Random 5 for October 28 – Deer, elections, religious, mice, silver linings

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See those stems with no buds or flowers? Deer lunch.

The rascals! – Last year was the first time the deer ate my front porch chrysanthemums. I forgot and bought another big pot for this year and they pruned it again. They seem to like the buds best. I put a note in my garden book to not bother next year. Let them buy their own dinner.

Avoiding – We are a week out from our local election. I avoid all news around election time. The majority (if not all of it) is not true. Everything is a blame game and I’m not engaging. Even the really great shows have the awful election ads. Everything has to be recorded or we will wear out the mute button. I will not vote for anyone who spends their ad budget bad mouthing someone else rather than telling us what they would do. The ostriches are smart sticking their head in the sand.

Church-going? That doesn’t cut it! – We live a few blocks from a big church. In order to get to the main road you have to go through a 4 way stop sign. After church has left out, those church-goers fly through the stop sign without stopping. Perhaps they think God is with them. He is not. They are rude and have no problem almost hitting your car then giving you the finger. What’s the point of the attending a church service if you are not going to be kind to your neighbor?

My mice were dark in color.

Mice update – Friday night we had another episode of two cats and an old lady catching two mice. Things went much quicker (I attribute that to the cocktail at dinner!). Two adorable mice were re-homed while two cats danced to Bruce Springsteen. This was the first time I caught them on top of a cabinet. I may have found the point of entry. There were mouse droppings (that’s the polite way of saying mouse poop) on the cabinet top. We will try a few sealing techniques. I am convinced the dead mouse that is stinking up the basement is in back of the cabinets. We may try moving them. I need to find my gas mask.

Sadly not – We spend a good part of Saturday going through and moving full size cabinets and all we found was the poop. No dead mouse. In a few more days it should be gone assuming no more mice have heart attacks. I was able to throw out a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t have kept. Always a silver lining.

So how was your week? Were you dancing in the dark (gosh he was so young and handsome!)?

83 thoughts on “Random 5 for October 28 – Deer, elections, religious, mice, silver linings”

  1. Living here in Sri Lanka at the edge of the jungle, we do battle with mice on a continuous basis. We use humane traps and put things like bananas in them and then next morning, take them for a little spin on our motor scooter and drop them off in the rice paddy. That way we don’t need to deal with corpses. Ufff mouse poop is a common sight… yes little black droppings… Apparently peppermint oil works well too. Best of luck…

    Peta

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  2. All these city people who have decided they want to raise chickens…obviously they have never been around chicken coops and poops! Gag. Can;’t you just pay some farmer with chickens in a rural area to pretend a couple of their hens are yours? You could tied the children to visit (wear old shoes)
    Mice must be like ducks: they know winter is coming and heading over to a nice warm resort for the duration. We are so thrilled that our new neighbor ranger yesterday with a picture – her little cat who is so lonely and sits on our porch all the time now has a new hobby – she killed a mouse and set it on the front door mat. We are all thrilled. Nothing like a good mouser next door.
    Sunday streets may be as dangerous as Saturday night streets. Dad always said “religion iis fine until a church gets involved”…. Maybe the message get lost in the fine outfits?
    Hope the mouse hunting declines.

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    • We have gone 4 nights now without a mouse hunting expedition. Fingers crossed. I had a chicken as a pet as a child. (No, my mother had nothing to do with it!) My adult cousin gave me three colored chicks (and my mother was pissed!). My dog ate one. Another went missing but Pepper (who was a rooster) and I became fast friends all summer. He rode on my shoulder. On the first day back at school, I came home. No Pepper and chicken for supper. I refused to eat it. My mother was afraid that I would insist on bringing Pepper in for the winter. She was right.

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      • How cool you actually got a chick. Husband’s were sadly taken care of by a dachshund (which had lulled one sister into a feeling of “they are friends” and she opened the chicken wire fence between them….they told the oldest girl, the ducks flew away..which she believed until siblings were laughing about stuff and let it slipped a few years ago. She was crushed.
        The grocery stores and feed stores used to all have the pretty colored Taste chickens and ducks. So soft. We never got one. Mom had to feed chickens when growing up – not going to happen again, she said. HAHA

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  3. If you ever figure out the answer to your question “What’s the point of the attending a church service if you are not going to be kind to your neighbor?” I’ll be interested in knowing it. I ponder this, too. There must be some disconnect in the brains of some churchy people wherein they hear the good word, but don’t know how to implement it. Most annoying.

