Dang mice!

 Do you folks have battles with mice? Are there places in the world where mice aren't a major consideration? They sure are around here.

During our last trip to Maine dad sent me home with his pressure washer. It'd sat in his shed for a couple years which is wicked hard on stuff, the mouse presence in his shed is STRONG. So the first thing I did when I got it home was to pull the cover and see what they had wrought.

This kind of nest is typical. It was pretty easy to fix on this thing, the ducting is all plastic so the next didn't stick as badly.

Last fall I took his old lawn tractor up north with me, it's mouse nest was MUCH worse.

It was sort of like a can of snakes as I pulled the tin off, it kept getting bigger and bigger. This infestation was so bad that the starter was completely locked up. I had to take it apart and spray PB Blaster into the bearing and then wiggle it with pliers. Surprisingly it recovered and I've mowed with that machine a couple times this year.

It shouldn't be a big surprise that we have trouble with mice in the grooming machines either. Last winter when I ran the Tucker a big ball of mouse nest poofed out of the heater vent at me. I cut up some old cloth into about 2" squares and soaked it in peppermint oil as a preventative. I've been doing that for a few years in the ASV and haven't had nearly the troubles with it. When I first took over the ASV it stank of mouse, now it smells kind of like the dentist's office. Kind of weird but thats a trade I can handle...