June 2: The benefits of mice

Some years, when I return to the cabin, I’ll find cups of dead flies. I always hate to think about what I forgot that they had lived on for long enough to create so many. This year, the evidence was of a remarkable number of mice … or probably, lemmings.

If I hadn’t noticed the wee black droppings everywhere, including on my bunk, in all the pots and pans, over all the counters, nestled in the bowl of the spoons, in and around the sink… everywhere, I’d have noticed the two dead critters in the tub that floats – in a considerable depth of water this year – above the permafrost under the cabin, making our “tundra-ator.”

I’ve spent the day cleaning, and therein lies the benefits of mice – or lemmings. Usually, things are just a bit muddy, dusty, and maybe musty. But this year, with the infestation of rodents, not only was everything covered with droppings, said rodents also contributed moisture which in turn molded. So the cabin is getting a cleaning that it rarely gets. My friend in town volunteered that he doesn’t think we have the hantavirus here in Alaska (I looked it up; we don’t), but just in case, he thought he’d wait until the incubation period is over before coming for a visit. I’ve heard from year round residents that it was a particularly bad year for mice for everyone.

I’m told to expect a 60 mph wind tomorrow.