DIY Life

Why on Earth would you want to build an owl house? Having owls take up residence on your property will cause the mouse population to dwindle: never a bad thing if the furry invaders like to live in your basement, attic, or -- yikes! -- your kitchen.

To build a screech owl house, you'll need ten feet of one-foot board, some hinges, nails, and screws, wood glue, and a little time. Research shows that owls like big houses with small entrance holes, which is what inspired this owl house plan from Audubon. They suggest hanging your owl house ten feet off the ground or higher.

You are now on your way to a mouse-free house! Similarly, if you'd like to see a few less mosquitoes, try building a bat house. Apparently, those buzzing buggers are quite delicious....

Salvaging electronic parts is a must for any DIY'er. You save big on shipping charges, and recycling is good for the environment. Hack-a-day dissected an old computer mouse and found some useful components.

What useful parts are inside an outdated PC mouse? There are a bunch of sensors and buttons, including rotary encoders that can be used to measure movement in robotics projects. My favorite find is the microchip that glues the sensors to a computer. Learn about all these parts in detail, in the how-to.

Hack-a-day doesn't delve into the proper techniques for removing parts, but there are a ton of tutorials that can help you get started. It's possible to remove many parts with a simple soldering iron and an absorbent copper braid, called solder wick. Many use a solder sucker to vacuum solder away from parts, or a special desoldering iron. Surface mount chips can also be removed, but they may require the gentle embrace of 400 degree air from a hot air rework station, or the crude gust of a heat gun.

Although some people think little mice are adorable (I admit it), the truth is that the wild mouse population in North America can carry a rare but deadly disease called Hantavirus. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the illness is contracted by handling mouse droppings or even breathing the air where infected mice have been.

Recently, a reader wrote in to DIY Life to ask for tips on cleaning up after an invasion of mice in the family kitchen. The reader had already washed, rinsed, and dried the cabinet shelves but wanted to know what else we could recommend to make sure the area was truly clean. That's a great question, and here are some things to try.

The changing weather leaves mice looking for warmth and shelter any place they can find it. Your home might just be that safe place for a little mouse family. Personally, I'm not thrilled at the prospect of bunking with these creepy little creatures. If you suspect you have mice in the house it can be the most nerve-wracking obsession. Getting up every time you hear a noise, and tracking all the little "evidence" but never actually seeing the culprit. You don't need to call pest control. You can take care of this on your own. The first step is figuring out what you're actually dealing with. There are three ways to figure out if you have mice in your home.

1. Listen
   Mice will make noise in the walls and ceiling. Listen for them at night.
   
   
2. Look
   You might not actually see a mouse, but if you see little holes in bread bags or mouse droppings left around you can be sure they're near.
   
3. Confirm
   Spread some powder or flour where you think the mice are. Leave it for a few days and you'll notice tiny footprints if they are in-fact scurrying around there.
   

Once you know that you do have mice in the house you'll want to get rid of them. This article tells you how to get them out and keep them from taking up residence with you again.

Do you need a Halloween costume for a child in rapid fashion? You could spend $20 at your local department store or you could try this quick idea from me:

1. Using appropriate face paint or other suitable makeup, give the child a mouse face.
2. After you give the child the right makeup, take any gray sweatshirt without a hood and turn it inside out. Place it on the child backwards and zip it up.
3. Make mouse ears out of stiff black paper and attach them to the back of any hat which fits the child. In a pinch you can use paper plates cut to size. Color a black outer rim and pink inner ear.
   
4. Add gray or black sweat pants, perhaps tucking the sweat top into the waist band.
5. Twist together two or three black shoe laces and attach for a tail. An easy cape adds to the fun.
   
6. Squeak, squeak... instant mouse!

Computers are good for many things -- I use mine mostly for listening to compact discs, playing that awesome pinball game, and checking the finishing times at NASCAR.com -- but did you know they can be just as useful when they're broken? In all, I think I've burned through eight computers over the last three years -- one got crushed when my prized moose head fell off the wall, and I spilled various liquids on the other seven. Typically when I bust up one of my PCs, I just toss it on the burn pile with everything else, but then I got to thinking, "I bet I could tear this sucker apart and use the various pieces in all sorts of different ways."

For instance, discarded keyboards make great dog toys, and you can use those little gray mouse balls to build a sweet miniature billiard set. Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself, "surely you can't do much else with a broken computer!" Au contraire, mon amie. Check out these other ingenious uses for discarded computer pieces: