Happy Thanksgiving

My horoscope for Thanksgiving: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING! No matter what you've got planned today, things should be funnier and more enjoyable than you'd anticipated. There's a lot of forgiveness and generosity in the air, releasing any pent-up pressure that may have accumulated in recent days. You also feel wonderfully (and justifiably) hopeful about your professional and personal future. Good things are brewing - and you've earned each blessing heading your way. Some travel that is job related may come up or be required during the next few months. Additional training is likely, too. You won't mind a bit, especially since you'll be able to do something you enjoy. "

*Ahem* It looks good to me!

Also, I have to say, I keep bumping into lots of guys, and having these weird pseudo-dates (where men I've just met are asking me to lunch, which seems harmless...) ALL BECAUSE I like a new guy. I'm telling you, I must be giving off a pheromone or something. It's weird how there are dry spells and then when it rains it pours. Memo to the lawyer: "Thanks for taking me out to lunch. It was nice to meet someone new, and talk shop, but if we ever see each other again it's only professional. I won't let you buy me lunch again. I'm currently digging Mr. Duncan McLoed."

Sneaky Squirrel Eviction

It turns out that a little hardening foam and steel wool will NOT prevent the flying squirrels from regaining access to their home that the woodpecker so nicely made for them.

Yes, I heard running though my walls at night again, and yesterday morning looked at the side of my house and saw the holes. These holes are on the second story of my house and way too high for me to reach.

I called my handyman and said, "Let's cover these holes with metal plating." And he measured, bought the materials, cut the metal to size and came over to evict the squirrels.

Six came out of the hole today, and we can always remove the plates to let more out if I hear anymore noise in there.

The first picture is of two squirrels running across the side of the house, the second is one of the squirrels coming out of the hole (right above the ladder), and the last one is the new "fix" of metal plating. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I did get to see EVERY one of the six little guys glide down to the ground. One landed on a tree (the landing was really slick). It happened too fast for me to get a photo though. Sorry.

I am obviously spending EVERY penny that new vinyl siding costs for my house this spring. I can't chance more woodpecker and flying squirrel tag-teams getting inside my walls and messing up wiring, and insulation, and whatever other damage they can do.

Comedy Gold

My cousin called me tonight and told me about this site. It's sometimes sad (because it's so true!) but it's pretty damn funny.

http://www.weeklyradioaddress.com

Enjoy!

Bonheur

Weird things this week... I've heard from multiple sources that I seem REALLY happy lately. So it would seem that a new job, newly elected government, a new fella, and a fresh coat of kitchen paint are all agreeing with me!

Go figure!

Way worse than mice

My handyman was going to see if the woodpecker hole in the siding of my house was where mice were gaining entry. It was FAR worse than we had imagined. A flying squirrel ran out and perched on my roof to see what was happening to his home.

Ah yes, when the handyman banged on the side of my house, a total of EIGHT flying squirrels ran out of that hole. It is now patched up.



Here's my research for the day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_flying_squirrel The Northern flying squirrel nests in holes in trees, preferring large-diameter trunks and dead trees, and will also build outside leaf nests called dreys. They sometimes use cavities created by woodpeckers.

Flyers need only 1/2 inch to get into a building http://experts.about.com/q/Pest-Control-1500/flying-squirrel.htm

FLYING SQUIRRELS Traps for flying squirrels should be made of small mesh wire so they can not escape from the trap. Good baits include peanut butter, pecan meats and sunflower seeds. Before putting bait into the trap, put it near the trap in a saucer to let the animal become accustomed to the trap. After three days of feeding from the bait, place the saucer and food just inside the trap, without setting it. When the animals are used to eating from inside the trap, set it to catch the squirrel. If there are several flying squirrels in an attic, the process may take two or three weeks. http://www.cooperseeds.com/pages/traps/squirrels.html

http://www.wap.atfreeweb.com/flyingsquirrels/fdrpics/01.html pictures of a trap for flying squirrels

Management of Problem Flying Squirrels: Most complaints about flying squirrels are from homeowners with squirrels in their houses. Squirrels will readily take up residence in a building if access is available to a sheltered area. Flying squirrels enter homes through small holes around dormers, ridge vents, eaves, attic vents, and similar vulnerable areas. All such holes should be closed to prevent squirrels and other animals from gaining entrance. Be sure that no squirrels are trapped inside. Adults can cause severe damage by chewing to regain entrance to reach their young. If chewing persists, heavy, half-inch wire mesh can be temporarily placed over the problem area.

