A mouse has decided that it really, really wants to move into our house. It’s made at least three attempts already. (Or is it four? I’m losing count.)

The first time Eric saw it when it was nosing around the French doors. We shooed it away. The other times it’s come all the way inside, and suddenly one of us humans has noticed small movement on the floor. We’ve managed to chase it out each time, until now.

Initially we hoped that scaring it away once would be enough. It wasn’t. After the mouse came, inside we googled a bit. The internet said to spray peppermint oil. We did that; it had no effect, other than making parts of the house smell like a dentist’s practice. We’ll try the ultrasonic thingies next, even though they’re reported to not have much of an effect. It’s either that, or give up on prevention and start trapping instead. Because living with closed doors all summer is not going to happen.

Oh, and I guess I’ll be more welcoming to all the neighbourhood cats who wander around here. I’ve generally been shooing those out of the house as well, not wanting them to make themselves too much at home here and start scratching our sofas. But I guess I’ll let them be from now on, as long as they behave.

On the positive side, the mouse’s presence has been really obvious, so it’s unlikely that it or its cousins have been spending time here before today.