Mouse House

When this glorious weekend started, with its extra day off work (I actually get Easter Monday off but am being forced to work.. ugh!  still.. Friday off.. glorious) and sunny warm forecast, I didn't think the word I would utter the most as these three days went on would be "mouse".

Spring rocks!

It started with my attempt to fill the bird feeders.  We put the seed in an allegedly rodent-proof container in the shed for the winter.  That was our first mistake - storing birdseed essentially outdoors.  There was a funky stink to the shed when I went to fetch the birdseed at some point last winter, and I noticed the bag had been ripped into, so I quickly moved it all indoors, deciding to defer the obvious rodent issue to spring (and, really, to Jeff).  Well, spring is here!  Time to move things from inside the shed outdoors, including my resin box for birdseed - I will just simply toss the used sunflower seed/mouse poop into a yard waste bag and start fresh - AUGGGGGHHHH!!!!  There was a dishcloth in the bottom of the box that had been chewed through by a mouse obviously looking to make a cozy nest with its fibres and when I picked it up it was distinctly heavy.. because a mouse was LODGED in one of these chewed holes!  He'd somehow gotten himself stuck wriggling around in the dishcloth and that was where his life had tragically ended.  I snapped the lid shut, declared, to no one, "I'm OUT!" and backed out of the shed, locking it tightly.  Attempt #2 to rescue the box had brave Jeff discovering my strangulated mouse and also his fat friend, passed away in the bottom of the box, well fed but passed on.  We were surprised at their stupidity for how smart they clearly were to have been able to get into a mouseproof box in the first place - they had forgotten how they'd gotten in (tiniest hole for lid hinge at the back), and tried to chew their way out through the bottom of the box - which has double layers of resin for that reason.. until their sad, deyhydrated end.  And into the yard waste bag with two dead mice.

My glam weekend continued with the picking up of a winter's worth of dog poop.  Usually there's a rainy stretch of Jan or Feb where you lose the snow and can access your backyard to tackle at least half of this disgusting job - this year.. nope!  A whole winter of poop in one afternoon! (are you still reading this disgusting blog entry?  ... may I ask why?!?!)  I actually did pretty well with this nasty job (things were fairly well desiccated!) until the point where I leant down to pick up one last pile of poop only to discover it was a dead mouse.  Again... I'M OUT!  I have handled a dead mouse once in my life (http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.ca/2012/01/my-week-with-ziggy.html) and would prefer to pass on that again if I don't have to (poor Jeff).

Jeff and I were walking Bailey the other morning and found him acting super strangely during his usual prance around Morning Crest park at the end of our street - he was distinctly rolling his neck in something, which he has NEVER done before but I remember all too well from Rusty's antics on the shores of Lake Ontario when I was a teenager (ewww dead fish)!  I wondered what Bailey might have gotten his nose on.  Suddenly he leaped up, ripped a huge chunk of dead grass up from the ground and starting dashing through the park with it, footloose, fancy free.  He dropped it, rolled in it some more and looked at us in delight.  Jeff and I were confused until the lady we had met in the park explained "oh, he's got a mouse house" - a mouse house.. ew.. - so I told Jeff to get the clump of grass some mouse had previously been using as a home away from Bailey so he'd go back to fetching sticks like a less gross dog.. and when (poor) Jeff picked up the grass to chuck it away he found a dead mouse inside of it.  COME ON!!!!

The last in my tale of woe is that our shed was actually being used as a mouse mansion this winter.  I can just imagine the mice bragging to their friends about it - "you should check out this place, it's huge!"  "there's unlimited amounts of seed, man!!!"  "I have the BIGGEST, COZIEST BED!".  Because some mouse or mice had decided to nest inside our lovely new patio furniture cushions, tearing out all the stuffing and cuddling themselves into a nice snuggly bed for the winter.  We just bought our patio set last spring and are so in love with it - we were so bummed to find the amount of destruction a few tiny teeth could cause.  As he pulled the last pillow down Jeff shouted "there he is!" and whipped a pillow at the shed wall, startling out a very fat, well-rested, happy looking mouse who disappeared into the depths of his mansion.  Jeff duct taped up the two pillows that had fallen victim to the mouse sleepover but the funky stink of something that had been used as a mouse home, coupled with the white trash vibe of a duct taped patio furniture pillow wasn't jiving.  Guests to our deck and firepit this summer - we are on the hunt for new cushions, I swear!!!

It's quite lovely living country-adjacent.. but your belongings becoming belongings of sneaky little furry critters is simply uncool.  The mouse squatting party ends here.  I've decided to let them vacate on their own accord (i.e. remove all food and fluffy things and hope for the best) rather than forcing them out - I am after all an animal liker at the end of the day (I was going to say "lover" but I don't LOVE mice, or stinging insects, or birdseed stealing squirrels and raccoons.. so let's go with liker).

The Mouse House is officially closed!!!!

Closed for business

Florida Fun!

What a fab week in Florida!  It's nice to be home, in that homebody way of filling the fridge with groceries, snuggling up against your favourite pillow and not living out of a suitcase - BUT.. what a great week it was.  The weather was lovely - so hot and humid that first night we got there I wondered if I might melt into a Kristyn puddle after the coldest winter in the history of eternity.  But I adapted in no time.. putting on sandals was the dream, realized.

