MICE!
For the past several weeks we'd noticed things we'd left on the counter going missing: used tea bags, the cut up strips of the last jalapeno pepper I'd laid out to dry, a bar of glycerin soap. Then Kathy noticed droppings, and then we moved a bunch of stuff and found more droppings, and then we cleaned the whole kitchen and called Truly Nolen. They came out last week and sealed up a bunch of possible mouse entry points, and set out traps. Since then, we haven't found any Mouse Evidence, and there were no mice in the traps when the guy came out to check them. So hopefully they were Outdoor Mice who were just coming in to grab food, rather than Indoor Mice who'd settled in to have a party under the sink. But they'll be coming back to check the traps several more times, just in case.
We're lucky it wasn't roof rats. This neighborhood is rife with them because much of it used to be citrus orchards, back in the 30s/40s/50s, and many of the houses still have citrus trees in the yards. Roof rats loooooove citrus. And we have seen a couple of them in the yard of late; on dead one a few months ago, and one live one a couple of weeks ago. But we haven't heard any telltale rat noises in the attic crawlspace, so knock wood it's a mouse-only invasion.
We got all the posts for the Back Porch Project anchored this weekend. Next step is cutting the corrugated metal roof sections down to the correct length. After a coolish spring, we've hopscotched the 90s and jumped straight to triple digit temperatures. (That's in the neighborhood of 38-40 degrees, for the rest of the world.) I'm hoping we can get this finished before it gets REALLY hot.
My workplace has decreed that as of Tuesday, everyone needs to wear a mask. You don't have to wear one at your desk, as long as your desk is six feet away from anyone else, but if you're walking around, or going to the break room or wherever, masks are required. I'm making up a bunch more, since I don't want to have to wash the same ones every day. Arizona is one of the states relaxing its stay at home orders in the next week, although our number of cases/deaths is still rising, and our current stay at home order is so lax as to be virtually nonexistent. My employer has been pretty sane about taking precautions, but that can't really be said for a lot of other places around here.
Kathy's mom, who is the person we're really worried about, is doing all right so far. She's in Florida, though, which is being even more idiotic than Arizona, so we can't really relax about her. :(
Rants Talk to me
We're lucky it wasn't roof rats. This neighborhood is rife with them because much of it used to be citrus orchards, back in the 30s/40s/50s, and many of the houses still have citrus trees in the yards. Roof rats loooooove citrus. And we have seen a couple of them in the yard of late; on dead one a few months ago, and one live one a couple of weeks ago. But we haven't heard any telltale rat noises in the attic crawlspace, so knock wood it's a mouse-only invasion.
We got all the posts for the Back Porch Project anchored this weekend. Next step is cutting the corrugated metal roof sections down to the correct length. After a coolish spring, we've hopscotched the 90s and jumped straight to triple digit temperatures. (That's in the neighborhood of 38-40 degrees, for the rest of the world.) I'm hoping we can get this finished before it gets REALLY hot.
My workplace has decreed that as of Tuesday, everyone needs to wear a mask. You don't have to wear one at your desk, as long as your desk is six feet away from anyone else, but if you're walking around, or going to the break room or wherever, masks are required. I'm making up a bunch more, since I don't want to have to wash the same ones every day. Arizona is one of the states relaxing its stay at home orders in the next week, although our number of cases/deaths is still rising, and our current stay at home order is so lax as to be virtually nonexistent. My employer has been pretty sane about taking precautions, but that can't really be said for a lot of other places around here.
Kathy's mom, who is the person we're really worried about, is doing all right so far. She's in Florida, though, which is being even more idiotic than Arizona, so we can't really relax about her. :(
Rants Talk to me