Mouse Onslaught. Again. Still.

The mice laugh in the face of my attempts to block them from getting into the house. Ultimately, what it will take to stop them from coming in entirely is taking the vinyl siding off of the house, and plugging up every tiny gap along the foundation -- a project that is at least a few years away. New kitchen cabinets/counters would help but that's not happening immediately either. For now, we will just have to keep doing what we're doing: keep the kitchen spotless to not give them a reason to hang around, and keep the kitchen door closed at night to keep them from exploring the rest of the house.

I suspect the reason it's so much worse this year than in years past is because they seem to be taking up residence in the concrete block wall on the north side of the yard. Judging from Pickles' behavior, they've been nesting in the back part of the wall for a few months. Over the past week or so, they seem to have moved closer to the houses. When Pickles goes out, she stops at the bottom of the stairs to power-suction-sniff all the tiny cracks in the mortar at the base of the wall and bark (which sets off the dogs in the house next door -- sorry, neighbors!). She somehow scratched her lip doing this:

(the pink dewdrop shape right under her nose)

That wall is in a slow state of collapse -- plenty of nice little holes for mice to live in. We're supposed to get some very heavy rain this winter, so we've been talking to the neighbors about replacing the wall before that starts. I feel bad for whoever takes the wall down and sets a thousand mice loose.

In other news, I have started the bamboo leaves on the mural, but it's hard to see the progress in the photo. If it's dry this weekend, I'll get some more work done & post a photo then.

I also have felt inspired to finally tackle the last remaining pink trim in the house:

It's in the bedroom, which has the most doors (ugh) and the most big furniture to move (ugh), so I've been putting it off for the past three years. I'm excited to be tackling it, & finally being rid of the hideous color!