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Never thought I would wage war against cute rodents, but that's exactly what's happening. Oh god. She's so cheeky. Poop is raining from the ceiling, hantavirus is looming, and dormice are literally dropping out of my roof. Oh god, buddy. And I don't think I've ever said the word poop as much in my life ever as I did in this one video. So much mouse here. It's awful. I guess this is the reality of living in the woods. We have a bit of a problem. So, last night, I was laying here in bed.
I was reading my book. I had my head on my pillow, right there. And I felt something fall on my head. And I was like, "Ooh, weird. What's that?" And I looked, and it was a mouse dropping. Yeah. Yeah, there's mice, dormice, that live up there in the ceiling. And I do not know who is more annoyed about this situation, me or Vilk. To him, they're intruders, and he does not like sharing his space with them. But, since he's not a cat, he can't actually get rid of them. They could not have picked a better spot. They live right above my head, right above my bed, right there. And they're literally pooping on my head as I'm sleeping.
It really makes me think of that Office episode where Angela's like, "There's poop raining down from the ceiling. Poop." I finally know what she means. Yeah, there's literally There's actual literal mouse dropping down on my head while I'm sleeping. Not fun. And you can see It's just It's everywhere. Look. There. There. And I'm scared to touch it now. That's a pretty big mouse infestation. I mean, I can hear them rummaging around and running around.
There's like a whole family of mice up there in the ceiling. I just don't think I can sleep there while they're there. I'm a little bit worried about catching some disease. Maybe you want to sleep outside tonight? Want to sleep outside? Yeah? You want to go place outside? The cabin is mega cozy. Yes, it is. But until I find a solution to this freaking mouse problem, I think I'm going to have to sleep outside. You can probably relate to the sentiment of not wanting to sleep in a bed of mouse poop. And while sleeping in the grass is fun, it's also not exactly a long-term solution.
You know, no complaints. I love sleeping outside. This is actually pretty great. But I am a little concerned about those mice. I just hope that I can find a way to get rid of them. [snorts] In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy the great outdoors. Why not? At this point, you might be wondering, why doesn't she just put up her tent? And that is a very valid question. The reason why I'm not putting up my tent is because I'm thinking about upgrading the tent to something a little bit more comfortable and a little bit bigger. And I and basically that just means that I can't be bothered to put up the old one. Which
is not very smart, I guess. I should just put up the old tent while I'm waiting for the upgrade. But I'm too lazy. And honestly, sleeping outdoors in the grass on my own meadow sounds great. You excited to sleep outside? You excited? Yeah, you excited? You want to sleep outside? Good boy. One of the best things about buying a very raw, wild piece of land in the mountains as an adult is that you get to feel like a scout, like a little camper every day. And you can do things like this. Like this is allowed. You are allowed to go outside and sleep in the grass. I feel like this is a pretty great use of free will. Mhm.
Yep. Well, that did not go according to plan. Let me just say that I did not wake up in the meadow. I woke up in the car. [snorts] And that's because sleeping outside is a great idea. I loved being out there in the meadow. But it is not a good idea if you have a dog. Hello, I'm talking about you. If you have a dog who is so has such strong guarding instincts and he's so psychotic. Yeah? I'm talking about you still. So psychotic that he barks at any little sound, any little noise. Any animals walking past, yeah, in the forest, he starts barking. And that basically tells me that today I need to make a decision.
[snorts] A, start acting on those mice immediately to get them out. Or B, put up the tent. So, this is where they live. Right there. On that level. Behind those wooden planks. So, that's where I need to get in to get them out. I've got a plan. So, I got these um essential oils. And apparently they don't like strong smells, especially like rosemary and peppermint. Don't have peppermint, but I do have rosemary. And lavender. I think that could work. But before I put the fancy smells in there, I need to find a way to get in there.
May not be the best tool for this, but it is a tool. And I feel like I might just be able to remove one of these in order to get in there. Uh! Okay. Oop. You're not a fan, hey? I'm not a fan either, trust me. Good boy, buddy. You want to do a protec? Are you a cat? You're just a little kitten. Milk is not a fan of the mice either. Whenever he spots one inside like up in the ceiling but inside the cabin,
he goes a little mental. I think we both feel the same way about them. We just don't want them to be living right above our heads. I think you're going to be like the mom here. Are you just playing with me right now? Or what? She's so cheeky. Oh my god, she's trying to get the shoe away. Look at her. You little Ah! Oh god. I know Vilkas coming. Ah! Oh god, buddy. Oh my god. Oop. There's no tail. I can see her.
The essential oils are in, so that's a part of my solution. I've also just ordered one of those like ultrasonic rodent repellents. So, that should hopefully arrive tomorrow. So, I can install that and see if it works. But in the meantime, just so I can actually get a good night of sleep and not worry about getting the hantavirus, I'm just going to put this up on the ceiling. I'm just going to staple this to the ceiling, so it's a barrier between the mice and me. Um so, I don't get pooped on. Simple as that. One of the problems with dormice is that unlike humans, they are nocturnal animals. And that means that they start basically partying and running around and sprinting around at
night, which makes it very hard for me to get to sleep. They're so loud. Oh, I think it works. Oh, yes. This is a very special method. It takes a very special skill to do this. Um I feel like I should patent this method of co-living with mice. There we go. Yep. I just hope that they don't make this into a home. Imagine that. That would be so freaking annoying.
