I am sorry, Siouz, and really glad that you are going back for therapy--you are wise to do that.
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I am sorry, Siouz, and really glad that you are going back for therapy--you are wise to do that.
So sorry, Siouz. Good luck with your own therapy.
Need to start looking for a new vet. Had it with current one. Last minute appointment rescheduling, holding my cats hostage for up to 8 hours until they "get around" to doing a x-ray or exam, prices have become astronomical, lack of customer service/compassion, etc. And to make matters worse, my cat caught some illness while being held hostage for the day and then vet charged me $600 to cure it because they "forgot" to keep sick animals away from healthy ones. It sucks that this vet is convenient to my house but it's not worth it anymore.
souiz I'm glad you are going back to therapy. It's a decision that I hope helps with your pain from all that's happened!
I want to slap one of the salesidiots, who is now sales scum. Guy is 30 yo and has only ever done sales for intl transportation. Not anything on the customs side. Tries to tell me how to do my job, in details. It didn’t go over well when I told him I’ve been in the industry as long as he’s been alive. Hopefully he doesn’t do that again.
I love my heat pump but the biggest disadvantage is that I am sure that its installation is what has caused the occasional infestation of rodents in the house. For 5 years we never had one indication of any mice and since the heat pump, we've had 3 including the one we are fighting now.
We called the first rodent Randy (and it's not a field mouse, it's a Norway rat, which isn't big and brawny like a Brooklyn rat, but it's a rat nonetheless). We were able to get him with a snap trip. Then we saw Sandy.. Randy and Sandy would come at night, stealing a banana from my table and dragging it to the entrance to the cabinet under the sink. We couldn't believe it. Well, we finally got them both with an old fashioned snap trap, after unsuccessful attempts by the local exterminator.
Then recently came Randy II, who likes lollipops, which we know because we would find crumpled Tootsie Pop wrappers by the sink, along with a chewed stick, left over from DH's nighttime lollipop habit.
This is all despite multiple traps of different varieties set in our small house so that we had to watch where we walked before bedtime. In addition to the exterminator first time around who did nothing, we have set all kinds of bait in all kinds of traps, including an electronic trap that I splurged on, all which did bugger-all.
Yesterday we saw that Randy II took the bait and met his demise under the sink. We hoped that would have been the end of the story, but this morning, DH looked under the sink to see if the new trap had sprung, and who did he see but Mandy II, alive and well, and just sitting there looking at him as if she had just knocked on the door and was waiting to gain entrance. DH jumped back with an "AAHHHH! Brazen little bugger!!" All of these experiences have given me an appreciation for the intelligence of rats, because this whole thing has become nothing but a battle of wits between man and beast.
So now, I picture Mandy II wondering where Randy II is, "He should have been home by now with the groceries," she was probably saying to herself. "What am I going to feed the children now??"
I don't know what to do. We now have plans to make sure any and all holes and cracks are sealed. Call our heat pump guy to find out if they put mesh seals inside the duct work, and if they don't see if we can. But now, compounding this thoroughly frustrating problem is the fact that I now have this image of Mother Mandy worrying about her babies, which makes me feel sorry for the little buggers.
I’m sorry about your rat problem. I listen to the rat episode on NPR about New York City rats, and they are pretty damn smart. They don’t want you to know how smart they are.
Thanks, IL.. yes, they are smart. And a side note: I don't think what we have are Norway rats, now that I look at the descriptions again. The one we caught yesterday was pretty small, maybe slightly larger than a mouse, but no way as big as the internet says a Norway rat would be. I'll take some small comfort in that.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Can you borrow a cat?
catherine, some mice are BIG! I know, we have plenty of them. They amuse the cats, who only want to play, and get into all sorts of crap. We have a big old farmhouse, and I don't see any way we'll ever seal it to keep them out. They are industrious, inquisitive little buggers. And maybe not as smart as rats, but smart enough. They don't bother me all that much, we've mouse-proofed most all the cupboards and keep most foodstuffs that they can reach in metal containers. I raised mice as a kid, so I have sort of a soft spot for them, I guess. I really prefer mice to bugs!!
yeah, before you borrow a cat, make sure it's a killer, lol. Both of ours are strictly of the "no kill" variety, when it comes to mice.
