Eek!!! It's a Mouse. . .I hope!

First a Disclaimer: It's been a really long time since I posted here and I can't promise that I will anymore consistent this time around. But I hope that you all enjoy it while it lasts.

Now on to the mouse. . .

Approximately a month ago while I was home with the worst sinus infection I have had in a long time, I walked into the kitchen and saw general movement in the dishwasher vicinity. . .when I looked closer whatever it was was gone. So I, being somewhat delirious and not AT ALL in the mood to deal with a mouse, allowed my brain to convince me I didn't see anything for about a week. . . About a week later I came around the corner again and this time there was no mistaking a mouse scurrying across the floor towards the dishwasher. So I being the kind and humane person I am went to the Ace hardware to buy some traps that would allow me to catch the mouse and release him back into the wilderness unharmed. So I come home with my traps bait them with my favorite treat (peanut butter) and set them around the kitchen and specifically near the dishwasher. . .(quick side not about the dishwasher I was unaware till the mouse moved in that there is a good 3" x 3" hole at the base of the cabinet between the diswasher and the wall, this is where my little friend likes to hide). So I go about my business and no more than 5 minutes later I hear movement in the kitchen and decide to wait a few minutes to make sure the mouse gets caught. Upon walking into the kitchen I discover that the mouse trap closest to the dishwasher is gone! G-O-N-E GONE!

Time to call in reinforcements. I call Linda, who proceeds to tell me to get on the floor look in the whole and see if I can see the mouse trap. To which I responded in a high pitched screech "Have you LOST your mind, I am not getting on the floor and looking in that hole what if the mouse comes out and attacks my FACE?!?!?!?" Linda through laughter tells me it will not attack my face. . .however I am not taking any chances. . .and proceed to tell Linda that I am not sticking my face down there, I am not sticking a broom under there, I am pretty much not doing anything without someone to hold my hand. After Linda tells me that she is sorry she can't come over I demand that she send her 18 year old son over to help.

Dallas to the rescue. Dallas you fears nothing takes immediate charge of the situation and asks for a wire hanger, then proceeds to dismantel it and starts poking around under the sink and around the dishwasher. At first glance Dallas doesn't see anything so we go to the basement where we look to see if we can figure out how the mouse got in, again finding nothing Dallas goes back upstairs to continue poking under the sink while I stayed in the basement looking for my snap traps. After I found the snap traps I am coming around the corner to head up the stairs when I hear Dallas say, I see it here it comes. I respond by looking up and seeing a mouse staring me in the eye. I proceed to scream like I am being murdered and back away from the stair as the mouse comes down through the basement and into a corner. I am sure at this point Dallas is apalled that his Mom's best friend is this nuts over a mouse but I can't help it. Anyway Dallas helps me A) calm down and B) get some traps baited and set and we place them around the house. After a few minutes upstairs Dallas goes to check the traps before he leaves and finds the mouse is already checking out the traps so he waits, then the mouse skirts around the trap, so Dallas scares it back and places the trap in such a way that the mouse CAN NOT get by it without getting snapped. As he leaves he tells me "If he gets by that trap just give him a piece of cheese and welcome him home cause he deserves to live here". . .thanks Dallas not helpful.

Next day I come home and check the traps to find that the one strategically placed to get the mouse is once again GONE!!! And this wasn't a humane trap is was plan old snap trap. I tore up the basement looking for that damn trap and it's gone, can't find it anywhere. So now I am really freaking out thinking that mighty mouse is living in my basement and is virtually indestructable, and I will never get him to leave. Again on the phone in a panic with Linda hoping that the reason the traps is gone is because Dallas emptied it for me. No such luck.

But on what I thought was a positive note I had not heard or seen the mouse in the next couple of weeks so I foolishly thought maybe he left for more likely he got caught in a trap and drug it off before he died and I would be smelling him in a few days. Either way life was happy, until today when I heard commotion in the kitchen as Marv chased the mouse across the kitchen and almost had him his graps but just ran out of space. Damn the little bugger is back, but at least this time the cats are making an effort which is more than I can say for the previous 4 weeks.

 So the battle continues, and I have beefed up the mouse catching measures around here, and I am sure I will keep you all posted on what happens. But before I go some things NOT to say when talking to someone dealing with a mouse.

 "It'll never be over the reproduce faster than bunnies and there is probably already a nest in your house" "There's never only mouse ya know"
"Maybe it's not a mouse at all, maybe it's a shrew or a vole," or God Damn super mouse
"It's not like it's going to climb in bed with you at night"
And anything that sounds like a lecture about what one should have done to prevent the mouse from getting in in the first place. To late mouse is already in.

None of those things are helpfully and generally will get you hung up on yelled at.

As for now I will continue hunting the mouse, vole, shre, possum, racoon, or whatever is living in my house. Wish me luck :)

Easter with the Fam!

Let me just say that any time my family gets together for any kind of holiday celebration it can be one of the most ridiculous things ever. This year my sister decided that she wanted to make Easter dinner at her house because in some way this would make her a "big girl" to host a family dinner. Now at the end of the day dinner was delicious and we had a great time but sometimes getting from point A to point B can be tricky.

