Unwelcome Guests

so sorry to have been silent for so long. Jo Jake and i continue to do well and are loving life and the work God has called us to, here in Thabakholo Lesotho.

One night about two weeks ago, marked the end of a lengthy campaign against some uninvited Guests.
Let me explain -
About a week into our new life here in Lesotho Jo opened the door to the longdrop and found a large mouse (possibly rat - mouse sounds more acceptable, even cuddly) sitting on the loo seat. this would explain why viewing wildlife from the toilet seat is possible. It quickly made an exit, not out the door but through a gap in the tin frame of the toilet down into the pit. Jo quickly made her way back to the house and proceeded to tell of the close encounter. If she were anyone else she would have also refused to use the Long drop till the situation was dealt with, but she did not, all she asked was that we could find a way of getting rid of them before they bit our bottoms.
Due to the fact we have a lively young boy who loves exploring, poison was low on our list of options but in the end was what was used.

A few days later it came as a great surprise when we caught a glimpse of another rodent, this time in the house. We did a fair job of chasing it around until it came to rest behind our new wardrobe. At about 2 in the morning we were awakenned by a horrific racket coming from the new home. In the dark it sounded like mighty mouse was devouring his way through the whole chipboard cupboard. An hour of chewing was enough to get me out of bed and set my "humane mouse trap". The chainsaw finally stopped.
It took a full day and a half for me to findout that we had actually caught the little guy.
Brilliant, we were beginning to celebrate.
Not so fast...
Two friend from Clarens then came over for the weekend and helped us on their first day, to despatch daddy and very pregnant mommy mouse.
This was not the end of the story for our two friends either. Both failed to sleep most of the night as friend number one was watching one of the critters dancing up and down the ladder that was propped up against the wall directly below the unfinished ceiling access point. meanwhile friend number two had one doing laps up and down her on her bed ( amazing to say, both havnt been put off and have been back since)

Jo and i had visions of ourselves never having visitors ever again, we thought even our family might disown us. we decided to take drastic measures and worked on sealing up the ceiling till late one monday evening.
with the ceiling sealed we were confident for a peaceful sleep. The instantly recognisable scratching started up at about 2 30. I turned on the head torch to find the sweetest of vermin looking my way. he was perched on the curtain rail having a good go at the ventilation brick trying to get out. Im convinced that we trapped a whole army of them out, but that was not the problem, the problem was this one was left in. my humane trap failed to catch this little houdini three nights in a row. The thing that made me most mad was he always managed to get away with the bait. There was one thing left to do, resort to the trap with teeth. Teeth so sharp and a bite so strong it left me with a dead arm for a week. Dont worry the cause of this wasnt the trap but the tetanus i needed after being overly zealous in preparing it. Night one with the trap installed saw only the bait go off. Night number two put an end to the seige.

We are now 2 weeks on with no sign of any mice in the house, what a blessing. Its amazing what can be used to test our faith (im not joking) and im glad to say we have come through this even though there were some tears involved. Strange how some things so small can shake us. Thank you Lord for your grace to hold on, and thanks to all who prayed.

(We might be getting a cat)