If you can't beat 'em....

Can I tell you something you might not know about old houses?
It's not something people talk about. You might say that it's a dirty little secret.
I'm talking about critters.
Where the Wild Things are.
Sharing your house.

In our house, we don't have a problem with insects, except the occasional ant. All of the wood is dry and solid. I'd like to see something try to gnaw through the chestnut posts or beams that frame the house. They are solid as a rock and difficult to even nail or screw into.

We have had more than our share of the four-legged and winged type of critter. We are always stopping up holes and slots and tunnels, whenever we find one of the seemingly endless ways they manage to get in. Of course, having a rubble foundation just about guarantees that this is a constant problem. I would talk about what a big help our cats are here...but they aren't. Mostly the cats just bring the mice up into the house to show us what big hunters they are. Picture walking into a room to find your two-year-old swinging a dead and bloody mouse by the tail, while the two cats look on envy... or approval... or something.

We have had an attic full of bats, and a chipmunk (brought up from the basement by my buddies, the cats, who then abandoned me) so fast and elusive that I had to call the fire department (my brother, Rich) for help. We've gotten to be good customers for a couple of the animal control guys around here. I do count us lucky, though, because I hear that in some of the old houses around here, people used to find snakes quite often. I don't mind snakes so much, so long as they're living somewhere else.

I have noticed a drop in the mice population in the last few years, maybe because there are more red-tailed hawks, or stray cats, or even the occasional owl. As the cold weather moves in, some bigger critters start to show up. Thankfully, they can't get into the main basement, but mostly set up a den under an old porch. Last year, it was the Woodchuck, who munched his way through the potted vegetables during the summer. I hope he enjoyed the jalapenos and habaneros I grow. Last fall, he deflowered fifty dollars worth of mums in a single night, leaving one of them with a mohawk because he couldn't reach all they way. I have to say, he was pretty darn cute. I was almost disappointed when he didn't show up this year.

After many years, we are slowly winning the battle, with Mother Nature's help. We are planning to tear down that old porch soon, but meanwhile, we keep filling up the critter holes with stones and gravel to keep them out. This year, I decorated my pots with dried perennials and other cuttings from the woods.
While I was out cutting the perennials, I noticed that a new hole has been dug under the porch. Now I have to go find the pest guy's number.