House 0, Rodents -1
Yesterday I forgot to mention that I finally made it up into my attic this weekend. I didn’t get any of the cleaning and insulation chores done, but I did get to inspect for roof leaks and can honestly say that I didn’t see any. *relief* While up there I noticed that the two rat traps I had set some time back had been tripped (unsuccessfully from my point of view, successfully from the rodents’) and that most of the rat-poison packs that I had tossed up there had been compromised. While walking around I noticed that a small section of insulation had been gnawed up. As I went to that section I scanned my flashlight to the right and saw one, non-moving squirrel tail about four feet away. SCORE! I wonder if the lack of recent rodent activity can be attributed to this death. If so, it was an extremely-successful kill.
Let me say that I am not into killing animals unless they are to be consumed (and since my Seven-Day Project this week is to eat vegetarian I guess that I won’t be eating it), until they enter my domain. Once inside the confines of my house against my will they become enemy of my state and are asking to be killed.
If People Don’t Pay Attention To The Lights, What Purpose Do They Serve?
I’m sure I’ve expressed my dismay at the new on-ramp traffic lights that have been placed around I-285. I will now express more dismay at the people who refuse to obey them.
You know the type of driver, it’s the same type of driver who will drive down a turn lane past a line of cars and then force their way into the queue at the last second. It’s this type of driver who is now blowing through their red-light with little regard to traffic law. This behavior irks me.
Maybe I’m mad because I feel these people are cheating the system and getting away with it, or maybe I mad that I’m wasting my life waiting in traffic queues while others fly right by. Either way it makes me mad. Pretty stupid, eh?
ITP Flickr Pic
This week’s Seven Day Project is forcing me to eat vegetarian fare
It’s also forcing me to take a photo every day, even if it is sometimes just with my point-and-shoot camera.
Speaking of point-and-shoot cameras, if you are in the market for one that Canon PowerShot SD770IS being offered in that Amazon box (—->) is a pretty good deal.
The Music Industry Is All Screwed Up
Today Neko Case releases a new CD called “Middle Cyclone.” I really love Case’s voice and have a ticket to see her perform at Variety Playhouse in a few weeks (and will be in attendance). Therefore I wanted to recommend and purchase the new disc in order to be prepared for the concert. Here’s the rub…
In accordance to my “buy no new physical media” edict of 2008 I went to href=”http://www.amazon.com” target=”_blank”>Amazon to see about the digital download. I was extremely disappointed to see it priced at $9.99, which in my opinion is an unacceptable price-point for a digital download. However, when I performed a search for Neko Case I found that the physical media is priced at $7.99.
WHAT?
Why in Hell is the digital download priced at $2 more than the physical media which needs to be shipped to me? It makes no sense at all.
Happy Birthday Wishes
I am trying to get back into the habit of wishing my friends a happy birthday in this space. Sure, I’m doing it because it’s a lot cheaper than buying them a $3.50 Hallmark card, but it’s also a lot more thoughtful than adding their email list to a card-company’s mailing list by sending them an electronic greeting.
Today is the birthday of another one of my long-term friends who I don’t see often enough. Today’s birthday greetings go out to Sandy, one of the friendliest, prettiest young ladies I’ve ever met. She and her hubby Mike (one of my baseball and concert-going friends) are ITP-living parents to two boys. [psst - Mike, let's go to some Braves games this year. psst - Sandy, convince Mike he needs to take the boys to ballgames this year.]
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused
Current Music – listening to a Great Lake Swimmers’ song called “Various Stages”
Website Of The Day – Tack Sharp is a relatively new photography podcast to which I’ve just started listening. The content is very basic, but the hosts have a strange dynamic that I find entertaining.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 2.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (3)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 1
Marta Rides – 0
March Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my kitchen
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas
2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop
The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Okay, probably a little to main stream for you but today Amazon has the new U2 “No Line on the Horizon” download for only $3.99 today.
I’m confused by your score keeping, sounds like the rodent lost the latest battle? I guess I need to do something, I found another half eaten banana this morning. So much for the idea the dogs would scarce them off. I just hate to off the the bugger, I’m sure he’s a nice sort, he did leave the box of girl scout cookies untouched.
I do consider it a “win” for the house. I chose the -1 to represent the removal of one rodent. Perhaps you have a monkey or chimp coming in and eating the banana? If not, you have one healthy rat/mouse/squirrel which eats bananas over Girl Scout cookies. I know that the rodents are only following the course that nature has set forth for them, but as I said, once in my domain they are my enemy and must be eliminated before they do real damage to the house.
I’m on the fence about U2. I really have not enjoyed any of there albums since the late 1980′s, early 1990′s.
ok, gotch…I didn’t catch the negitive sign.
I listened to the preview of the album, nothing really jumped out at me…I’ll probably listen to it again when I get home and see what I think.
Hi Paul,
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. I just happened to read your blog this morning (I like to check in once in awhile to see how you are doing). I think that was the nicest birthday wish I received today and it made my day.
Mike and the boys are all yours! Charlie is a huge Braves fan, so he’d definitely be up for it. Sam on the other hand is a little more high maintenance right now, so he may have to sit out this year.
Have a great day and I hope we’ll get the chance to get together soon!
Best,
Sandy
Maybe if they put the ticket cameras on those on ramps people would start obeying. Allan just got a red light camera ticket over in Roswell – $70! Damn, that’s a bunch of money, and he did it in my car, so it looks like I’m the law breaker. At least we can pay it online, and it doesn’t effect my driving record.
Sandy, my pleasure.
Let me know when Mike gets the smoker fired up this Spring/Summer. I’ll bring the beer/fixings/whatever.
$70? Ouch! I always get nervous around those red-light cameras at intersections. My biggest fear is that I am going to slow down to stop and the person behind me will speed up to try and get through it. I know it will be “their fault” but it will still cost me time, and potentially money and pain.
Good job on the varmints. My best tactic was peanut butter on the trap, then put the trap against the wall or other boundary.
And I’m with Martha- House- 1 Rodents- 0
What kind of sport has negative scoring?
-FP
Well, since much of the blog is negative and there is now one fewer squirrel in the Universe I decided to deduct one from the Varmint score.
I had set those traps with peanut butter but don’t don’t have a good wall or boundary in the attic against which to place them. I’m considering resetting them for Spring.
I recently had rats in my apartment. And by rats, I mean rats the size of a small possum. I guess they were trying to escape the cold, which I understand. However, my house is MY domain, and they are not welcome. Since I didn’t have the stomach for the traps, I used the poison bait and it seemed to work well. But it did nothing to stop me from freaking out about it. I guess my cats are fairly useless.
I have no problem with the traps. Although it seems that it was the poison that did the deed and not the traps in this instance.
My experienc with the traps is if you don’t set it off at least once while placing it, it probably isn’t sensitive enough. There were a lot of happy, well fed rats around the old house until I learned this.
We’d do the poison for the mice currently enjoying our hospitality in the barn, but we’re afraid of the dogs finding it.
-FP