Mouse Outbreak in San Francisco Due to Unusually Cold Weather

A poor frightened tiny black mouse entered my flat in San Francisco yesterday.  While I was typing away on my computer I happened to see a small black round object from the corner of my eye dart along the wall in a split second nanometer.  I would have thought it was just my imagination except for the fact the curtain near the floor was definitely moving back and forth.

My initial reaction to having a mouse in my flat was highly irrational fear.  I immediately called up my landlady in a panicked distressed tone and asked her if the building had a mice problem. She said another tenant had just found a mouse on her pillow a few days ago who was directly below my unit on the first floor. They did some investigating and the mouse came in through the back end of the stove.

In my case, the mouse came in through the kitchen sink cabinet where there's a gap surrounding a pipe. My cabinet had been left slightly a jar.  Too bad the contractors of the unit didn't use some common sense to seal all gaps near such pipes to avoid the problem, but apparently mice have never been an issue before.  The landlady said mice have recently only become a problem throughout the city due to the unseasonably cold weather in August.   It's been really cold here in San Francisco especially due to the wind chill factor.

Last night I made sure there was no way the mouse could crawl up my bed post to end up pillow talking with me as happened with the other tenant.  I didn't hear a thing last night indicating anything was in the room, but I didn't hear the mouse when it was running on the floor near me either.  I know there's no escape for the mouse except out the front door so I've tried to leave it open.  The landlady put the poison out for the mouse too but I was hoping I could avert having to kill the poor thing.  

Later I thought a lot about my irrational fear of a mouse being in the house, putting myself in its shoes, or paws so to speak.  The poor little mouse has no food or hope of surviving much and I'm the one afraid of it?  It's just this tiny little creature who accidentally stumbled into my place searching for warmth for itself.  I had imagined it could possibly dash out from underneath something to attack my bare feet and realized how ridiculous that fear was. 

Tourists Freezing in August
I feel bad for the tourists who come to San Francisco in August expecting to have a nice vacation. It's often cold, windy and the sun doesn't come out until late afternoon.  August is probably the worst month to visit San Francisco.  In just two months, the city changes quickly into beautiful weather in October.  It doesn't get cold again for a long time thereafter.  My Southern California former lifestyle has never adjusted body wise to the strange seasonal change of August in San Francisco. I always think around June and July it's going to get warmer and it always gets colder.

The other thing about San Francisco is weather changes day to day and even by the hour. It's hard to know how to dress sometimes.