I was afraid someone was suggest that.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
Some cats are killers and others are not. In our household, the girl cat will chase anything and the boy cat has zero interest.
In our The last batch of cats, one of our girl cats was a fierce hunter. She was an indoor outdoor cat, but retired the last years of her life to be an indoor cat, and no more a threat to birds and small animals.
I wouldn't mind borrowing a mouser cat, but DH wouldn't want it, I'm sure. His mother had a fear of cats, and so DH just doesn't like them at all.
Good to know I'm not alone.. We are definitely doing much better with making sure food is put away.. I recently bought a bread box just for this reason, but as it appears our mouse squatters have a sweet tooth, we also have to lock up our candy.Quote:
Originally Posted by early morning
I attended a zoom board meeting of a plant Society organization. I’m not on the board, but I am a member of the organization.
The dysfunction of that group is profound. I don’t even know where to start, but here’s one tidbit: it has a treasury of over $20,000. There is one signatory on the account, only one. That person has failed to respond to phone calls, emails, etc. etc., due to health problems apparently. She was once very competent, but that was years ago. the president of the organization said he was going to drive to her house and insist on being let in to get records.
I was toying with the idea of volunteering for a very specific job that would be at the committee level, not at the board level. But after seeing how extremely bad the organization is, I’m not going to do it.
Only one signatory and she doesn’t respond back? Yikes b
It seems like the hits just keep on coming when living in a small village like I do - in the past month we lost an adult man from a massive heart attack, then the 37 year old female alcoholic with a failing liver, then a few days ago our handyman T-boned a 19 year old female drunk driver who blew through her stop sign (he ended up with two cracked vertebrae and a broken sternum, so he's off work for many months) and now I just read this morning that a friend's 26 year old step-daughter has died suddenly.
When living in a village such as mine, there are really no degrees of separation like when I lived in Ann Arbor.
I'm sorry to hear of all those local tragedies, SQ.
I am so tired of being cold in this house. We have the woodstove going and spaceheaters. Always try to delay using the oil furnace as long as possible. Even when it is on, there is no heat on the second floor. Just cannot get warm today, or last night under three blankets. It's like my body can't acclimate anymore.
What space heaters are you using? As I found when my furnace was broken two winters ago, the oil filled radiators type are much more energy efficient and heat better than others, even though they take a bit to warm up. Have you thought about an electric blanket or mattress pad?
Oh, that is a good idea, Tradd, about the electric blanket. I think I have one packed way somewhere!
We do not have the oil filled radiators--my parents had them and they were better, you are right.
I was asked by my boss (but in a way that was pretty much being told to do it) if I'd be willing to not take my vacation the week of Thanksgiving like I normally do. I work in a small office of only 5 people and two of them will be out that week. Now the boss does nothing and wouldn't be of any help to the one remaining person if I was off too. We aren't going anywhere and I'd still have Thursday and Friday off so I said ok. I would rather work and know that things aren't getting messed up than to be at home knowing that it's going to be a clusterf*** when I got back to work.
Regardless, I will definitely be taking my 2 weeks off at Christmas. Maybe for spite, I will make it 3 weeks instead. :laff:
Klunick, we always took our vacation at a different time than coworkers with kids. Mostly since it was quiet and easier to travel. The holidays at work (non retail) were also quiet. Parents we could drive to were up north and the traffic and weather were also a concern. A couple of times being caught in a blizzard taught us this.
Even at home, this year we are doing our Thanksgiving on Nov. 14 at a restaurant having a special event. (Christmas is just something I endure.)
Just posted some tomato soup I’m giving away on local Buy Nothing group. Have to watch how much acid I have. People commented I could take it to X food pantry. People always do that on food posts. I tell they’re there welcome to come and get it from me to drop off at food pantry as I don’t have the time. No one ever takes me up on it! LOL. They do the same thing whenever anyone posts food to give away.
