If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

I love the little book about the mouse who seems to take every advantage after being given a cookie; one thing leads to another with him.
My morning has been kind of like that, but it didn't begin with a mouse. It began with a RAT!
A rat. In. Our. Garage! That is what we've surmised. A few days ago I noticed some droppings out there and realized there was SOME little animal taking up residence. Perhaps the droppings had been there a few days, I don't know. But then on Saturday I saw it, a dark blur dashed under my car when I entered the garage! And of course I would have totally freaked out had I not seen the droppings, but I kept my calm and carefully knelt and looked under the car.

Nothing.

I don't know what I expected, maybe some critter sitting there trembling, holding his tail and sheepishly looking up at me, like Remy from “Ratatouille.” But this rat had quickly found another hiding place, and I made a new resolve to plan out some form of extermination.

The options I figured were: Find a live trap and then truck him way out to live in the desert or mountains? Sure death in this heat, one would think. Or there was surer death, by one of those snapping mousetraps we used to use when we were kids. Do they even make those any more??

(I asked a neighbor about it and he told me they do. When his daughters roomed together in college, he brought them one when they realized they had a mouse in their apartment. One night they heard a SNAP in the other room and ran to see the dead mouse. They found instead their neighbor's hamster! How sad is THAT?!)

A third option: I actually have a resident TERRIER! She was made for this very hunt. After some useless coaxing, I literally carried Maggie out to the garage, she did NOT want to go out there with me. She knew I never invited her out at night into the dim garage, something definitely was up. But once out there I figured I'd get her all excited and she'd sniff around and locate the little creature. She used to chase cats insufferably, this was right up her alley! I acted all excited and interested, looking and looking around the garage, making it clear there was definitely something she should be hunting for.
But she failed miserably at this, offering only a few wussy sniffs and then giving me a look like, “Whatever are you talking about, Woman?” So I let her go back into the house.

Then Saturday night I opened the back door of the garage a few hours before bed, hoping the hungry rat would decide the dark outside held far better possibilities than did my dry, food-less garage.

Sunday I noticed more droppings. Are there really more? Or maybe I'm just really attuned and noticing them all the more. The jury is still out on that one, it will be a few days before I decide whether or not a trap is necessary. Stay tuned. Because trust me, you want to hear about how rat poop removal led to leaf blowing, leading to vacuuming the yard and then even a trim for my Charlie Brown tree. Oh, and rescuing a very different sort of creature.

Channelling Paul Bunyan

Yesterday I got to wield an AXE!

We have this huge tree in front which I love - it is a Sissoo tree; the nursery man said the leaves were the closest thing to a quaking Aspen that can survive the Arizona heat. I miss Aspens, they seem to have a wonderful personality and they just make me think of cool, tall mountains.

But it has really gotten big and Jim keeps saying he wants to have it taken out. It gets pretty bushy and he worries it will get knocked over in a big storm and slammed right into our house. I defend it and its trembling leaves. I've loved it since it arrived our first winter - spindly and devoid of foliage... it looked so lonely and had like two leaves left after the truck ride from the nursery; Jenn Johnson called it our Charlie Brown tree.

But it grew big, right next to our grass, and that became a little bit of a problem. We had a front lawn for 10 years and the shallow watering brought the tree's roots to the surface. We began seeing an occasionaly sprig pop up in the lawn. We took out the lawn and they covered it all with plastic and rocks, but nature was not to be denied. 'Volunteer' trees started popping up here and there over several months. These tree-wannabees really were just branches themselves, coming up off of parts of the tree's root that saw enough sun, it got a rough bark and sent out these sprigs.

We kept trying to trim them short, but that didn't work; in fact, it made the opposite effect, they seemed to come back in force, multiplying like some magic dragon head - you cut it off and two more grow back.

So I got me an axe! Well, we had it hanging in the garage, we haven't used it for anything in AZ yet. I'd forgotten how heavy it was, and when I took it down I nearly lost control and put it through the car window! Whew, that was close.

But that weight is what makes it so effective. And evidently it is plenty sharp, it did such a wonderfully quick job hacking out these tree roots. I got out all but a big one in the middle of the yard that may require a chainsaw most likely. I'm sure Brent and Alec will LOVE that job!

