Today I had a huge shock. I went into the garage to start clearing it out ready for a rebuild to find my prep stash destroyed. Gone, done, unusable.
I had packaged everything accordingly, food grade buckets with tight-fitting lids. Heavy duty plastic bags inside the buckets and then the rice, pasta or whatever with the appropriate amount of oxygen absorbers.
The lids were still intact, the base of the buckets was not.
Mice.
Everything was sound four weeks ago. I know this because I was in there, adding two huge boxes of washing powder to my store. Again the boxes were in heavy duty bags. They have been chewed through, and the damp, (the leaking roof and one wall being beyond repair hence the rebuild) has turned the powder into a solid lump or congealed mass depending on which bit you look at.
Now worse than the money wasted is the fact that I am prep-less. I am back where I was two years ago before I woke up. The difference is then I didn’t worry about these things and now I do.
So, having filled two full-sized wheelie bins with ruined food, and having enough ruined food to fill two more I have to ask myself what I have learned?
- That the mice on the island are so outrageous they wear hard hats and work boots. My containers proved no barrier to them at all. They are not rats by the way as I have caught some of them. Definitely mice.
- My future stash needs to be packed in appropriate containers and stored inside a metal locker or cupboard.
- I need to check my preps more often, at least twice a week to be sure they are vermin free.
- I need to be less smug in assuming our needs as a family is met…the unexpected can put a stop to that in an instant.
- I need to remind myself of all risks, not just the ones that are in your face like sea water running down the street and winds taking out the chimney. (yes I have asked myself more than once why I moved here…see below)
- When something like this happens I have to stay positive and remember why I moved here. (low population, free from many city restrictions, almost zero crime, it’s an island, stronger sense of community, very large garden, much healthier lifestyle etc)
- Stop being a mouse humanitarian. Instead of catching the odd ‘stray’ in a humane trap and relocating him on the beach…nuke the little bastards. There is no such thing as a lone mouse.
So, time to get on with it, rebuild my supplies, somewhat sadder, an awful lot wiser and praying to God that I have time before some calamity hits us.
Take care
Liz