Strewth

Where's the cook? Is supper ready, the house trimm'd,
rushes strew'd, cobwebs swept, the serving-men in
their new fustian, their white stockings, and
every officer his wedding-garment on?
Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair
without, the carpets laid, and everything in order?
- The Taming of the Shrew.

The mouse crisis apparently over after a mere eight days, I must give credence to the non-toxic methods used to obtain such a miracle. In the first instance, it was only one poor blighter, who came in at the electrical box hole in the kitchen floor (I live in a 1920s house), which greatly cuts down on the headache.

Secondly, Franciscan though I am, I draw the line of humaneness at vermin that cause plague. Suffice it to say that Lady Boyd here has experience enough in other times and places with plague. So I resorted to glue traps, peanut butter, aspirin, running the cleaning cycle on the oven, and, lastly, peppermint oil. Neither hide nor hair nor any other part of mousedom has been seen since. Deo Gratias. Somehow I think that Margaret Boyd, the sister of King James IV of Scotland, would be proud.

Peppermint was in former times a strewing herb - that is, thrown upon the rushes - along with others (rosemary, thyme, wormwood, and rue among which) to discourage vermin of all sorts. These herbs are antiseptic and known vermifuges. Happen you haven't rushes or rush matting or your family object to living in 17th Century splendour, you can use the essential oil of these herbs, dropped upon a candle or other contrivance, to have the same effect.

NB: Rushes can also be made into Brigid's crosses upon the proper season.

God ye go'den