First Line of Defense.

I hate pesky pests.  I'm hypervigilant about trying to scare them off before they scare me.  I've heard that strong smells will help keep them (by them, I mean mice, moles and shrews--rodents) away from my home.  I'm basically paranoid about this since I used to live on a wooded lot and would occasionally see a mole or shrew (something furry and fast) in the family room or the basement.  During my last year there, I started seeing them every few months.  I was terrified and couldn't wait to move.  I recently saw one behind the garbage can behind my house and got busy right away.  I do not want that thing in my house!  Nor do I want to ever see the skunk that spent about an hour rooting around my front yard a few weeks ago. I really didn't mind the fighting ducks (all three of them--I think it was a lovers' triangle) but for the fact that they were really loud and I was trying to sleep. I tried sprinkling cinnamon around the foundation of the house, but it just blew around and put brown marks on the sidewalk.  I thought about the cinnamon pine cones, but they're not too easy to find right now.  I guess the point is to make your house as unattractive as possible, i.e. no smells of smothered pork chops wafting under the door and through the windows.  Mask that smell!  Last week I read that peppermint oil works great, so I loaded up a spray bottle with peppermint oil and water and got to spraying.  Now, while entering my house is a peppermint-scented joy, the smell doesn't last long and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering why I was spraying the side of the house and the back door.  Several times a week.  Sometimes twice a day.  That, combined with the picture taking, outfit changes, placing flowers into old purses and bringing more and more furniture in has likely got them wondering just what the new neighbor is up to.  

I went to a garage sale last Thursday and found (of course!) lots of things that I "needed".  Like these tea bags.  At the time I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but making tea wasn't the first thing that came to mind.  Today, as I stared at the box, I had an idea.  And here it is!  

I put about two tablespoons of cinnamon in each tea bag, rolled it up, then doused it with peppermint oil.  

I forgot that the oil didn't have a shaker top, so I poured a lot of it.  Half the bottle, maybe.

After the first one, I just kind of rolled the cinnamon filled tea bag in the puddle on the counter. 

And I stuffed them around the foundation.  Voila!  We'll see how this works...

I also put a few on the windowsill outside my bedroom.  Apparently there's a black cat that likes my yard too.  (More about that tomorrow, but it involves the police.  That's all I'm saying.)

I love making stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!