The trapping of squirrels can temporarily solve a persistent problem but will not help in the long run, since other squirrels will soon come into an area to replace the removed animals. http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/wildlife/problem/sqrlprob.htm

Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/wildlife/problem/nwco.htm#NWCOINFO

God Damn Mice!

So... I've been hearing a scratching sound in my walls at night for about a month. I don't always hear it, but sometimes it's there.

I knew there had been some mice in my garage, but we (my mom helped) trapped three or four of them and I haven't seen any mice in those traps in weeks.

The wall I hear rodents in is the wall facing my next door neighbors' house where my bedroom and the guest bedroom are located. I have NOT heard them in ANY wall but this wall. I have heard it both in my bedroom and the guest room.

Tonight (after dark) I heard a noise in the guest room and knocked on the wall, and heard a BUNCH of scrambling. IT WAS THE FREAKIEST SOUND EVER!!! I'm sure those things are panicking because of me, but I am so scared and freaked out by them LIVING in my wall. Are they mice? Rats? Freaking squirrels? How much will it cost me to get rid of them? Are they doing any damage in there???

I also have mouse traps in the basement on that side of the house. I have NOT seen any mice in the house, and NOT trapped anything from the basement.

I know there is a hole in the siding on that side of the house. It's pretty high up (close to the 2nd floor window) from a woodpecker. Might rodentia be able to get in there????

God, this is the part of home ownership that SUCKS!

The Unthinkable

My new job is about a million steps ahead of both ME, other workers, and certainly my old job. ALL EXTERNAL E-MAIL SITES ARE BLOCKED FROM OUR INTERNET BROWSER!!!! So I'm feeling a little out of touch with my friends, family, and life outside of work. Because I'm on probation, I hesitate to use my work e-mail for too much personal business (at least for the next 6 months).

Yesterday it snowed like a mo-fo! And one of the bosses (not mine) said aloud while I was in ear shot, "Don't people on probation have to go scrape off everyone's windshields?" The joke is that I'm the ONLY one on probation. The snow is really pretty, but I'm afraid that one of my trees in the front yard make take a tumble. The sleet, and ice, covered with snow are really weighing it down, it has branches touching my driveway (that just CAN'T be good!).

Holy man, how I could I have not addressed this already: WE WON THE HOUSE AND SENATE!!!!!!! Thank god, and some change had better hurry up.

I've met a nice, smart, talented, adventurous, and quite good-looking liberal guy that I like to call Duncan MacLeod, of the clan MacLeod. Did anyone watch Highlander besides me? I don't want to say to much, but I like him.

Can you believe that it's November and I'm playing a wedding today? So late in the season... So I have to run and put the playbooks in order, and get dressed in my concert black.

So again, I'm sorry that I'm not e-mailing as often as I used to. Drop by here to find out what's going on. Really, don't be a stranger! And I will respond to e-mails sent to me, I'm just going to be slower than usual for a while (6 months).

Sheepdogs

I guess I've been trying to relax all weekend, knowing that I start my new job tomorrow. My doggies have been happy to spend the weekend at home with me.

Yesterday I attempted to have a spontaneous garage sale. My neighbor across the street just put his house on the market and he's selling off tools and what not (he and his wife are elderly and moving to a condo). About 6 people stopped by my house, but no one bought anything, so I switched modes to yard-work. I swept my garage out, and did some raking. I organized some crap in my garage too. The dogs wanted to know what I was doing (every time I went in the house they were just standing on the other side of the door), so I put them in the van so they could watch me work. Good times. They seemed pretty happy in the van.

Today we went for a nice long walk. It was unseasonably warm out. I wore a short sleeved shirt with a fleece jacket, and had to remove the jacket after 2 blocks. I had to turn the heat off too. Man, I'm still sweating!

Aldo and Kiki are starting to look like friends. When they sit next to each other it's just SO damn cute! I can only snap a photo about one out of every 10 times or something...

In any case, happy fall everyone!