The name is Jackson. And you best know: I’m a killer.

We have been in our 28’ Airstream for seven weeks now. Before, we had always lived in apartments or houses. In stick and brick dwellings roaches were the more likely pest than mice. I haven’t had to poison or trap a mouse in twenty years, maybe more. Thus you can understand why Sunday night I assumed the odd rustling noise I heard at 2:00 a.m. was rain on the awning.

Hey, it was raining.

But the noise wasn’t rain. The next morning Kat pulled out the drawer with the 18 pack of Wal*Mart granola bars to put a one in our yogurt. And right away she assumed that I had taken pinking shears to a couple of them. I took a look at the damaged goods and replied “I would not have taken half a bite and left the rest; all the evidence would be gone. Besides, we don’t have pinking shears. We have a rodent problem.”

We made a grocery run and hit three stores before we found one with mouse traps. They all had poison, but Pink would eat it if she could get to it, and there could be the smell problem. Fred’s Dollar had traps. I bought two for a buck. The cashier noted “You don’t have to trap ‘em. Get some oil of peppermint and they’ll leave on their own.” Is that an old wives’ tale, or what?

But Google insists: the cashier speaks the truth! Oil of peppermint overpowers the olfactory sense of rats, mice, and even ants. They can’t rely on smell to find food, and if they can’t find food they will leave. This is useful info for all RV’ers, full-time or not.

Nonetheless, I had traps and mice, but no peppermint oil. So I set the traps with Honey Bun. (I love that poison; why wouldn’t mice?) The next morning, I see the first trap has not been tripped, but the bait is gone and in its place is one solitary black pellet. The ultimate disrespect! But the next trap has done its job and killed a fat male. Maybe he was the only one. Not likely. Males go where the females are. We could have a family situation here.

Later that day we found oil of peppermint at a local pharmacy. We put it on a few cotton balls. I haven’t heard noises in the night since, or suffered damage to our granola.

Does it work? So far, so good. I’ll keep you posted.