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  4. What a shame to lose your chrysanthemum buds. At least the deer left you some.

    We receive a great Voter’s Pamphlet. If I were running for office, I’d spend more time preparing my brief description of myself and my views for the pamphlet. (Some could be better.) I always read the pamphlet carefully … and the write-up is free for the candidate.

    I find that I’m more careful to be polite when I’m coming out of the Church parking lot. Like you said: What’s the point of the attending a church service if you are not going to be kind to your neighbor?

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    • Our newspaper publishes points of view of different candidates but I never find it organized for easy reference. Fortunately we don’t have too many positions to vote for so I am confident in who I am voting for. The worst is when you have to vote for a judge because there isn’t much campaigning so you don’t know either candidate very well.

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  5. You are so much more brave with your “mousing” than I am! I get a little squeamish just reading about your adventure. And your observations about the rude drivers coming out of church are a sad commentary on at least the people in that spiritual community. Very unfortunate, really, and it sounds like in your town, it’s also dangerous!

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    • The crazy drivers are dangerous. It’s as if they believe there is an invisible shield around their car. It’s not like leaving a stadium where it takes an hour to get out of the parking lot. As for the mice, they don’t bite. I had to catch a chipmunk that my old cat Jake brought into the house. He hadn’t hurt it because it was frisky. They are a lot faster than mice but they nip. It was 45 minutes of Keystone Cops but I had to get it out. Finally I had an opportunity which I would have lost if I went for a towel so I grabbed it with my hands. It did nip me but it didn’t break skin (or hurt) and I was able to scoot it out. We were both grateful for it’s freedom. After that (and a bat incident that involved throwing a towel over it) I was fearless (except when it comes to snakes! I’d have to call the National Guard for that).

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  7. Your mums look just like mine!! I just love feeding the deer my money. I’ve always been amused at the things people do and say as they’re pulling out of the parking lot at church. They must have been sleeping during the homily or sermon.

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  9. I still can’t believe you found where those stinkers were coming in! I would love to know where the dead stinky one is but that is not looking likely. The neighbors around us back in MO used chicken poop for fertilizer and it was burn your eyes stinky, My week was funny mostly because of rhe dead stink and dancing cats!

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    • I’m glad I can amuse you with my mice! None last night. First time that happened all week so maybe something is working. Poop fertilizer is the worst. It takes a few days for the smell to dissipate and yes, it is eye watering.

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  12. P.S. – Those deer! Were your mums last year the same color? I wonder if they are attracted to the bright color? Maybe the rust-colored ones would work better … or silk ones. After I started walking, I filled all my porch pots and decorative baskets with silk flowers. They look very realistic and no muss or fuss.

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      • Yes, the copper-colored mums are not that striking and would blend in with the foliage. Sometimes I see people have bought them paired together in usual color pairings and they are beautiful. I’ve actually had my silk flowers since 2012 but I should have gotten new ones this year as they are starting to fade – they have full sun and are out from Memorial Day through the end of September.

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          • I did and unless you were up close you cannot tell. I have a planter that is a tall pair of Wellies. Nothing would grow in there as it got “wet feet” and died. So I bought two bunches of silk wildflowers, weighted them down with river rock in old clementine mesh bags and pipecleaners and now they look great. Before, it took less than a week before it died. Poor drainage and the planter is resin so you can’t drill into it or it will shatter.

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  13. I hate to admit it, but those two mice are rather cute … I would feel differently if they were my mice I’m sure. Sometimes the people in the church parking lot fight for a space and swear at the same time … I used to walk past a large church when I walked only in the ‘hood, before going to the Park. I didn’t know I knew how to read lips, and had that ability!

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  14. We had an officer that was highly religious. If he caught you speeding, or sunning a stop sign, the worst thing to tell him was you were just coming or going to church. He almost always told them that they should be setting an example, not breaking the law.