The photo shows a clumpy one that had been down among the streambed near the street, it was quickly becoming a virtual forest. When I dug away all the stones and revealed the root, I could see it had become this fat knob full of baby tree branches. But 10 minutes of chopping away with the axe at the root on either side finally got it out. (preceded by 20 minutes of clearing away rocks and dirt under and around it so I wasn't whacking into all the rocks there.)

So there you have it, my deforestation of our little yard in the desert, something I NEVER thought I'd be doing after leaving the woods of Massachusetts!

Non-Talent

This morning as I was laying in bed thinking about getting up, I was considering some of the gifts and talents I have, a few of which are rather useless. The one at the forefront of my mind was just made aware to me as I lay there in the dark. Reeder got up and I realized I was awake, so I guessed what time it might be..... As in: Should I be getting up soon to walk, or can I go back to sleep? (the clock is over on the dresser, I have to put on my glasses to see the time.)
Judging by how much awake I felt, and knowing I'd gone to bed a little earlier than usual, and the smidge of light beginning to come in the window, I guessed 5:30. I fumbled for my glasses on the nightstand and peered over at the clock. 5:30! On the dot!! As Reeder climbs back into bed I HAVE to brag about this remarkable ability. The tired man is unimpressed and quickly falls back to sleep before his weird wife draws him further into inane conversation.
"He just lay there... it was his only defense."

So I got up.

I have always been able to tell the time pretty accurately without actually looking at the clock, and it's been a game over the years with the girls when we'd be out running errands. Before someone checks the clock, we'd all guess the time. They always hoped they'd be closer to the actual time than their mother. I stopped wearing a watch decades ago since we are usually surrounded by clocks anyway. And in the mall I had no compunction asking a passer-by for the time, to the abject embarassment of my daughters that their mother would just engage a complete stranger in conversation.
Once while out with a friend, this topic came up and I told her the game with the girls. So she asked me what time it was right then. I was like, "I don't know.... Ummmm, 2:28." She pulled out her cell phone and sure enough, 2:28! We laughed at that, I had just pulled some numbers out of a hat, I hadn't really put any thought into it.
Obviously this is a stupid ability. There are so many gifts that would be so much more useful! Like perfect pitch, or diagnosing disease (or I know you're thinking it, picking Lottery numbers. That would be sweet.)

On a very random note - I can juggle. I taught myself that 25 years ago and you would think that would be a pretty useless talent in a non-circus household, but it actually has some practicality, in a limited setting. When I am rummaging up in a cupboard or high in the pantry, and something accidentally comes sliding out, my hands automatically catch it as it falls. We usually only see the object out of the corner of the eye and then try to prevent it from falling, but our reaction time to bar it from coming off the shelf is just too late, and it crashes to the counter or floor. But my arms react differently now, I automatically reach down low and catch the item just before it hits the counter. It totally surprised me the first time I did that. This talent has only a tiny bit of value; but it has saved us much glassware.

I am good with words and names, and in doing genealogy that comes in very handy. And in meeting new people, too, in trying to remember names. Tho it helps me to see the names written. I guess I'm a visual learner.

But I shine when we are playing wordgames like scrabble and boggle (tho Chelsea has been beating me lately!) and one called WordTwist -where you are given 6 or 7 letters and have to unscramble and find as many words as possible, including the long word - forming words is a really nice trick, but has no use in real life, not really.
One night as Jim and I were sitting here watching TV, I was playing Word Twist on the laptop. I looked at the 7 letters and immediately knew the long word. It was something like A E L N S D C. I knew it the second I looked at it, and I turned to Jim and practically yelled, "What USE is that? So what if I can rapidly unscramble some letters and see a word? I am not a spy nor cryptologist, so it's pretty useless in everyday life here in Mesa, AZ."

Maybe I should go serve my government or something, or see if Dan Brown needs a writing assistant on his next novel.

I think now I shall go practice juggling. Maybe I will juggle candles.

Mr and Mrs Fixit

I was fixing something again today, I got to use the ratchet set!! And I had a little epiphany.