Hello. Oh, no. I've run out of staples. Oh, that. I'm not letting them win. No staples, no problem. Screws will do just fine. Okay, my felt poop umbrella / felt poop catcher is ready. Not exactly a masterpiece, but I feel like it's pretty functional. Unfortunately, this felt panel is going to have to go as well because it is just like along the edge there, it's just filled with poop by now. And I'm sleeping here, which, you know, basically means that if I sleep here and
there's poop next to me, that's also not good. Um so, we're going to have to get rid of it. Oh god, there's so much mouse here. It's awful. You know, the craziest thing is that I feel like they just moved in as I moved in because when I came to the cabin a few days ago for the first time, there really wasn't that much mouse droppings around. It's only like 2 days after I moved in that I started to notice the problem. If they'd been here for a long time, I feel like there would have been a lot there would have been like a mountain of mouse droppings here and there really wasn't.
So, we must have moved in at the same time. I think now it's just survival of the fittest or maybe the most stubborn. Who's going to want to stay here more? Them or us? Update time. It's been a few days. I have tried various methods. These essential oils that I put on cotton swabs and tissues up there in the ceiling. I even bought these like hair [snorts] balls with like the hair of cats or dogs and I put them there. None of those methods worked. So, smell doesn't work. Then I bought this ultrasonic beeper thingy. So, apparently you just put this in and then it emits a sound which it does and it's this like
But this only served to annoy me and made me made it really difficult for me to sleep. Did not work on the mice. Apparently this takes like 4 to 6 weeks to work, but it didn't work on me. I called this like wildlife hotline and I got some advice from them and they said the only way to really get rid of your dormice is to seal up all the entrances, all the entryways that they get into your cabin. But given the fact that the cabin is ancient and it needs a complete remake of the entire roof, that's kind of impossible, but I am going to try that method next. They also said I should probably cut down the trees around the cabin, which I can't do right now. So, for now,
this is how I'm fighting the dormice. You know what this is? These are ear plugs. I put these in and I just pretend like the dormice are not there. It doesn't always work, but at least I've been getting okay sleep, just waking up like once or twice a night. So, that's the update. Let's try and seal up some of the holes around the cabin. It's probably going to take me another few days to figure out all the entryways into the roof and seal them up. So, for now, all I can do is wait, seal up, wait, and seal up.
Time for a new project. As you guys know by now, I currently have running water. Well, I guess it's probably a generous thing to say. It's not running water in the sense that the water's running from a tap. It's just the water runs from a spring via gravity. Anyhow, since I now have water, I thought I would build myself a shower, like an outdoor shower. And this is actually a pretty good spot cuz it's kind of like it's in between the trees, so it's a little private, but it's quite close to the cabin. So, it's perfect. But before I can build my shower, I first need to even out the terrain. So, I got myself a um a shovel. I'm going to start digging.
I'm going to call my chief excavator. Oh, there he is. He heard me digging and he came to the rescue. Do you want to dig? It's a good boy. He's good boy. Can you dig here? Yes, perfect. Can you break this? Yes, tug. Good boy. And I recently found this. This is what I'm going to use as like the a floor foundation of my shower. So, let's just see if this is even remotely flat yet. Back up. Back. [snorts] It's easy to get him to start digging, but it's very hard to get him to stop digging. Okay, well.
Almost there. Just thinking that it might be nice to like dig out this section. Vika, come here. Dig. Dig here. Here, here, here. He's very keen, but he's not very precise. Here, dig. Yes, good boy. Perfect spot. Let me check. Back. [snorts] Look, I need to put this down. So, am I going to Yeah, exactly. Okay, let's see. Yeah. I reckon this is going to work. Next step, I want to create a little like ring of rocks around the shower.
I reckon this is pretty cute. Check it out. Dum. Hey Vika, are you pleased? Okay, good boy. Next up, it would be great to have like a little hanger thingy so I can hang up my soap and my towel. And I've got just a perfect thing for that I bought in town the other day. Let me get it. Yeah, I reckon it's going to work pretty nicely. Guys, I got to tell you that when I learned how to use a drill a couple years back, it like unlocked a whole universe for me. I realized that I could do things like this by myself. And that it's actually really easy. So if you're still thinking about getting a tool and you're worried about it, my advice is get it. Cuz it will change your life.
Here we go. Fancy. Here's my little soap. Organic soap. There we go. Oh. Perfect. Little towel hanger. Perfect. And now for the actual shower. Like the hose plus shower head. I am going to keep it simple for now, and I'm not going to install like a fancy shower head thing. I'm just going to use a garden hose, cuz why not? And I'm just thinking of installing it like, yeah. Oh my god. I'm going to take a shower right now. That was probably like one of the coolest showers I've ever had in my life. And this took like
an hour to construct. Very, very easy, very low maintenance, low-tech. But if you guys have any tips for how I could make like a warm shower here, something that could work off-grid no power that would be fabulous. Cuz it would actually be quite nice to be able to take lovely warm showers here on the colder days. So let me know. Quick update. I have spent the last couple of days trying to seal up all the entryways into the cabin. Trying to block all the ways that the dormice are getting in, you know, in the roof, in the ceiling, in the walls, everywhere. But as it turns out, it's actually mission impossible. This roof is so old and just so rickety that there's holes freaking everywhere. In
order to actually seal it up, I would have to wrap the entire building in wire, which yeah. So, the only long-term solution to this dormouse problem seems to be a renovation of the entire roof. Like a reconstruction of the entire roof so that it's actually perfectly sealed. And that is something that I was hoping on doing later this year. Not just now for various reasons. Uh so, yeah. In the meantime, I think it is time to start thinking about moving into the tent after all. Cuz I didn't expect that this would be my reason to move back into the tent so quickly.
You know, I get so many messages from you guys saying that oh, like you wish you could live this life, that it's such a great life. And yes, it is. Living out here is a dream. But this is just one of the reality checks of living in a place like this. Yeah, I love this life. But the dormice also love this life.