So, what is the difference between your giving it away on your local Buy Nothing group and giving it to the food pantry? Is your Buy Nothing group like Freecycle?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Buy Nothing group they come and pick it up from me. I don’t go hauling stuff due to my knees. I also love when people try to volunteer my time or effort for stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
Buy Nothing is the current free group thing. I think most of the groups exist on FB. They’re very specific for your area. I don’t even know how much Freecycle is around anymore. I remember being on a Yahoo email group for Freecycle years ago.
I think it's great that you are giving it away to people that want it.
A lot of times people give stuff to food pantries that they *think* the people should want, but they don't. As a Master Gardener, we have two gardens at our local library--one is a vegetable garden. One of the volunteers brings herbs to the local food pantry and no one ever takes it--it shocks us, because we love fresh herbs, but for some reason, people going to food shelters don't. Probably because they just need basic food--not "foodie" food. Sometimes the elite POV strikingly emerges in situations like this.
I'm sure whoever picks up your tomato soup is going to enjoy it. Don't worry about the do-gooders.
Absolutely fed up with customers who have urgent air freight shipments they pay mega dollars for freight on, yet they cannot get us the correct documents to clear their shipments through customs. Last week, one customer gave us THREE set of docs before telling us the third set was the correct one. And all the work of having to redo everything. Freakin’ massive PITA.
I see people on FB all the time who want to give cake mixes and frosting, for example, to a food pantry at the holidays. They don’t get that the food pantry likely gives out boxes of the same exact contents to everyone and maybe don’t want the cake mix and frosting. I’ve had people look at me as if I have two heads when I suggest they contact food pantry to see what they really need! My local one had a list of very specific things. If it’s not on the list, they don’t want it!Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
I was annoyed by the group here on this website who insisted I was selfish to not drive our excess vegetables to the food bank years ago when we still lived in St. Louis city. OK, fine, I gave in and took zucchini, and… Something else, can’t remember. I do not believe that anyone really wanted those zucchini’s, but OK. Yes, having other people volunteer my time is pretty annoying.
This year we had so many tomatoes that I did take one batch to the Hermann food pantry because it’s close to where I live, and now that I’m retired, I have time to do that kind of thing. We had tomatoes coming out of our ears.
on the subject of cake mixes and frosting, our Hermann food bank has asked for cake mixes and canned frosting in the past. I remember buying that specifically to drop into the food bank bin at the grocery store.
sometimes our food bank lists its needs in our local weekly paper, and that is a good thing.
IL, if your food pantry asked for the cake mixes, that’s one thing. If they didn’t want them and you still insisted on donating them, not good.
Our very small local food pantry is more like a free supermarket -- it is basically a bunch of shelves and a fridge where they store whatever food is donated, and then those in need can take whatever items they need (I think there is some sort of per week or per visit limit). Donations are accepted on one day and the food bank is open for clients on a different day. So, in this scenario the food bank is happy to receive basically any type of donation because they are not trying to make a whole bunch of uniform boxes to give out.
Posted on local BN group about often being told to donate food to food pantries instead of people on the group getting it. Turns out that is again BN rules. Admin was happy I’d spoken up and posted a reminder.
Well, I discovered my water heater wasn’t working on Thanksgiving morning. At least I wasn’t hosting a dinner! I heated up a kettle full of water and used that for a sponge bath. Two big mixing bowls, plastic pitcher, and I was clean. Another plus for short hair. Texted landlord - it was leaking from the top under the vent hood. Took a short video to show him. He was out of town and didn’t get back with me until later in the day. I had shut off water to heater and turned the gas off on the control thing on the front of heater. It’s supposedly getting replaced tomorrow. Fingers crossed. While I’m not a pansy and can handle not having hot water for a few days, I am seriously missing my long hot baths and I want to be able to use the dishwasher!
I finally have hot water again. Yay!
That's great--that is the worst thing when we have power failures.
Oh good. So you went for a few days without it and that’s not easy, thanks for being a patient tenant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
He was showing signs of taking his time with it Monday. He was out of town for the holiday. I told him I was very tired of having to heat water on the stove to bathe with and to do the dishes. I wanted to be able to take a normal shower. That lit a fire under his butt.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
did he have the hot water heater replaced? I guess the hot water heater is for your unit only, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd