• Mood: worried
• Music: Devil May Care ~ Euphoria

Mother Nature has diarrhea

That's the best description I can come up with. I awoke a number of times in the pre-noon hours of morning to rain & thunder & when I finally woke & stayed woke the ground was covered with ice & slush & there was sleet something fierce. As I went about the house doing my usual morning thing the weather switched from sleet to rain to ice & back again several times. The going was slow as I went to the bank & an abbreviated version of my usual Friday routine. It was pretty bad throughout the day as I drove to lunch then work. I don't know when it finally stopped but I doubt she made up her mind before then. Despite all this, as I left work I was surprised to find my car was relatively free of snow & ice. Weird.

Twice during the past week I noticed something dart across my kitchen floor. The first time I thought was a trick of light on the edge of my glasses but when I saw it again last nite I was certain it was some sort of creature not welcome in this house. I guess the decal on my bathroom floor just wasn't effective enough. I wrote "mousetraps" on the grocery list planning to get some today but then I remembered the TomCat mouse trap Bell Labs gave away as samples of their product when I visited their booth at a career fair earlier this year. It's more like an elaborate wang chip clip, made from plastic with serrated teeth. It's pretty difficult for a person to hurt themselves with this but the manufacturer claims it's strong enough for a man but PH balanced to kill a mouse. Certainly not by breaking it's neck. I suspect that while it's trapped in there it has a cute little mousey heart attack & croaks. Well, I set it out last night with nothing to show for it in the morning (I later found that I didn't set it properly.) I bought some traditional, old-fashioned Victor traps & set out two baited with peanut butter along with the TomCat & left for work. When I came home I found a little gray mouse, no bigger than my thumb not including tail, trapped by the Victor. It never knew what hit it. What will I do with the traps now? Maybe build a racecar!

It's a couple hours late but here is the Friday Five, brought to you by thefridayfive

1. If you had to move 100 miles or more to the north, east, west, or south, which would you choose, where would you end up, and what's so great about there?
   I would move north as there is a bit more unspoiled wilderness up there. Not much, but there are certainly fewer towns & people than the county I currently reside in. So, for this question since I have the resources & a reason to move I'm also assuming I have the resources to build my dream home which sets me off daydreaming. . . but that's for another Friday Five.



2. Do you have a favorite stretch of highway or byway for driving, touring, or wandering?
   When my father could still drive his motorcycle he took me on many long rides out in the country. I may not be familiar with the roads he took but I know there is a lot of beautiful countryside not far from here & I'm usually happy to have an excuse to drive them. Specifically? Highway 18 all the way up to Devil's Lake is a nice route if I can spare the time. There are also a few roads out by Cooksville & another to Black Earth whose number I can't recall. I'm glad I don't have to travel far to find these.



3. Are you happier to start a trip or return home?
   It depends on the trip but generally, in the case of vacations or adventures I'm happier starting. There is so much to look forward to & so many potential paths yet untread. It's really a wonderful feeling (except when you're just sitting in an airport for three hours.) Returning home is usually sad because the adventure is over, it's time to go home & return to the workaday drudgery of daily life. I remember when matt_william & I were on our way back from Japan last year. Once our flight reached L.A. & everyone else in our tour departed & went their own ways I was struck with a crushing depression that remained until I reached my own home where shortly thereafter I was welcomed by a troupe of friends. That most of all helped me recover.



4. Plane, train, automobile, bicycle, or foot?
   An ideal vacation for me uses all of them. In Japan I used all but one.



5. Do you overplan or underplan your travels? (Assume that "no" is not a valid answer.)
   I typically overplan. You can't always know exactly everything you'll need for a trip & I hate forgetting something important. This is how I ended up bringing but never using my denim jacket, origami book & box of paper & boots in Japan.


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