Mother Nature provides yet another lesson in "try to be an adult and not scream".....

but today has been knee knocking, emotionally scary inducing stuff.

I'm usually pretty brave when it comes to bugs, spiders, critters and oga boogas that crawl, creep and skitter along. But mice do me in.

We tried a new gardening method (epic fail) this spring. We brought in straw bales, dosed them with nitrogen and mulch and tried to grow veggies. Tomatos and sunflowers yes, everything else... crap. So we (my yard slave and compatriot in all crimes) Shelley and I began the process of cleaning up yard waste and moving the ones (bales) that had not completely decomposed to provide a larger, to be, flower bed for next spring.

In doing so, we found all manner of spiders, (Shelley's trigger to squeal like a girl) and worms and rotting good smelling earthy hay and then........wait for it......baby mice. Ick, blech, crap, oh hell's to the no, I have to go in the house. At least I did not jump up on a chair and begin shreaking, cuz that's what I wanted to do. Trust me, if Ry hadn't been helping me by pulling the morning glory tendrils off of the back fence, I would have screamed all the way into the house. Instead, I just said in a very even tone, "Hey, let's go get something to drink and cool down a little". My heart was beating so fast and my olde legs weren't moving quickly enough to suit me or my little girl inside, who was verging on peeing my pants. Goddess, I hate mice.

I don't want to kill anything. I can't kill anything. But left with the thought that these little guys were going to come and try to live in the house, I introduced the clean up crew of the back yard to the area and they (the turtles) immediately got busy and cleaned out the nest. I know that makes me kinda weak in the knees too but, Mother Nature provides food and harvesters in many different ways. Now the turtles are most interested in the other hay bales. Sorta like sharks after chum. Even the little ones are cruising the area now. How did they communicate that the mice tartar luncheon was being served will remain a mystery to me, but whew, what a good thing they have done.

I follow a couple of farm blogs and have always been interested in the fact that chickens clean up things like tarantulas and mice, which I did not know before. My clean up crew may not lay eggs for me to consume but when push comes to shove, or straw bales turn into mice condos, my turtles are very handy to have in the yard. Thanks guys and girls of the shelled variety, ya made me feel safer.