Busy weekend and start to the week
May. 14th, 2024 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unicorndukeSaturday I woke up a little sore from shearing but not too sore so I decided to Do Things. First, I took a load of recycling and trash to the transfer station, including so many cardboard boxes that had been piling up. Then I took a combined C&D load and metal and junk plastic (including styrefoam, how neat is that!).
When I got home from load two, F was in the kitchen and commented that I had left the basement door from the first floor down open about two inches (oops) and how it was good she didn't see either cat go down there since she had come downstairs right after I had left with the second load of stuff. We'll come back to this later.
Also took down fence that I put up on the septic leech field for the dog since the grass was growing up and causing issues with drainage. Mostly my fault, I wasn't weed whacking it, but easy up, easy down. Short fencing bits will be used for tree protection, long sections for future hill garden someday.
I went and mowed the lawn until I ran out of non-ethanol gas (arg), but I did the most difficult part of the hill first. When I started mowing my way down, I noticed the mailbox was open, when it hadn't been when I got home. Weird I thought. Went over to close it and a mouse had built a nest on the mail that was from the day before. What the fuck. I evicted the nest and babies in the next into the swamp and continued mowing. Later I relayed this to F and realized I hadn't actually gotten the mail. Went back down and discovered the mouse built another nest, was in the mailbox under the mail and had brought another baby into the mailbox. I swore at it and evicted everyone again. F checked the mail again today and the mouse came back again! So she's trying dryer sheets and if that doesn't work, a mouse trap will do with a sign for the mail person, who has gently been pushing the mouse nest out of the way when they deliver mail.
In addition to the mailbox mouse, we've had a mouse infestation in the house. It's in the junction between the wall of the first floor, the ceiling there, the wall of the second floor and the floor there. There's one little ledge in the first floor area where the mice have been dropping insulation onto the floor. So F put mouse traps up there and we're up to seven mice. I had to kill one, she had to kill one and the cats have been delighted by mice falling from the sky that they don't even need to chase.
So I was laying in bed Saturday night, watching GBBO with J online and I heard a funny noise coming from that way. I texted F and said I thought she'd be getting a mouse present shortly. Instead, she came downstairs and said she hadn't seen Willis all day and it was a little weird. The other cat, CJ, had acted all normal all day and had accompanied F downstairs and looked in the basement but hadn't gone down. Oh no. Willis went in the basement.
F attempted to get the cat to come out with treats, but they are former ferals, so I went looking in good hiding places and found him under a shelf, behind some boxes, scared out of his tiny brain. I sent F upstairs, put some gloves on and pulled him out. He only got me a little on the arm before he wiggled out of my grip. Hid behind the washer, so I just grabbed a plastic pipe left from the living room baseboard heating project and shooed him out. He bolted up the stairs and is apparently completely unbothered by this entire experience.
Sunday I went grocery shopping, picked up more fuel and then did some baking. Original plan was bread and vanilla cardamom ice cream. However, it was 60F in the house that day, so I figured I should run the oven to make the bread rise well. So I decided to make chocolate cake which makes three layers of cake. And cake needs icing and I have so many eggs whites left, so I made chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. I almost made a double batch, but as I put the eggs and sugar in the bowl, realized it was way too much to whip, so dumped it in a bowl to deal with later and made a single batch. I was going to toss it but F said she'd eat meringue cookies if I made them, so I ended up making two trays of vanilla and two trays of mint meringue cookies. Mixed reviews on them.
The two layer cake and some cookies went with F to family dinner which I didn't attend, half of final layer of cake went in the freezer to take with me to my sister's later this week. I haven't churned the ice cream yet but that will happen soon. Baking!
Yesterday, I ran out to my boss's place and picked up a load of sand on the way and we made sandbags all morning. Then in the afternoon, we seeded corn into trays for transplanting. Fun stuff. I was out and about this morning and will be again tomorrow.
After I hit post on this, I'll be going out to finish mowing the lawn.
When I got home from load two, F was in the kitchen and commented that I had left the basement door from the first floor down open about two inches (oops) and how it was good she didn't see either cat go down there since she had come downstairs right after I had left with the second load of stuff. We'll come back to this later.
Also took down fence that I put up on the septic leech field for the dog since the grass was growing up and causing issues with drainage. Mostly my fault, I wasn't weed whacking it, but easy up, easy down. Short fencing bits will be used for tree protection, long sections for future hill garden someday.
I went and mowed the lawn until I ran out of non-ethanol gas (arg), but I did the most difficult part of the hill first. When I started mowing my way down, I noticed the mailbox was open, when it hadn't been when I got home. Weird I thought. Went over to close it and a mouse had built a nest on the mail that was from the day before. What the fuck. I evicted the nest and babies in the next into the swamp and continued mowing. Later I relayed this to F and realized I hadn't actually gotten the mail. Went back down and discovered the mouse built another nest, was in the mailbox under the mail and had brought another baby into the mailbox. I swore at it and evicted everyone again. F checked the mail again today and the mouse came back again! So she's trying dryer sheets and if that doesn't work, a mouse trap will do with a sign for the mail person, who has gently been pushing the mouse nest out of the way when they deliver mail.
In addition to the mailbox mouse, we've had a mouse infestation in the house. It's in the junction between the wall of the first floor, the ceiling there, the wall of the second floor and the floor there. There's one little ledge in the first floor area where the mice have been dropping insulation onto the floor. So F put mouse traps up there and we're up to seven mice. I had to kill one, she had to kill one and the cats have been delighted by mice falling from the sky that they don't even need to chase.
So I was laying in bed Saturday night, watching GBBO with J online and I heard a funny noise coming from that way. I texted F and said I thought she'd be getting a mouse present shortly. Instead, she came downstairs and said she hadn't seen Willis all day and it was a little weird. The other cat, CJ, had acted all normal all day and had accompanied F downstairs and looked in the basement but hadn't gone down. Oh no. Willis went in the basement.
F attempted to get the cat to come out with treats, but they are former ferals, so I went looking in good hiding places and found him under a shelf, behind some boxes, scared out of his tiny brain. I sent F upstairs, put some gloves on and pulled him out. He only got me a little on the arm before he wiggled out of my grip. Hid behind the washer, so I just grabbed a plastic pipe left from the living room baseboard heating project and shooed him out. He bolted up the stairs and is apparently completely unbothered by this entire experience.
Sunday I went grocery shopping, picked up more fuel and then did some baking. Original plan was bread and vanilla cardamom ice cream. However, it was 60F in the house that day, so I figured I should run the oven to make the bread rise well. So I decided to make chocolate cake which makes three layers of cake. And cake needs icing and I have so many eggs whites left, so I made chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. I almost made a double batch, but as I put the eggs and sugar in the bowl, realized it was way too much to whip, so dumped it in a bowl to deal with later and made a single batch. I was going to toss it but F said she'd eat meringue cookies if I made them, so I ended up making two trays of vanilla and two trays of mint meringue cookies. Mixed reviews on them.
The two layer cake and some cookies went with F to family dinner which I didn't attend, half of final layer of cake went in the freezer to take with me to my sister's later this week. I haven't churned the ice cream yet but that will happen soon. Baking!
Yesterday, I ran out to my boss's place and picked up a load of sand on the way and we made sandbags all morning. Then in the afternoon, we seeded corn into trays for transplanting. Fun stuff. I was out and about this morning and will be again tomorrow.
After I hit post on this, I'll be going out to finish mowing the lawn.
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Date: 2024-05-15 12:08 pm (UTC)