My friend Catherine's house in Tampa is essentially a palace - the screened in pool/hot tub area where I ate breakfast and drank tea each morning was delightful and we had our own WING in the house!!  It was so nice catching up with an old friend (the saying is true - the old ones are gold :)) and getting to know her lovely hubs a bit better too.  We had a blast at the Tampa Bay Lightning/Toronto Maple Leafs game on the Tuesday night of our visit, though I was confused about an arena that offers no concessions stand selling candy (Patrick and I walked essentially around the ENTIRE place before finding my beloved cotton candy), but has a BBQ concession in every section, offering a selection of BBQ meats featuring turkey legs.  Patrick summarized: "welcome to Florida". It was weird enough being at a game in sandals and a tank top, so I decided to skip the leg.

The shopping in the states is so good that even though the dollar is currently garbage we bought so much stuff we could hardly back it back in our suitcases.  The prices at their Premium Outlets are simply insane.  I bought several pairs of high heels, convinced that because the shoes are so pretty I'll become someone who doesn't default to Birkenstocks at every turn... we'll see ;)

I caught a cold on Thursday which was a bummer, and as my face exploded all the way down to the Everglades on Friday I just kept determinedly blowing my nose, wiping my eyes and stating: "I want to see pink birds!".

Roseate Spoonbill

When I finally did see this amazing pink bird Jeff took a picture of me jumping up and down celebrating, but my puffy face was actually too scary to post to facebook/this blog - and anyone who knows me knows I'm not vain so it had to be pretty bad ;)  It's funny what you can power through when you're sick.  When there were waterbirds, mangroves and alligators at stake, I was game!  But I still am fighting the same cold and have to go wandering around a residually snowy forest and skating around on an icy pond for fieldwork on Wednesday and I'm contemplating if I can "call in sick"!  Oh Ontario April.. you have nothing on Florida in terms of biodiversity! Also, it seems cruel to be working in snow when I'm covered in itchy mosquito bites. ALSO, I'd just like to note that calling in sick is not an option when you are the only staff person in your subregion - you will only end up screwing yourself!  Stupid responsibility!!!

So: you might think our Leafs adventure turned into a misadventure after the Leafs clinched themselves OUT of a playoff spot in Tampa on Thursday night.  But no - Jeff and I were mostly resigned to our fate after the Saturday game the night before we left and were understandably sad then.  By Tuesday, we were just happy to cheer for our guys - sit in great seats (equivalent to reds at the ACC for a fraction of the cost) and by Thursday we were so excited to see them even closer (equivalent to golds/platinums at the ACC!) that we just made the most of it.  It was great being right up next to the glass for warm-up and having a chance to show James Reimer, via some enthusiastic thumbs up, that Jeff and I think he's a fantastic goaltender even if Randy Carlyle may not agree.

Our boy, Reimer, who we've cheered for since he was a mere Marlie!

Our favourite part of Thursday's game was the loser sitting in front of us who saw a deflected puck flying towards us... in the END ZONE, where you sit behind a ton of netting.... who covered his head with his hands and ducked.  We couldn't stop imitating him for the rest of the night when he wasn't looking, or randomly throughout the rest of the trip!

The hijincks were at an alltime low, so I don't really have any hilarious/ridiculous stories to share (that are blog appropriate anyways... let's just say Florida plumbing leaves something to be desired) - it was basically just an easy breezy trip filled with good friends, good food, booze, shopping, beaching, nature, nature, nature, more nature and HOCKEY.  I wish every week could be like last week.  What's a girl gotta do to win the lottery!!!  Also, what's a girl gotta do to get over a cold?  Enough already!!!

Thanks to our great hosts Cath and Pat - I enjoyed Pat's commentary on his countrymen ("river folk" from his hometown on the Mississippi, and "swamp hillbillies" from Florida) and his random accents and just enjoyed catching up with Catherine and getting to enjoy the spoils of her gorgeous new home.  Jeff paid our guest dues by putting together chairs, fixing major appliances and installing lighting fixtures but it still didn't feel like quite enough in exchange for 800 thread count sheets (which are now making my 500's feel scratchy.. dammit Kitz! FIRST WORLD PROBS!) and breakfast overlooking that beautiful back view every morning!! :)

My favourite quote of the week was Catherine's musing that you can make hell out of heaven, or heaven out of hell - sort of the idea that it's up to you how you react to any situation.  For some reason I always have one small meltdown on a vacation but I used that mantra when my stupid inflamed achilles tendon started aching over a mile away from our car - I thought.. I'm in the Everglades... don't cry.. don't freak out.. don't make hell out of heaven.  And it passed.  It's a nice thought for everyone to reflect on - are you appreciating the "heaven" you have in your own life or turning it into hell by focusing on/creating negatives?  And are you able to overcome adversity by finding the humour in it, looking for silver linings and reflecting on the big picture?  It's in the string of philosophies I enjoy that centre around what's essentially at the heart of YOLO (though I try not to use yolo too much day to day lol). Food for thought, as usual.

Ohhhhhh Canada... my home and snowy land.....
Night :)