Isky and Osky

In the beginning of our story of living in this remote place we realized that we were having trouble...mouse droppings in the drawers were the first sign.
Then we had solar panels installed and the electricians found a mouse nest in the meter box.
Then I was driving up the steep hill approaching our house and the car started making horrible noises.
I stopped by the side of the road and a very helpful neighbor came out, introduced himself, looked at the engine and did "something" that fixed it enough for me to drive up our long, winding and even steeper driveway and get home.
The helpful car people diagnosed the problem...mice had made a home in this nice sheltered place and had begun chewing on the brake wires!

Okay that was enough. We researched ways to safely urge them to move somewhere else. We placed repellent peppermints in the car and bought a few other things I can no longer remember. Nothing worked. In reality we had invaded their space but we are the dominant species. We had been granted stewardship so we tried to reclaim our part.

My husband is allergic to cats, gets quite violent sneezing spells and then asthma-like symptoms so we started looking for an outside cat. An Animal Rescue person came over and delivered 2 feral cats that had lived in a barn so we took them. After a few days of feeding them and letting them get used to our place I meant to let them go outside to work but only one would go out. The other hid inside a long, low, narrow panel that was covering some pipes that had bookshelves installed on top. I tried all kinds of ways to entice her out but she would never appear when I was around.

This is one of the cartoons I made up about Isky, the inside cat, and Osky her braver sister who hung around outside the house waiting for her companion to join her.