I've been a little distracted lately. Right now I'm on day three of my migraine. Constant pain with intermittent bouts of relief keeps me from functioning at my peak. Most of my thoughts and actions are interrupted in misery and my good temper and tolerance are in short supply.
Before that I was catching up on my home life after being distracted with a work week of about 100-hours. While that might not be much for most people, being a part-timer myself, all those hours took their toll. All productivity on the home front stalled. Laundry piled up, dishes piled up and I lost track of what everyone else in the family was doing. Catching up took longer than I thought it would, as it not only required all the duties of life to be attended to, but I also needed to rest.
Ironically, I spent the entire day last Sunday cleaning my house top to bottom, including mopping, dusting and cleaning all my bathrooms with the gusto of an anticipated inspection, and today, you wouldn't even know I did a damn thing. I can't get no satisfaction.
And today, at 11:00 am, writing this in my pajamas, coffee gone, breakfast eaten, quiet house, looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with family. I'm still not on speaking terms with my husband and I'm just hoping that my expectations aren't too high for the magic that I always look forward to on one of my favorite holidays.
I'm grateful to know that all things pass. Sure, we can dwell upon that fact that all good things pass, but I'm just going focus on the fact that I am certain all the bad things pass. My migraine will go away, my husband and I will speak again, and the mess on my dining room floor will miraculously disappear (after I pick it up.) Happy Thanksgiving and may all your pain pass, too.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Cartoon Lessons
My theory about why my glue traps are empty is wrong. It's not that the rat or rats are not coming to my house, it's that they're too smart for pedestrian traps. I must be the Wiley Coyote to their Roadrunners. I'm going to throw out my ACME catalogue and watch a few Bugs Bunny cartoons.
I will not let a rat get the best of me!
Last night I made a quesadilla for my kids - I haven't tried to get them to eat one in a while so wanted to try again. I threw the whole thing away so I wouldn't eat it myself and when I woke up this morning, the glue traps were empty but there was a hole chewed out of the middle of the thing.
Now they're pissing me off and I am probably not going to feel as badly killing a rodent who taunts me. Or will I feel badly for killing something that is obviously smart enough to out-smart my extermination efforts?
I will not let a rat get the best of me!
Last night I made a quesadilla for my kids - I haven't tried to get them to eat one in a while so wanted to try again. I threw the whole thing away so I wouldn't eat it myself and when I woke up this morning, the glue traps were empty but there was a hole chewed out of the middle of the thing.
Now they're pissing me off and I am probably not going to feel as badly killing a rodent who taunts me. Or will I feel badly for killing something that is obviously smart enough to out-smart my extermination efforts?
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
So Far
So far there have not been any rats under my sink. This is good. It means that they're not regular visitors - or there is just one and it has only three legs.
I have a question: Should I be afraid of walking my dog late at night? I'm not worried about crime and I carry a light to be seen. I'm wondering if I should be worried about nocturnal critters. I took my dog for a walk this morning and I was on the lookout for mountain lions the whole time and even turned around early because I was getting too far in to the trail. There have been several sightings around here and it kind of freaks me out.
Back to my novel...
I have a question: Should I be afraid of walking my dog late at night? I'm not worried about crime and I carry a light to be seen. I'm wondering if I should be worried about nocturnal critters. I took my dog for a walk this morning and I was on the lookout for mountain lions the whole time and even turned around early because I was getting too far in to the trail. There have been several sightings around here and it kind of freaks me out.
Back to my novel...
Monday, November 01, 2010
The Morningly After
November first is such a let down. Halloween is so full of excitement and energy and anticipation that the day after is so nothing.
Except that I had a couple of ghoulish encounters that I'm going to share. Second of all, I found a dead spider on my cat's head this morning. I say second because this happened moments ago when I could not withstand the urge any longer to blog about my First Of All. And it's a tame thing. She must have walked through a spider web with a dead one dangling on it.
I wasn't even going to mention (Third Of All?) the big black spider that I saw run out from some sweeping this morning right next to a plastic look-alike. So I won't say anything about that one. Nothing.
For the First Of All, you are going to have to commit to being grossed out. I caution you that if you are squeamish, you should STOP READING HERE.