My father-in-law was an electrician for the city of Los Angeles. Reeder remembers going with his dad to the job, climbing up into the inner workings of buildings all over Los Angeles, including City Hall. He also got to go up on the mountains to see (and work on) the relay tower stations... all of it wonderful adventure for a kid.
And so he understands all things electrical. And while I bragged about fixing our ice maker (a second time the other day,) because I could figure out where the line was freezing and thaw it, HE replaced a part on our water softener and got it up and going again. He had studied it as it would try to run, then just stop part way through its cycle. He figured out where it was failing and then went and bought this little $8 part.
"I am so impressed you figured that out, I seriously pictured us dishing out several hundred bucks for a new unit this weekend." He answered,
"YEARS of working in the lab and repairing Gas Chromatograph machines. I simple had to study it to figure it out."

My epiphany came when I realized Jim is much like his dad in these things, and I am more like MY dad.
My dad has always been a jack-of-all-trades, and by profession, an engineer. No, he didn't drive trains (although, funny you should ask, he loves laying out model trains in his retirement.)
He designed engines and their paraphenalia for Hughes Aircraft in So California for many years. Then he was offered to go to design spaceships with NASA, but instead he stayed in So Cal and ended up working for Special Devices, Inc, where he designed stuff for the army. There was always a drafting table set up in his bedroom covered in plans. I remember once he was designing fake grenades for training purposes, that would 'explode' with some sort of dye, to show a soldier he was 'dead'.

I LOVED the exactness of those plans, the fine measurements involved, and his very neat printing. And he could always repair everything around the house.

So today, I set out to replace the dead fan in our bathroom. I was determined to NOT go get a handy-man for this, it seems relatively easy to pop it out and then replace it. The fan sits up in the ceiling of our little toilet area, directly above the toilet, so the first hurdle to get over is just how to reach the silly thing. After picturing for days how to get our various ladders in that TINY room, I told my friend and she suggested I use this tall step-stool she had. It JUST barely clears the toilet bowl, but it does straddle it, for really easy access to the ceiling. (Brilliant, Nichole!)

I consulted the resident electrician about the various parts of the whole procedure. I showed him the little motor I'd pulled down, and he pointed out it might not be the motor, but rather a transformer, and I'd need to pull out the whole unit. He understands the electrical motor part of it, I understand the larger bugs to be worked out.... Really important things, like ladder placement.

A word of warning: The reason our fan died was immediately evident when I removed the cover, which itself was pretty dusty. The inside motor was COVERED w/ fuzzy lint. I mean, it looked basically like a beige tennis ball up there (or something one might find in the back of one's fridge.... not that that has ever happened in THIS household. ;c) I wish I'd taken a photo of it.
The other fan (photo) in the larger part of the bathroom has only a quarter of the fuzz of the bad one, so it's clear the lovely soft toilet tissue we use creates too much 'dust' which gets sucked right up onto that motor..... so save yourself some repairing headaches and vacuum your fans before they die of suffocation or overheat or something. Popping off the cover to do so is a must, though jockeying a stool or ladder in there will be a pain.

So after a trip to Home Depot, it turns out we were both right - that little motor COULD be replaced. Or, as we did, you pop out the whole unit and replace it. I did the popping out and staging before I ran off to work, and Jim put the new one up in there. Tomorrow I'll be sure to vacuum the rest of our exhaust fans. But not tonight, I'm exhausted. And I've exhausted all my clever lines here, so I should wrap this up.

Recipient

This morning I was the recipient of a wonderful act of kindness.

I got home from my walk and remembered I needed to quickly get a signature from Jenny's dad, it being the first of the month and my paperwork was all due to be turned in to the agency in a few hours.
As I drove away from the Osborn's, I realized I was hungry and only a block from Micky D's, and suddenly I was craving one of their breakfast sandwiches. And OJ too, that sounded SO delicious.
Oh, but I didn't have any cash, I'd given it all to the lawn boy on Saturday. But I always have a bunch of change in the car, so I grabbed a handful of coins and stuck it in my wallet.

And even though I was still in my sweaty walking clothes, I went inside to order.

At the counter, however, I was counting out the coins and when the lady said 3.79, I realized my OJ upgrade put me over my coinage. I considered going back out to the car to get more money, but instead figured I could live without the extras. "I'll just take the sandwich, I don't have enough for the meal," I told her .

"Yes you do!" a man said, and slipped a dollar under my arm onto the counter. I looked over my shoulder and got a little glimpse of an unshaved older fellow, so I threw back a "Thank you!" as I counted out the rest of the money. I then looked around for him, but he was gone.

I got my meal and realized I was grinning as I headed out the door.

