Where's my weekend?
Mar. 13th, 2011 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithThe hour that I planned to spend in the garage turned to four.
Mouse-wise, I found 4 in the trap this morning. While I worked, I heard nothing but quiet for the first time since I started this fun project last week. I did think I heard *something* toward the end, and I do believe there has to be at least one straggler left in there. But I didn't see the constant darting back and forth that I had been seeing. Now, the food supply is gone, as is all the soft bedding. They may come back, but I am hopeful that they will not stay.
The corners are cleared out--there's still stuff in them, but they're things of wood and hard plastic and wire, not cardboard. The shop vac got a workout. If reincarnation as an inanimate object were a fact, I would think that a wet/dry shop vac would be, if not the worst thing one could morph into, at least in the Top 5. The stuff that's sitting in that thing's innards wouldn't be allowed on one of those double dog dare contest programs.
Chocolate sprinkles are now a turn-off for the foreseeable future.
All the empty cardboard boxes have been flattened for the recycle. Both 90-gallon trash caddies are filled and out on the curb, as is an old dog house, some kennel liner that I never used, and a coil of landscape trim, also never used. I assembled one of the shelf units, which has been partially filled. A girl's best friend is a rubber mallet. Nothing like it for pounding plastic parts into place.
So help me, I am never going to let that place get away from me again.
You know, I have read in multiple places, online and off, that a mouse can squirt through a quarter-inch opening. Therefore, any holes larger than that should be filled. So I'm looking at the plastic rodent shield that covered the dryer vent, and dammit, the corner holes are at least 3/4-inch long. If I were of a cynical turn of mind, I would think that exterminators owned all the shield manufacturers and this was done on purpose.
::halo::
Please don't send me links for covers with smaller holes--I've seen them. I will have to order online though, since none of the local big boxes seem to carry them. In the meantime, I lined the inside of the current cover with door screen. That's too fine a mesh to let the lint out, which means I will have to clean the thing every so often. So be it. Gaby is showing waaay too much interest in conditions under the deck, which indicates to me that something new has taken up residence down there. I can guess what.
Speaking of Gaby, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you've been dealing with mud and dirt and garbage all day and you look at your dog to find her face covered in mud and something suspicious clenched between her teeth. At least she dropped it when I told her to. It was an ex-mouse, yes. The remains, with an appropriate pater noster, have been banished from the grounds.
Gaby's weight loss program has gotten off to a good start. She ate breakfast, and has been outside since. I offered her lunch, but she remained outside, sprawled across one of the kennel panels I set out in the really muddy area of the yard. King is sacked out on the big dog bed in the living room because he is an Old Guy now, and needs his sleep.
Chili has been consumed. Wine. Chocolate. My Blackhawks schedule widget stated that the Hawks were playing the Caps at 2pm, so I worked until then only to find that the game had been played earlier in the day. At least I missed a loss. 2 points out of a possible 6 in the last 3 games is not the way to get into the playoffs, guys.
I want a weekend. I spent two days wrestling with house crap, lost a bloody hour along the way, and have now settled down for a quiet balance of the weekend and I should write and I'm tired, dammit. I want two more days.
Mouse-wise, I found 4 in the trap this morning. While I worked, I heard nothing but quiet for the first time since I started this fun project last week. I did think I heard *something* toward the end, and I do believe there has to be at least one straggler left in there. But I didn't see the constant darting back and forth that I had been seeing. Now, the food supply is gone, as is all the soft bedding. They may come back, but I am hopeful that they will not stay.
The corners are cleared out--there's still stuff in them, but they're things of wood and hard plastic and wire, not cardboard. The shop vac got a workout. If reincarnation as an inanimate object were a fact, I would think that a wet/dry shop vac would be, if not the worst thing one could morph into, at least in the Top 5. The stuff that's sitting in that thing's innards wouldn't be allowed on one of those double dog dare contest programs.
Chocolate sprinkles are now a turn-off for the foreseeable future.
All the empty cardboard boxes have been flattened for the recycle. Both 90-gallon trash caddies are filled and out on the curb, as is an old dog house, some kennel liner that I never used, and a coil of landscape trim, also never used. I assembled one of the shelf units, which has been partially filled. A girl's best friend is a rubber mallet. Nothing like it for pounding plastic parts into place.
So help me, I am never going to let that place get away from me again.
You know, I have read in multiple places, online and off, that a mouse can squirt through a quarter-inch opening. Therefore, any holes larger than that should be filled. So I'm looking at the plastic rodent shield that covered the dryer vent, and dammit, the corner holes are at least 3/4-inch long. If I were of a cynical turn of mind, I would think that exterminators owned all the shield manufacturers and this was done on purpose.
::halo::
Please don't send me links for covers with smaller holes--I've seen them. I will have to order online though, since none of the local big boxes seem to carry them. In the meantime, I lined the inside of the current cover with door screen. That's too fine a mesh to let the lint out, which means I will have to clean the thing every so often. So be it. Gaby is showing waaay too much interest in conditions under the deck, which indicates to me that something new has taken up residence down there. I can guess what.
Speaking of Gaby, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you've been dealing with mud and dirt and garbage all day and you look at your dog to find her face covered in mud and something suspicious clenched between her teeth. At least she dropped it when I told her to. It was an ex-mouse, yes. The remains, with an appropriate pater noster, have been banished from the grounds.
Gaby's weight loss program has gotten off to a good start. She ate breakfast, and has been outside since. I offered her lunch, but she remained outside, sprawled across one of the kennel panels I set out in the really muddy area of the yard. King is sacked out on the big dog bed in the living room because he is an Old Guy now, and needs his sleep.
Chili has been consumed. Wine. Chocolate. My Blackhawks schedule widget stated that the Hawks were playing the Caps at 2pm, so I worked until then only to find that the game had been played earlier in the day. At least I missed a loss. 2 points out of a possible 6 in the last 3 games is not the way to get into the playoffs, guys.
I want a weekend. I spent two days wrestling with house crap, lost a bloody hour along the way, and have now settled down for a quiet balance of the weekend and I should write and I'm tired, dammit. I want two more days.
