Rear view of the barn where the goats are happily eating hay just next door and the mice are hiding.

Living with the Wildlife

Our Ford F-150 gets a lot of use during the growing season, but when it is idle, it is parked in a dry spot by our goat barn.

Last summer we noticed an odor inside the cab; a faint odor of manure.  We checked our shoes, nothing.  As the odor persisted we looked further, under and behind seats, in the engine… and found nothing.

This spring the smell was unbearable. We felt as if we were in a zoo with the elephants.  We took the truck to a detail shop and it came back squeaky clean, but it still smelled.  What was it?

In to the mechanic.  A faint smirk on the attendants face.  They knew!  “Happens all the time”.  They opened up the hood, took off the covers to the blower motor and the firewall and inside were two beady eyes looking out at them!  Johnny Town Mouse had moved to the Country.  He had found a great warm and dry spot to build his nest.  And right next door was a terrific source of bedding – a goat barn.   Thousand of uninterrupted trips back and forth with manure and he packed the spots for his nest.  Then he called all of his relations and they moved in.

$800.00 later we had our truck back, clean and mouse free. The mechanics had to remove the dashboard, replace the filters and clean out all of the manure.

Now Johnny lives back in the City again. We still can smell a faint remembrance of mice past.