But then I couldn't help but wonder, "Just how needy DO I look here in my yoga pants and sweaty hair??"

HOME is GOOD

Okay, my husband is coming into the texting age. Finally. I think the only time I ever texted him in the past was when our grandson, Parker died, and I HAD to reach him at church meetings. And miraculously, it worked. But then a few years later he found it useful in, of all places, stake conference... when we had 3 buildings full of people and the meeting/talks from the Stake Center were being sent over to the other two buildings via a new wireless system. They texted each other to be sure they were getting feed. It was VERY useful in that setting. (so if you saw this and wondered, "Is the Stake prez playing Angry Birds? Well, now you know he was NOT.)

But that was it, nothing else for him really. Until this past June. His sister was ill. She was texting me, she started texting him (even tho I'd warned her he wasn't too keen on it and she might not get much response.) And he texted back and forth with her. She was put on oxygen, so talking was a major issue; ergo, texting was just perfect! And so she was texting everyone, and Reeder was learning the ins and outs of it, and we could all keep in contact until we got up to see her.
And then the man discovered his phone had this verbal recognition app! Now he didn't have to fumble with the hamster-sized keyboard, he could simply speak his mind and voila', there it was. Sometimes 'Mom will be coming' would show in print as 'Mumble peek honey' or something like that, but he could view it and edit before sending it off.
So now we are a texting family. And I text a few friends, it's helpful if I am at work, or they are. For travelling long distances, it has saved my sanity having someone to chat with. It is just a brilliant invention, tho it surprised its inventors at how FAST texting caught on.

"Nobody had foreseen how fast and quickly the young people would use this," Hillebrand said. He's still fascinated by stories of young couples breaking up via text message.

My daughters struggled to teach me how the predictive text worked, where I type a word and it gives me options. I finally figured it out on a roadtrip with Reeder last October, when I had a new phone. I got out the booklet and read all about it, and it worked, I finally learned how to do it. (You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!)

But I still have issues with the dictionary. It REFUSES to remember some oft-used names and words. Chelsea it doesn't like, ever. Nor Reeder... that is always Redder. I have to go in and edit the closest word it offers up (but it has NO trouble remembering Jonah and Jemma.) IF always shows first as HE, note is always MOVE; who - a commonly used word, is first WIN. And since I don't look at the screen - I'm too busy looking at my fingers - when I finally look up, I see these jumbled sentences that I have to go back and edit. BOOK shows when I type Cool, and I think, 'Yep, I agree, books are cool!' Aubrey is always AVEREW. That isn't even a word!! Why would the phone pick something no one would ever write? Why isn't the dictionary teachable?

Maybe on my next phone, I'll get that verbal application. But for now, I'll live with it. Besides, my phone always reminds me, 'HOME is GOOD.'

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

This has been a roller-coaster day, up and down from start to finish. We began early with little girls sleeping here while momma and daddy were at the hospital welcoming the 4th little Jones girl to the world. She arrived at 6:19, still calling her little BabyCake until Mom and Dad choose her name. But she's a cutie and looks just like her sisters, and she's plenty healthy.... everything you hope for when a new one comes into the world.



But sadly, we also had to say good-bye to a family member. Jim's sister departed this world at 4:30, with Jim there to oversee her being taken off life support, and her son Beau at her side, holding her hand as she slipped quietly away.

We were there in Vegas to see her last weekend, when she was suddenly, finally admitted to the hospital to figure out why she couldn't breath. Her shortness of breath only started in early May, yet here she was end of June with no explanation why her pneumonia wouldn't respond to anything they tried, and all oxygen was offering little help. A lung biopsy finally showed adeno carcinoma, meaning a cancer that started somewhere in an organ and travelled quickly, killing off her lungs. It was a tremendous surprise, she was a healthy 51-yr-old woman, busy and loving life.

She did have a little time to say her goodbyes as family members drove up to Las Vegas to see her over the weekend, and she broke the news to Beau as best she could, how he has a dad that loves him very much and will take care of him. She was ready to go, but it was so painful leaving the light of her life.

Linda will be missed. It's a shame a lovely young life like that would have to go so suddenly. It's the way life is sometimes, there are no guarantees.

Except that we also get sweet new little ones helping us cope.
BabyCake Jones is proof of the goodness we can expect. We none of us know how long we have on this earth, so hug your loved ones, say I love you often. You just never know.