Time is measured in different ways at the farmette. Seasons matter, of course. Natural phenomena do as well. 2011 was the summer of the hellacious mosquitoes. 2012 -- of no mosquitoes, but a terrible heat wave! 2012 -- the winter of the never-disappearing box elder beetles. Every day, they appeared inside, who know from where. And this winter -- this winter has been the season of no farmhouse mice! No closed plastic traps in the morning (we always leave at least one up, just in case), no mice to release at some distance to the farmhouse, none of it!
Until today. As I reach into one of the cupboards -- the one where we keep tools and also kittie crunchies, the one that has a hole to weave a cord through for the wine cooler, that one! -- in it, I find the telltale signs of mouse visits. Damn!
So we clean it out and load the traps and leave them inside and tomorrow, maybe we'll be lucky and maybe we'll cart away the one and only mouse found this winter season in the farmhouse. Maybe.
In the meantime, Isis is now under an Ed watch at night -- the goal is to let the two of them occupy no more than two thirds of the bed, or else!
It was my first good night of rest.
And outside, our beloved opossum (beloved because he has a gentle gait and does not harbor the rabies virus) continues to finish all foods rejected by Isis (and there are many -- he is one fussy cat these days). Possibly we are doing the wrong thing here. Maybe we're keeping the opossum tied to the farmette. Ed swears he is young. Me, I think he's ancient. He moves so slowly! And when he sees you with his sleepy eyes, he does play dead until you move out of his space. In any case, it is such a cold winter that I think a bit of extra food cannot hurt.
As for thoughts of getting a dog -- on hold, that's for sure. We need to coach Isis through old age. And I need no other animal anywhere near the upstairs bedroom. Really.
In other news, this was, as expected, a cold day, following and extremely cold night. We woke to -13F outside. But, it is the beginning of the end of winter. I see no negative numbers in the forecast for the next ten days. And that is a very good thing.
We stayed huddled indoors. Breakfast? In the sun room!
A brief sprint to pick up the mail...
Then continued indoor time. Reading and writing. And finally, cooking up a big pot of chili. Heaven, all of it.
Until today. As I reach into one of the cupboards -- the one where we keep tools and also kittie crunchies, the one that has a hole to weave a cord through for the wine cooler, that one! -- in it, I find the telltale signs of mouse visits. Damn!
So we clean it out and load the traps and leave them inside and tomorrow, maybe we'll be lucky and maybe we'll cart away the one and only mouse found this winter season in the farmhouse. Maybe.
In the meantime, Isis is now under an Ed watch at night -- the goal is to let the two of them occupy no more than two thirds of the bed, or else!
It was my first good night of rest.
And outside, our beloved opossum (beloved because he has a gentle gait and does not harbor the rabies virus) continues to finish all foods rejected by Isis (and there are many -- he is one fussy cat these days). Possibly we are doing the wrong thing here. Maybe we're keeping the opossum tied to the farmette. Ed swears he is young. Me, I think he's ancient. He moves so slowly! And when he sees you with his sleepy eyes, he does play dead until you move out of his space. In any case, it is such a cold winter that I think a bit of extra food cannot hurt.
As for thoughts of getting a dog -- on hold, that's for sure. We need to coach Isis through old age. And I need no other animal anywhere near the upstairs bedroom. Really.
In other news, this was, as expected, a cold day, following and extremely cold night. We woke to -13F outside. But, it is the beginning of the end of winter. I see no negative numbers in the forecast for the next ten days. And that is a very good thing.
We stayed huddled indoors. Breakfast? In the sun room!
A brief sprint to pick up the mail...
Then continued indoor time. Reading and writing. And finally, cooking up a big pot of chili. Heaven, all of it.