I did some sweeping today - as I just mentioned. Under my kitchen sink is where the sightings of rat evidence has been spotted. I've set traps and haven't caught anything. They were never even triggered, which made me wonder how often they show up. Are they coming to my kitchen regularly or infrequently? I have not seen any other evidence anywhere else in my kitchen nor have I seen them alive anywhere recently either.
Today, when I removed the garbage can to collect my sweepings, I noticed the two rat traps had been set off. They were empty, however. In the corner of my cabinet, I saw a tiny little dead baby rat. It was tiny, like it hadn't been alive for more than a day or two or a week. Knowing it had to be done, I took a paper towel in my hand and grabbed the thing. I hate killing things, but as a mother, I especially dislike the idea of killing babies. Yikes! Fortunately, this one was already dead.
Upon closer inspection, the entire bottom of the baby was blood red. That was strange. Then I realized that I wasn't holding a baby in my hand, I was holding a FOOT! Sure enough there was a sliver of something in the trap, too. The rat had chewed off its own foot to escape the trap.
That was the reason I had been avoiding setting glue traps. And now it happened with the one solution that was supposed to be quick and painless. It just goes to show that these are not mice I'm dealing with but rats. Rats that can maneuver through mazes and learn to juggle. Rats that can kick some nutcracker ass (for a while at least.)
I promptly did the thing I've been avoiding and laid out some glue traps. I'll make my husband keep a vigilant eye out for live ones. But I think if I had to club one over the head, I could do it. It would be traumatic for me, but the idea of finding a bunch of glued feet would be much much worse. Or not.
On another sad note, my daughters put out the candy they didn't want for the Candy Fairies to take. (For money.) One put her candy on the front porch and the other put hers on the back deck. Unfortunately, the fairies didn't know about the candy on the back deck so there were tears this morning.
Except that I had a couple of ghoulish encounters that I'm going to share. Second of all, I found a dead spider on my cat's head this morning. I say second because this happened moments ago when I could not withstand the urge any longer to blog about my First Of All. And it's a tame thing. She must have walked through a spider web with a dead one dangling on it.
I wasn't even going to mention (Third Of All?) the big black spider that I saw run out from some sweeping this morning right next to a plastic look-alike. So I won't say anything about that one. Nothing.
For the First Of All, you are going to have to commit to being grossed out. I caution you that if you are squeamish, you should STOP READING HERE.
I did some sweeping today - as I just mentioned. Under my kitchen sink is where the sightings of rat evidence has been spotted. I've set traps and haven't caught anything. They were never even triggered, which made me wonder how often they show up. Are they coming to my kitchen regularly or infrequently? I have not seen any other evidence anywhere else in my kitchen nor have I seen them alive anywhere recently either.
Today, when I removed the garbage can to collect my sweepings, I noticed the two rat traps had been set off. They were empty, however. In the corner of my cabinet, I saw a tiny little dead baby rat. It was tiny, like it hadn't been alive for more than a day or two or a week. Knowing it had to be done, I took a paper towel in my hand and grabbed the thing. I hate killing things, but as a mother, I especially dislike the idea of killing babies. Yikes! Fortunately, this one was already dead.
Upon closer inspection, the entire bottom of the baby was blood red. That was strange. Then I realized that I wasn't holding a baby in my hand, I was holding a FOOT! Sure enough there was a sliver of something in the trap, too. The rat had chewed off its own foot to escape the trap.
That was the reason I had been avoiding setting glue traps. And now it happened with the one solution that was supposed to be quick and painless. It just goes to show that these are not mice I'm dealing with but rats. Rats that can maneuver through mazes and learn to juggle. Rats that can kick some nutcracker ass (for a while at least.)
I promptly did the thing I've been avoiding and laid out some glue traps. I'll make my husband keep a vigilant eye out for live ones. But I think if I had to club one over the head, I could do it. It would be traumatic for me, but the idea of finding a bunch of glued feet would be much much worse. Or not.
On another sad note, my daughters put out the candy they didn't want for the Candy Fairies to take. (For money.) One put her candy on the front porch and the other put hers on the back deck. Unfortunately, the fairies didn't know about the candy on the back deck so there were tears this morning.
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