Tuesday, November 21, 2017

    This has been a really nice day - good for catching up on outdoor stuff, if you put things off because of the nice weather, like I did.  I have three "tender" shrubs I like to wrap in burlap so they don't get frost burn, and I had delayed doing that because when I would normally do it - mid to late October, it was so warm I thought it would be better to wait.  Then of course we got cold weather and snow - but I lucked out.  The ground isn't frozen, so I was able to get stakes in where I needed to, and today was even warm enough so I didn't come in cold to the bone.  I did manage to lose my favorite scissors, though.  They are in the snow somewhere, but both Fred and I have looked and couldn't locate them.  Darn!  I knew when I took them out of the kitchen it was a bad idea, but I didn't want to go down in the basement to get a pair from the workbench - figured I'd only need them to cut one piece of burlap.  That was true, but in the meantime, I think they got caught in some of the old burlap I had in the wheelbarrow - I was being so clever to take all my material and tools in the wheelbarrow so I wouldn't need to keep running back and forth the get stuff.  Anyway, when I took out the old burlap, they must have been caught in it, so goodness knows where they ended up.  Somewhere in the snow, probably not to be found until spring - if at all.
    While out there, I discovered I'd forgotten to finish painting the window sash on the basement window I'd worked on back in October.  Got it all scraped down at the same time I was doing the garage windows.  I painted the garage windows, but ran out of time or warm weather, and then forgot about the basement window.  If we have a nice warm day, I may get out there and slap a coat of paint on to at least protect the bare wood this winter.
     At least our cat, Woody, is earning his keep around here.  This is the time mice like to get into any place they can build a nest to stay warm through the winter, and two nights in a row Woody has caught a mouse.  Sunday night I let him in from the garage and he brought in a live mouse.  He let it go beside Fred who was standing by the kitchen counter - we both saw it at the same time, and Fred was able to step on the mouse's tail.  I got gloves (we've been through this plenty of times, so know the drill) and Fred was able to capture the mouse in his hands and take it outside.  He said he felt bad about releasing the mouse in the snow - it was pretty cold Sunday night.  I bet the mouse was back in the garage before Fred got back in the house.  We decided Fred should be the one letting Woody in from the garage - he sees better than I do.  Last night when Woody knocked on the door to come in, Fred went to the door and checked for a mouse - but after Woody got in the kitchen, he dropped a mouse, this time headless, on the floor.  Perhaps the same mouse - who knows!  We like that he is a good hunter, but wish we could somehow convey to him the "presents" are neither wanted nor appreciated.  At least I'm off the hook now as being the one who isn't careful enough about checking the cat for wild things before letting him into the house!
 

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