I may have mentioned: while my wife (and kids) are away, it's my duty to water the seeds Kate started in the basement.  The basement is cold and dark, neither of which I'm fond of when I'm cold and tired.  Never-the-less, that's where the seeds are and sooner or later they will need attention.  My first foray to water the seeds ended satisfactorily as the plastic wrap that covered them seemed also to keep them damp.  Another trip or two later would reveal the soil to be drying up and in need of some water.  I'm using a cheap, plastic (duh, I said it was cheap!) spray bottle.  I would carefully pull off the plastic wrap and thoroughly water the five flats of seeds down there. After a couple of days, literally, of this treatment, seeds started sprouting!

This was a pleasant surprise!  I'm not sure why this was a surprise but it's always nice to see your efforts rewarded.  Now that the seeds were up, I removed the plastic permanently and vigorously watered the flats.  I continued to water on a more regular basis, at least once a day.  I'd venture down into the darkness, which was sometimes illuminated by the timed fluorescent lights above the seeds, and sometimes only the fire of the furnace was visible before flicking on the various light switches.  Always eager to accompany, and almost always happy for the company, my dog Rascal would follow me down the winding steps littered with things we may someday use. 

A puppy, and a curious pooch by nature, Rascal was sniffing around the basement, and was particularly interested by the seeds.  More so than usual.  That's about the time I noticed one entire flat was failing to produce much of anything.  And, upon closer inspection, there seemed to be holes dug in the soil.  Were those there before?

They weren't there before.  More of them appeared in the days that followed.  There were no other signs of a mouse present.  No foreign particles, no scampering in the walls, no screaming family members, nothing.

Now, I'm not big on killing animals of any kind.  I save spiders, snapping turtles (they're very ungrateful by the way), opossums, and large, 5 foot black snakes that have found themselves stuck in chicken netting in your chicken house.  But those are rare, especially when you no longer have chickens.  But this little fella has got to go!  I placed one trap, with peanut butter, right down beside the seeds.  I wasn't even sure there was a mouse yet, but if there was, this new item on the buffet would surely tempt it.  And it did.  The next morning, the peanut butter was gone, and the trap had not sprung. 

Despite the lack of signs, I now knew there was a shmouse in the house.  I'm a believer.  Round two involved a nice chunk of Feta cheese wedged in the trap.  Next morning?  Same scene.  Nothing but the unsprung trap.  At least it's eating healthy.  Third time around I placed the Feta all over the trap.  This time when I came home from work?  Most of the cheese was gone, and the trap was not sprung.  As of 11:21pm, there has been no mouse sighting or...well, you know. 

Now I'm off to water the seeds and collect the sap in the very cold night air.