Family Web Site

The following exchange appeared on our family's web site. Are other families discussing such pressing matters as well?

Mouse Watch 2006

		Cousin Amy- Feb 23, 2006 View Since no one has been saying much lately I thought I would share a bit of news. There is a Mouse, or some critter yet to be determined living in my car. For the past couple of weeks my car alarm has been going off at night and I haven't been able to figure out why. Then yesterday when I went to look in the glove box of the car I found that papers had been chewed and there was little poops everywhere! After further investigation I have found more stuff chewed in the trunk along with more droppings and wrappers chewed throughout the car. Last night I put two mouse traps in the car, one in the front one in the trunk, with some peanut butter in them in the hopes of catching the little bugger. However, when I got into my car this morning it told me the alarm had gone off again, and no mouse had been trapped!!! Stay tuned for updates....
		Read what others had to say:
		Cousin Marsha - Feb 23, 2006 Sounds like Maui- only people would have rats living in their cars. I personally had large cockroaches in my car. A wonderful experience for family members visiting... a nice suprise for when they borrowed my car. I was use to them and had actually named them. Good luck to you and your mouse!
		Cousin Marty - Feb 23, 2006 Make sure to trap him. Don't poison him. If you do, your car will be unbearable until he dries out two weeks later. Another thing you could do is build a barn owl nesting box in the back seat. Owls are very good at controlling mouse populations, although they're a little hard on you if they flap their wings while you're driving. Another option is to get a car cat. They are pretty good at mousing sometimes, but you've got to make sure and get a good mouser. Males are usually the worst. Again, however, they're a bit stinky in the car, and the litter box creates a mess whenever you hit bumps. Coyotes are pretty good at mouse control, but it's tough to get them to load up. I don't know, Amy, it seems like you've got a heck of a problem, here.
		Cousin-in-law Judy - Feb 23, 2006 Isn't there somekind of homemade mouse trap that uses a bucket of water, a string or wire across the top of the bucket and a glob of p-nut butter placed midway on the string/wire. Somehow the critter falls into the water and drowns while trying to get the p-nut butter.
		Cousin Dan - Feb 24, 2006 We have squirrels around the place and they are continually hiding the sunflower seeds we feed them. We got in the car one morning and had a horrible noise when the heater fan started running. Seems the little buggers had filled up the heater fan with sunflower seeds. Gives new meaning to squirrel cage fan. You've got a wee bit of a problem there Amy. Best wishes with Mr. Mouse.
		Cousin Casey - Feb 24, 2006 The first thing that comes to MY mind, is a t-shirt I had in the 80's. It had a cat singing and playing a guitar "mousey mousey thats what I love to eat, bite their little heads off, nible on their tiny feet" . It may not solve your problem but maybe laugh at it or me. We have a problem with bush rats. My dads dog help for awhile, but now I think the've made friends.
		Cousin Debbie - Feb 25, 2006 I can send my cat up your way. She is quite the hunter (gets way too many birds).
		Cousin Amy - Feb 26, 2006 Day 4 of Mouse Watch- The mouse is still at large as far as I know. I set the traps a few days ago and it has yet to take the bait. I have thought about using some sort of poison but just as Marty said the mouse stench could be horrible if it crawls into a small space and dies. I almost wish I had a cat right now, I'm sure it would get the job done. Tomorrow there is going to be a thorough cleaning, hopefully I will get rid of any comforts it has been enjoying in my car and it will leave.
		Cousin Dan - Feb 26, 2006 They make little trays with a gluey substance in them that are very effective in catching mice. Slip one of these under each seat and maybe one in the glovebox and see what you get. The only issue with these is that you have to be careful not to let yourself or anything else you don't want to lose come in contact with the glue. Have you considered placing a bounty on its fury little head. Maybe a weeks supply of catnip for the neighborhood cat that nails the little varmit.
		Cousin A-L - Feb 26, 2006 Dear Amy, Mice do not live alone. They're not solitary animals, as my roommates and I found out Junior year in college. We saw a mouse around November and decided that the best tack was to ignore him/her, and s/he would move out. Come February we trapped seven members of the extended family, one tiny little mouse was caught just by the tip of her nose - or perhaps the skin of her teeth. My roommate's then-boyfriend, now husband (perhaps because of his bravado), was commissioned to remove the corpses. Good luck.

Heart Day

Dear Readers, Happy Valentines Day.

Dear Mrs. Leonard, Happy Birthday.

Dear Cousin Susana, Thank you for sending me the link to this site. It will keep all y'all entertained for hours. Can you ever visit too many cat-related web sites? Can you?

A-L

Christian Rock

My mother is going to be mortified. She really will.

This is what happened: The Reverend and Mrs Rollo travelled to Edinburgh to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the birth of their son, my flatmate, Paul. So, we're at the restaurant, and George, as I call the Rev. (reason 1 for mother to be mortified: I just referred to him as 'the Rev.'), tells us about a funeral he officiated recently.

George: "It was a beautiful funeral."

Ringo (played by Gemma) : "What makes a funeral 'beautiful'?"

George: "Well, a combination of the verses they chose, and also the hymns. They were such beautiful expressions of the Christian faith."

Paul: "Christian Faith? Is that a rock band?"

A-L: "Yeah, they played at half time."

And then I was struck by lightening. And for some reason, I kept talking.

Gemma: "What verses did they choose?"

Mrs Rollo: "Well, I actually have the missalette, you could see the verses."

A-L: "And we could do a re-enactment."

Paul: "Yeah, but then someone would have to be the dead lady."

And then Paul was struck by lightening.

Our Brussels Correspondent

Gemma, our Brussels correspondent, is in town for Paul's 30th birthday. (Happy 30th, Paul.) Overheard, just now:

Paul: How was Amsterdam?

Gemma: Good thanks.

Paul: Did you see Anne Frank?

Gemma: No, she was hiding.