Three Cheers for the Mouse Hunters

Yesterday, for the second time since we adopted our two cats, Lily and Robin were stalking something. They were spending a lot of time watching underneath the refrigerator. Occasionally they would try to reach under and grab something. There were a couple of times where we could hear something rustling but we didn’t actually see anything.

Last night I woke up at around 3:00am. The cats were freaking out. That’s not terribly unusual as they often get the zoomies over night. This time I could hear some squeaking though. They were hunting and their prey was freaking out. Later, after I finished my exercise and guitar playing, I went into the bedroom and saw them both hovering over something in the attached bathroom. I turned on the light. There was a mouse laying on it’s back. I thought it was dead but it twitched. It was playing dead. I went to get something to pick it up with and while my back was turned it ran for it. The cats chased. I closed the door and let them do their thing.

15 minutes later I opened the door again and the mouse was once again playing dead. I had a broom and a cardboard box on me this time. I swept it into the box and it jumped out. I smacked it with the broom and swept it up again. I took it outside and dropped it on the edge of the woods. It made a run for it. Good riddance, home invader.

Three cheers for the mouse hunters who once again earned their keep and protected their new home! I gave them a handful of treats as a reward for a job well done. Good kitties! Good, good kitties!


Post script: Fuck. I am working in the cellar. A second mouse just poked it’s head out from under the desk drawers next to me. Son of a bitch! Well, we do live in the woods and the weather has been awful for a week now. This is to be expected. Still… asshole mouse.

The Other Les Paul

We were just in my step son’s room, looking in his closet for an ethernet cable.

I happened to notice that his guitar was there. He doesn’t play anymore (he’s piano and percussion only now), but years ago we bought him a student package Epiphone Les Paul.

I have half a mind to pull it out and use it for some recording this month, just for fun. It’s the other Les Paul in the house. I should give it some love, right? Sure, it’s not a full fledge Gibson, but it’s still sort of a Gibson because Gibson owns Epiphone. Yeah, I should show it some love. I’ll ask Harry first, of course.

Ready

The cars are packed. Harry just left. I’m giving him a smidgen of a head start then I’ll follow.

I have a metric tonne of gastric bypass friendly food and drinks piled up in the cab of the transit van. 95% will be ignored, but it’s there if I need it.

I have music, podcast, and audiobook playlists armed and ready but I haven’t decided what to listen to first. Maybe the new Stephen Stills live record?

A coworker said yesterday, after I shared the events of the road trip fun with him, there’s no denying that empty nest now. Yup. As of today it’s officially official and once again I am equal parts excited for the kids and sad for me and Jen.

Okay…. Time to get rolling. Burlington, VT here I come.

Lots to Do

I have a lot of stuff to do for work this weekend. Being out on Friday dug me a hole that I need to take care of before I go back on Tuesday. I also have a ton of music to do this weekend. I need to do car music so that I can finish my two songs for the month of May. Two songs finished will mean eight songs unfinished but I am thinking of just punting those to next month rather than abandoning them all together. I also want to do some sunrise pictures and the weather looks good tomorrow. It was good today too but I didn’t get out of bed until almost 8:00am soooo… yeah.

All of that to do, but the kids are home this weekend. Bellana is here now and Harry will be here tomorrow. All of that stuff to do and I just want to hang out with them. I’ll figure it out, but not until later today. I just want to veg and be a family guy for a while.

Ouch

I knew this was coming but it’s been a long time since it’s happened…

I am so sore today. From head to toe, but especially my right shoulder.

Jen joked that I’ll probably recover from helping Bellana move just in time to help Harry move. Truth! Not that it will slow me down. I’m happy to help. It’s not overstating things to say I’m honored to help. I’m weird like that, I guess.

For now though… ouch.