that is lying around. Should get a shed built in the backyard as well.