Mice, barbecues, and technicolor sheep

Well hello all!

The saga of the mouse continues.

Our first little friend met a quiet end in our garbage can. Approximately two days later, I come out to the kitchen in the morning to find a little tail sticking out of the trap, which had been placed on the floor rather than the counter this time. Swell. Since I am now accustomed to our rodentine (it's a word) visitors, I calmly inform WT of the task at hand, sans jumping, screaming, and hand flapping.

Until I go back in the kitchen and see that the damn tail has moved. Christ, not again! We need to buy better traps.

WT disposes of aforementioned mouse in aforementioned garbage can. About two hours later, he goes outside to dispose of some trash, and don't you know the damned thing is running in circles around the bottom of the can, complete with a groove across the back of his damn head where the highly ineffective trap had him pinned for what was likely hours.

Woo hoo!

So WT sets the poor little guy free on the lawn and thinks no more of it.

Approximately one hour after this incident, WT goes outside to hop in his car and go to the gym. He calls my name and asks me to come outside.

The damn mouse is hanging out next to the car.

Pray tell, Sally, you say. How did you know it was the same mouse as the very one you trapped and then set free? I'll tell you how I know. I know because it still had the groove across the back of his damn head.

After advising WT to check his brake lines for sabotage and the tires for leaks, he goes to the gym, and Mr. Mouse scampers off into the sunset.

I'm locking my doors.

***

Oh my God, how great is this weather?? I am sooooo loving it. I have barbecued for the past 3 nights in a row. The best thing about this? No dishes to speak of! Mostly everything goes in the dishwasher, and I made salmon, potatoes, and green beans on the grill tonight. Hose the grill down tomorrow, and voila! no more dirty dishes. Gotta love it.

The only thing I'm not loving is the fact that I got out my goddamn expensive IKEA patio furniture yesterday, and some squirrels ate through half of a leg on one of my chairs, and chewed about fifty eleven holes in my umbrella. They are probably in cahoots with the mouse. And at least one squirrel now has a wonderfully upholstered nest.

Damn rodents.

***

So my friends Aileen and Sharon totally kidnapped me at gunpoint and totally made me drive to Haverford to check out the liquidation sale at the Technicolor Sheep. Then they totally made me buy, like, stuff to knit with. They have some nerve. Making me buy yarn and needles and buttons and magazines at 50% off. Sheesh. WT told me that if I didn't take advantage of the sale, they would take away my woman card.

I think he was kidding, but I took his word anyways.

So here's what I was forced to purchase:

• 4 skeins of Cotton Fleece in Barn Red
• 3 skeins of Butterfly Mercerized Cotton in Dark Green
• Many buttons, all of them cute or pretty or interesting
• 2 sets each of size 1, 2, and 3 circular needles, just in case I ever decide to knit socks or gloves
• 1 back issue of Interweave Knits
• One set of dpn's
• And one free tote bag! Woot!

Man, with enemies like Aileen and Sharon, who needs friends? ;o)

I'll post some pics soon. I don't feel like screwing with my camera right now. I do have to say I have some tantalizing photos for you. Yesterday, Banana decided it would be a good idea to paint her arms and legs with poster paint. Yeah. It was quite colorful. You'll get the photographic evidence soon enough.

As usual, thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well chez vous. Ciao!

Important, and not so much...

So I'll start with the unimportant. WT and I noticed that these... things... had been appearing on the stove and the counter in our kitchen. Small, black, hard things, that looked suspiciously like - well, like mouse poo. So last night, I set a trap, because although I think mice are cute, they are not cute when they are crapping all over my family's food preparation surfaces. We use spring traps, because I don't like glue traps and I feel the spring traps are more humane.

Usually.

So I baited it and set it and went to bed. And when I got up, lo and behold, it had been sprung. Now, this is a covered trap, one that the little mousy-wousy has to walk into. So I turn it around, and the mouse's head was sticking out, which means s/he managed to walk into the damn thing, turn around, and then set it off. So I scream for WT to come dispose of the mouse.

Now, when I left the kitchen to go jump up and down in front of husband and flap my hands in disgust, the mouse's eyes were closed.

When I went back, they were open.

The damn thing wasn't dead.

More screaming, more flapping of hands. And now I am also dealing with heaps of guilt, and the whole goddamn point of the goddamn spring loaded trap is for it to be quick and painless, and Mickey has now been languishing for hours.

So after WT took our little friend outside and disposed of him, I bleached our kitchen counters. At 6:30 am. Before work.

What a splendid way to start the day.

***

And yet this is nothing, nothing, in the grand scheme of things. Watching the news of the shootings at VA Tech. Thinking of the parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings, and possibly children of the slain students and faculty. And again, the guilt that the president of that university must be suffering from at this moment. That perhaps he should have done more. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I am by no means defending what this boy did, but I have to wonder - what sort of sadness and anger did this young man have in his heart to commit this crime? How can someone despair so? There is a quote from the movie Anne of Green Gables, when Anne asks her adoptive mother if she ever despairs, and she says, "To despair is to turn your back on God." I am not an overtly religious person, but this has always resonated with me. I can't imagine living with no hope. I am fortunate to have been born into a wonderful family, and I have led a relatively stable life. I just don't understand.

So am not just thinking of those who were slain, although they weigh heavily on my mind. I'm thinking of this young man, and his parents, and the grief and confusion they must be dealing with now. And it's a shame that anyone has to deal with any of it at all. But I guess that's the nature of humans sometimes. And it makes me appreciate what I have.