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  17. So sad about the mums – they are so beautiful in the fall. Maybe the cats can be trained to chase them? Also sorry about the elections coming up and the rude after-church people. No helping some things, unfortunately. But you do have cats and cocktails, so there is balm in Gilead!

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      • I have a perfect driving record … by pure luck! I was distracted at an intersection once and went through on a red light. On another occasion, I made a quick lane change to get around an idiot, and almost hit a lady on a crosswalk. No …… I have not run anybody over, and yes I am very careful …. but there are always the surprise circumstances which can really catch one off guard!

        I am reminded of a car which passed me “on the inside” (on the soft shoulder!) at high speed. Was the driver really an idiot, or a professional on an emergency response? Perspective is everything.

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        • Reminds me of the person in front of my exiting a major interstate highway, driving down the middle. License plates showed they were not from the area so they didn’t know which way they needed to exit — right or left. Fortunately I pick that stuff up. No horns, just smiles.

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  23. One the plus side to the deer munching ‘gardeners’ (if there is one), at least they pick up after themselves unlike the neighborhood squirrels chew up stuff and spit out anything that doesn’t go down their gullets. The current political ads are beyond vile and despicable and every news broadcast beings with something related to the vilest candidate of all who happens to be the one not currently running. I am SO SICK of it and him. Talk about over-saturation. The media needs to stop. Just stop with the nano-second by nano-second coverage. Nothing he says is surprising and with each new tweet/rally, the bar falls lower. If only they’d open each show with lots of scenes of puppies, kittens, baby goats or fluffy ducklings and not politics. Then I might actually enjoy watching TV again.

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  25. Hi Kate – This Posts just begs responses (well done)!

    Re Deer – All you need to do is post a note such as “Dear deer. Would you please be so kind as to not eat my flowers, specifically the ‘Mums’. Thank you.” It might work.

    Re elections – Totally agree with you in that I will not vote for anybody who tells me why not to vote for his/her rivals. Tell me why I should vote for “you” and I might just do that.

    Re Churchgoers – I used to express similar opinions, until it was explained to me that because they go to church does not mean that they are living perfect Christian (in my case) lives. They could be trying to move from a life of hypocrisy, or perhaps just trying to find a spiritual connection. The fact that they go to church does not make them any more perfect/imperfect than the rest of us. They just go to church!

    Re mices(?) – You are probably already thinking of this but, just in case …. be careful that you don’t seal them out of your living areas, but allow them into the wall cavities. Sealing the external access points would be ideal. Good luck. They can squeeze through really tiny openings! 🙂

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    • I don’t hold much hope for the deer note. Yes, I expect people who claim to be religious to be nice to people for at least 10 minutes after leaving a service. I know my expectations are outrageous but I’m not asking them to stop doing drugs. They just need to obey stop signs. The mice are obviously flummoxing us. Worse this year than last. I hear you about getting into the walls. Our home is relatively new so it’s pretty well sealed but they do get through teeny tiny spaces.

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  26. Do you have those ultrasonic mouse deterrents in the US that you plug into an electricity socket? We bought 4 for about £20 when we were in the cottage having heard the pattering of little feet in the roof space (we had four false ceilings, but one was totally inaccessible). We put one in each and the final one in the conservatory. Never had a mouse in the house after that. Only thing might be that it disturbs the cats, but the lady who intrduced them to us had six cats and no problems either way.

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      • C’mon Kate ……. they are not necessarily converted. They are just as flawed as the rest of us and happen go to church. Perhaps the distracted driver was going home after an emotionally traumatic service, or perhaps they were pre-occupied with a recent loss. Any distraction cannot be condoned, but it happens to most (all?) people at some point in time. Churchgoers are no different from the rest of us, unless they are openly preaching a life style which they clearly have not adopted…. and that is just plain hypocrisy. 🙂

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    • As a child there were farmers fields in back of us. Every spring they fertilized with chicken poop. You couldn’t breathe for a few days. Then there was the pesticide smell (probably DDT). Fortunately my mother baked a lot when it stank outside. it’s getting more faint and at this point it’s only me who can smell it.

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