I've been cleaning out the storage area under my deck, which we call "the shed". I was encouraged to do so by the discovery, when I brought out out summer tires to put on the cars, that it had been heavily used by mice during the winter months. I disposed of bags of bird seed I'd been storing in there. When I removed the loose lid from one container to look inside, a very healthy looking brown mouse ran up the bag inside, perched on the container rim looking at me, then slipped away over the far side. I now understand why the neighbours' cat had been spending so much time on our back steps watching the ground below.

Eight folding lawn chairs which haven't been needed for many years are now lined up in the carport to be put into the car the next time it's going in the direction of the community swap shed. All my empty flower pots and planters have been moved to the far end of the garden so there will be fewer places for mice to hide.

I need to figure out a way to keep bird seed and sunflower seeds from accumulating on the ground under the bird feeders near the shed. I'm hoping if I eliminate a food source and hiding places the mice will go elsewhere. I wonder if a vacuum cleaner will work on a lawn?