There are times when living in Averill is pure magic. When the rainbow appears and puts your house in the crosshairs, for example.

Or when the moon burns a crescent during a late evening when you can see the bright stars against the backdrop of lights from Snare Camp across the water. Or you see 8 loons as a pack in the morning (one of the 5 different options for the collective noun that applies to loon is a “water dance”, in case you were wondering.) Or there’s mist rising on the lake in the morning, which you can see from your bed and you pinch yourself because OMG I live HERE?

But there’s another aspect to life in the magical Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Flies. And mice. Or maybe it’s mice and flies.

Regardless, we’re on constant pest patrol. At this point we set 10 traps every night in the basement and the kitchen for mice. It’s a rare morning that Jeremy doesn’t have at least one body to fling into the woods. The highest tally was 6 in one night (I feel like that is the making of a tall tale.). Not poison, not glue traps, not “have a heart” ones, but the guillotine variety. At least the demise seems to be swift and humane. Our current favorite traps are the Authenzo ones; Vermont mice seem to be partial to Cheerios as bait. We sprayed peppermint oil around the perimeter last fall before we left, which helped a bit; I’m debating turning some of the mint forest that rings the yard into strong mint tea to spray around. It’s heartening in some ways that the numbers of caught critters is declining each day.

The other pests are smaller, more obvious, and air-borne. Flies suck. What does not suck, though, is the eradication method that my brother’s brother-in-law, Dave, gave to my dad for his 80th birthday on August 14.

Unfortunately for Dad, Jeremy loves this thing. Fortunately for Jeremy, Dad has agreed that this belongs at the OPO.

Best pest control in Northern Vermont is my husband.

(PS. The Bug-A-Salt might find its way onto the boat. Hopefully we will have no need of Authenzo mouse traps on Calypso. It’s all a learning experience, right?)