I have a mouse problem in my back yard. At least I think they’re mice. I don’t know how to tell the difference between a rat and a mouse. Anyway, I’ve tried poison but I don’t know how effective it is. Even after I put the poison out, I continue to see evidence of the mice.
A week ago, there was a dead mouse in my back yard. I’ve seen a cat around, so I wondered if that’s who got it. Then a couple of days later, while I was drinking my breakfast, I saw the cat out my window. It was carrying another mouse in its mouth. And yesterday I found a second dead mouse. Yay! I think the cat has declared my yard its territory and is now regularly hunting there. But I wish it would take the dead mice with it instead of leaving corpses strewn about my garden.
I took a wide angle picture of the two mice because they aren’t very pleasant to look at. Actually, the old one’s fur is coming off by now, so it doesn’t look so bad, but the newly dead one is just starting to lose its shape because of all the bugs, so it’s kind of gross right now. Anyway, the mice are in the white circles in the picture below.
First of all, I have to say: Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!
So I’m taking the next step with coffee: I’ve brought a coffeemaker to school. When I was sleepy at school and needed a jolt, I used to bum some coffee from the office. But no coffee this year. I’m already feeling sleepy in the afternoon, so I’ve decided to bring my own coffee maker to school. It’s a “four cup” model. That’s two mugs of coffee. I’ve used it twice now. Four cups is too much. I get the shakes. Two cups is just right.
When I use it, it makes my room smell like coffee. I got some Godiva Vanilla Hazelnut coffee on sale, so actually it smells kind of like chocolatey, candy-like coffee. I still drink it black. I want the caffeine, but don’t need any more calories during the day.
I don’t really have any good place in my room for my coffeemaker, so I’ve put it on my desk. It makes things a little crowded, but I think I can stay ahead of the mess. We’ll see…
I’ve started a new tube of toothpaste. It’s another “Tom’s of Maine” flavor. This one is called Gingermint. I got it in Nebraska when we went to a tree hugger store to look for a natural cold remedy for Beth. She couldn’t take regular cold medicine because she was pregnant at the time. (Eeeww, this toothpaste is old.)
It doesn’t actually have much flavor. It foams up some, not tasting like anything, then it’s HOT. After I’m done, my mouth still feels the burn. So far, this one most closely resembles regular toothpastes in its after-effects. The hot feeling is similar to the minty feeling other toothpastes leave in your mouth. Because it lacks flavor, this toothpaste would make a good ingredient for practical jokes when you want to make someone’s mouth burn.
I will use the whole tube. While the burning is a little uncomfortable, the “minty” feeling afterward is nice.
It’s getting to be time for a haircut. My hair can actually look messy when I get out of bed in the morning. But before I cut it, I’ve been thinking: maybe it’s time for a style change. There isn’t a whole lot you can do when your hair is so thin, but I have noticed and admired Alton Brown’s hair. He seems to have about as much hair as I do, but he does something quite different with it. He lets it grow and then keeps it kind of crazy-sticking-up-all-over-the-place.
Maybe I’ll let my hair grow a little while longer…
Here are some pictures of his hair. The first couple are a little more tame. The last one is the “Mad Scientist” look. Could I pull off the “Mad Religion Teacher” look? Hmmm…
I have two dressers. One is smaller and was assembled by my Great-Grandpa Hoffman. The other is much larger and I got it at a thrift store. I finally got around to sorting through them yesterday. My goal was to get rid of any clothes that I haven’t worn for a year or more, or that didn’t fit me anymore. I have a lot of T-shirts! I ended up bagging up about half of what was in my dressers. I did keep some old shirts though. I kept one from high school, one from detasseling, and every T-shirt from the choir tours I went on when I directed choir.
My reflections:
* I don’t think I can wear funny T-shirts anymore.
* I have a LOT of T-shirts in shades of red and pink.
* Wearing medium-sized shirts is impossible right now.
* Having less clothing in the drawers makes them look neater.
The top drawer of my small dresser is my sock drawer. It’s also where I keep odd treasures. Among my finds were the things pictured below:
A sheet of Shrinky-Dink plastic, my brown recluse spider pin, my Star Trek pins, Beth’s garter from her wedding, a pirate chest full of foreign coins, my ultra-cool sports glasses from grade school, and my Superman brush from childhood.
NOTICE: I am now attempting to update my posting software. If you have any technical difficulties, please stand by.
OTHER NOTICE: I am supposed to backup my files first. Apparently, that takes a while. I guess I won’t be updating before church. And after church I’m going to school for a while, so maybe the update won’t happen today after all.
