Thursday, March 21, 2013

Catching Up

It's been a while.  What's been happening around here?  Not much, but I'll fill you in anyway. 

I never saw another mouse, and we never caught the second one.  I did some reading and discovered that mice really don't live that long and can't survive too long without food or water.  So, either it escaped somehow, or I will find a dead mouse somewhere in the near future.  Or it (or they) have managed to keep quiet and out of sight. 

I miss cookie-ing.  I haven't made cookies in a while but I've thought of lots of cute ones that I want to make.  I may have to make cookies this afternoon...

Work is picking up somewhat, but still not back to normal.  Or maybe this is the new normal for this field. 

I started the Couch to 5K program several weeks ago as I had a knee injury and had to take a couple weeks off from the treadmill and then start back slowly.  I really like the program as it builds up your speed and stamina gradually and was recommended for beginners or those coming from an injury, like myself.  I just finished week 7 yesterday in which I ran (slogged) 25 minutes straight at 4 miles per hour.  That's not fast, but by the end of 25 minutes I was feeling it!  There are three workouts in each "week" of the program and I do it every other day.  I'm scared to start week 8 on Friday.  My plan is to do this with the running (slogging) speed at 4, then when its finished, go back and do it again increasing my speed.  My goal is to run a 5K the weekend of my 50th birthday in October at my best time yet. 

I also started Jillian Michael's 30-day shred.  I am on day 8 of that.  And I hurt in places I didn't even know I had.

Jerry did tree work a couple of days ago.  He brought home a check from the man and I Googled his name.  Now, before you think that's all stalkerish (okay, I guess it kind of is...), the man's lifestyle made Jerry curious; mansion, expensive cars, etc.  Although Jerry and the man talked, the man never said what he did for a living.  Turns out he is a retired astronaut, and a pretty famous one, too.  I found pages of material on him including videos and interviews.  He flew three space shuttle missions and there is film footage of him in space doing tasks on the shuttles.  It was very cool.

The trees that Jerry worked on at said astronaut's house had poison ivy on them.  Jerry doesn't get poison ivy.  I do.  I now have four sizable patches on my person that are driving me crazy.  Usually Jerry tells me when he does a job with poison ivy so I can wash anything and everything that he touched so that I don't get it, but he forgot to tell me this time until two days later.  I guess that's payback for being nosy about the man, huh?! 

Well, that's my update for now.  I hope you all have a lovely Thursday!

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Mouse Story

We have mice in the basement.  Is that like bats in the belfry?  Anyway, the other night Jerry went downstairs to start the woodstove.  We had let it go out because the weather had gotten warmer for a few days.  He called upstairs for me to bring the cat downstairs quickly.  When I got down there with the cat, he told me that he had seen a mouse running back and forth across the floor.  We put the cat down on the floor and waited.  Of course, the mouse never made another appearance, the cat got bored and just wanted to be taken back upstairs.  Jerry set a trap but we didn't catch it that night.

Yesterday morning I went downstairs to fix the fire for the morning and the mouse ran out and watched me.  He (she?) just stood there and watched while I stirred the fire and put logs in it.  I stood there a while and we just stared at each other.  He was awfully cute, I must admit.  Just a tiny little brown thing.  Then it ran off.  I didn't see it again yesterday afternoon.

Last night I was downstairs putting logs on the fire again when Jerry came down and asked if I had checked the mouse trap.  I told him I hadn't yet, so he went over to it and told me that I might want to go upstairs if I didn't want to hear the ominous snap.  The mouse was actually on the trap, eating the cheese we had put there and the trap hadn't gone off yet.  Jerry stood there and waited while I went upstairs, not wanting to hear what would happen next.

Shortly afterwards Jerry came upstairs in disbelief.  He said the mouse had eaten some of the cheese off the trap while he was watching, and then ran off again.  Andy said that there are probably mouse friends hanging out down there and the one that dared to eat the cheese off the trap said to another mouse, "Hey Steve, watch me mess with this guy watching me!"

This morning I was sitting at my desk working when I heard it.  The ominous snap.  After I finished working I went downstairs to get the trap but when I got down there, there was a little brown mouse sitting right in front of the woodstove hearth just staring at me.  I laughed and told him that he somehow managed to get out of the trap again (yes, I talked to the mouse, and yes, he stood there and watched me!)  When I walked closer, he ran away.  I put logs in the woodstove and then went to look at the trap.  The trap was upside down and there was a very dead mouse in it.  So that confirms that we have a situation, apparently.  As cute as they are, I really can't be sharing my food with them, nor do I want them nesting in my belongings.  So the stats right now are us 1, them 0.  I guess the battle is on!

That's my mouse story for today.  Hope y'all have a happy (mouse-free) Saturday! 

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