Vermin & Varmits

Mamaw Here

Another vermin or varmit story.

Bill has a mouse in his house along with TWO resident cats. Wouldn't you think that would be a given that 2 cats equal 1 dead mouse? I think he gets up every morning, checks the trap which captures the mouse alive, which happened about a week ago, then takes the cage far away and turns the little bugger loose. I don't know if mice are like some dogs who can find their way home no matter how far they stray but whatever the case, he still has a mouse. He has lectured those cats daily, telling them they are shirking their duties. Their reply, "purr, give us more food, forget the work". We know how to cope!!.
My vermin is a family or two of ground moles who insist on making tunnels in my yard, piling up mounds of dirt, and somehow escaping from the numerous and sundry cats in the neighborhood. You just can't find a cat worth it's salt anymore. Someone told me to put moth balls down the mole holes so I did that, shoveled the mound of dirt away, tamped the dirt down flat, went away , checked back the next day, and they had just moved on to make another mound. I may get enough dirt from those piles to fill in a sink hole at the edge of my driveway. Something good comes from everything if you can get over the frustrations and look for it. My other plague is thousands of box elder beetles that land on my wall that faces the river. When the sun comes out they practically cover the whole side of the house. The expert from the home and garden show said to spray them with dishwashing detergent mixed in water, so I ran right out and got a bottle of Joy and started spraying. Lo and behold!! It works but I don't know if I'll be able to afford the supply of Joy it will take to keep up the fight because there are many box elder trees around my property. The other thing is they stick to the wall after being sprayed, and some of them get away so I have to drag out the hose and spray the wall which takes some time because that Joy really makes a suds. The live ones tend to drown in the puddles of sudsy water--that's the good news--bad news--the wall is going to have to be painted!

That's the drudge part of my life. Lest you get the idea that the only thing I do is that stuff--Monday--Met Bill in Charleston, had lunch at the Greek restaurant, went to the movies (Failure to Launch). I recommend it if you like romantic comedies. Yesterday, (Wednesday), went to a Lenten luncheon at the church, helped serve, Patty and I did the hot tub around 4:00, Bill came down to join us for a dinner and book study at 6:00 back at the church. St Patrick's day, (Friday) Bill and I --covered dish dinner for the International Club at the Lutheran Church in Charleston. Saturday--I've agreed to be on the Altar Guild at our church so will be attending a meeting on Saturday from 10:00 to 2:00 and naturally there will be lunch.
My friend Donna M just called to invite me to SoHo's for dinner and music Friday night, but I had to decline because of
the other commitment. Her husband plays there with a jazz trio every Friday night. Some weeks things do over-lap. I do love the jazz.

Tasha says,"Why don't you spend more time at home with me?"