Mouse In The House

We’ve been fighting an ongoing battle with rats in the garage for several years now. The problem seems to be the driveway slab, which is buckling upward in the center and preventing the garage door from closing fully. Every time I nail shims on the sides the slab buckles up a little more and the rats find their way in again. We are engaged in a dialog with the homeowners association to deal with the slab, a dialog which has also been going on for several years.

In the house, meanwhile, my computer started acting up and I went on a hunt for virus infections, as mentioned in my “Change in Sea Ice” post. (Do I need to say that the bit about porn sites was merely in jest?) That process involved two days of multiple lengthy scans with different scanners and conversations with an assortment of gurus on several forums, all to no avail. Everyone insisted that I had no malware. A few pieces of junk had been installed by Microsoft and Google that I didn’t need, and we removed them, but they were not pernicious and the problem remained.

Then someone asked, “Does the noise sound like when you plug and unplug a usb device, and is your mouse connected via usb?”

Well dog my cats; that is exactly what the noise sounds like and, yes indeedy, my mouse is connected via usb. So I hotfoot down to Best Buy
for a new mouse, a cordless one this time, and the problem is solved.
There was a broken wire in my mouse cord which was making and losing connection, just as if I was plugging and unplugging my mouse.

So, I may not have finally solved the issue of rats in my garage, but I have solved the problem regarding the mouse in the house.