office rodents and the calming power of coffee

Two completely unrelated things…. sorta.

Y’see, there’s construction going on at my office, three floors up from my basement desk. During this time, there’s been a lot of ruckus (whole walls torn out, for example), as well as a lot of wholesale propping of twin-sets of fire doors.

Somehow, during all of this, some mice decided that our area was warm and dry – a perfect place to raise a family.

We found the kids this morning: three tiny guys, nested in a box containing Cisco routers.

Needless to say, my co-worker who found them freaked out. She wanted them gone, dead, whatever, now. I didn’t think these little ones should die just for being where they were.

I tried in vain to find somebody who would take orphaned mice. No takers. Humane society doesn’t do “wild rodents.” Veterinary office wouldn’t take ’em (“might be disease vectors”). Pet shops also didn’t want something wild in the mix.

So I prepped a little box with shredded paper, saying I’d take ’em outside after lunch. The box was sturdy, with lots of paper to keep the little guys warm in the cold. I’d take ’em to the local wooded area and leave it there.

By the time I came back, somebody had removed them. I don’t want to think of what happened.

So my workspace is now cleaned, purged of all floor-dwelling boxes and papers. My filing cabinet is also cleaned out, as the mice found my oatmeal packets and went to town. My gym shorts were also tossed, as it looks like they’d tried nesting in ’em. Three big bags of stuff, sent to the trash. A big purge.

Which leads me to….. coffee. And what goes better with coffee than little chocolate donuts.