It starts with my sister trying to cook a ham. . .she must have asked me 5 times how long you have to cook a ham, do you need to put it in one of those roaster bags, can I cook it in the roaster. I know we are striving to have a good meal but come one the ham is pre cooked. . .shove it in the oven or the roaster and when it is warm it's time to eat. We did eventually get the ham cooked, it was warmed through, and tasted great when all was said and done.

We sit down to have dinner everything looks wonderful. Once everyone is seated there is an awkward pause. . .it happens at every religious holiday meal where it is just the three of us because I think everyone feels that we should pray but no one in my family is particularly religious. So after a moment my sister breaks the silence with "Yay God, Let's Eat." We all chuckle and I said "No, you have to say Thank you Jesus for coming back, now quick someone hide the eggs". Eh a little less than traditional but that is the way we roll.

After we finish eating we clean up the kitchen and then sit down in the living room. And before long, Dad is passed out on the floor, I am passed out on the couch and my sister and the dog are passed out in the chair. Yep we took a family nap. . .how amazing is that. . .we know how to do a holiday right.

Later that afternoon we did some shopping and my Aunt and Uncle came over. All in all it was a great day and it was fun to spend it with my family.

Legal vs. Ethical

I swore I wouldn't use this blog to tackle serious topics or advertise my political beliefs but here we are again and I just can't help myself. As I was watching the news this evening (always an uplifting half hour of my life) the lead story was a discussion about the fact that our wonderful Governor is currently collecting TWO incomes from the state. One, a $50,000 pension from his time at DMU and two, a $130,000 salary for being the governor. Does anyone have a problem with this besides me????

Now the point made repeatedly by those representing The Mustache and the Republican view on the situation is that what he is doing is not illegal and so should not be a big deal. This however brings me to the title of this post. Just because something is not illegal does not always make it ethical.

On the heels of a speech given when he took office stating that we would all have to make sacrifices to get things back on track and announcing just a couple of weeks ago that he wants to provide no additional funding for education for the next two years the public finds out that he is collecting a whapping $180,000 annually from our state.

I think this should cause all of us to pause and consider who our Governor is looking out for. I find it hard to believe that he has the best interest of Iowans everywhere at heart when people across the state are loosing their jobs, unable to find another one, and struggling to make ends meet and he is collecting that much money from our state as payment for screwing us even more.

And what concerns me more than the lack of caring over this particular issue is that our definition of what is considered right and wrong has been reduced to legal versus illegal. Ethics are more than just legal versus illegal. Part of being an ethical person is holding yourself to a higher standard of conduct than our basic laws designed to protect people from harm. To be an ethical person you have to go beyond simply following the law. It requires behaving in a manner that takes the effect of your actions on others into consideration.

I firmly believe that if we are ever going to get ourselves out of the mess that we have created, we have to move away from the mentality that it is every man or woman for themselves and move back towards an attitude of helping your neighbor, and being there to give each other a hand up. And when times are tough all of us taking a smaller hit rather than dumping it all on one person or group of people. When we as a society and our leaders in government begin to behave with this attiude, then and only then will be able to stop spinning our wheels and get moving.

I will leave you with this final thought, since I know everyone that reads this are law abiding citizens, I challenge you all to be the most ETHICAL people that you can be.

Stuck

So as many of you know I am currently working in a job that requires me to go to my clients homes to provide services. Over the last two years I have had some interesting stories but I think tonight may take the cake. I was already late leaving my clients house so I was in somewhat of a hurry. Their driveway is quite long so I turned around the in the turn around spot, so I could see where I was going a little better in the dark, and headed down the driveway. All of the sudden my car came to a stop, despite me pushing the gas. I put the car in reverse and tried to back up. . .nothing. . .put it back in drive. . .nothing. . .yep I was stuck!

I turned the car off and headed back towards the front door of house when I heard my 11 year old client (we'll call him Dan) yell "what's the matter". . .I told him I was stuck and he quickly came to my aid. . .laying in the snow furiously digging around the tires with his hands. After a few minutes of digging he said "I think we are good try it again". I got in the car put it in drive and nothing. Looked to my left and Dan was shaking his head. I turned off the car and got out, Dan was already headed towards the front door. Being only a couple steps behind him I hear him yell "Mom, she's stuck in the driveway, this happens to like every worker that comes here."

Mom quickly got her boots on and came to our aid, using the snow blower to clear a path around the car so that we could get closer to the wheels. Dan got on his knees and did a little more digging. As he is digging I hear him say "I better get some hot chocolate with marshmellows for this". I am pretty sure he wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but was just stating a fact.

Mom finished snow blowing, I thanked them and then got back in my car, started it up, put it in gear and slowly pressed on the gas with Dan and his mom pushing on the trunk of my car. The car started to roll forward. . .I was free. I rolled down the window and yelled "Thanks! I'm not stopping the car again!" gave them a wave and I was on my way. Luckily this is one of my more normal families so the whole situation wasn't real awkward but it was a little embarrassing.

So all in all tonight was a little bit of an adventure. . .but I got out and home without too much trouble. But I would say rescuing your family therapist from a mountain of "white death" warrants some hot chocolate with marshmellows. Now I just have to remember to get some before next Thursday!

Equal Protection

I am feeling the need to give my opinion tonight and even though I know no one reads this I feel like I am giving my opinion to someone on here. That beings said here we go.

Lately here in Iowa there has been a hot and heavy debate over the issue of same sex marriage and whether or not the Supreme Court ruling saying that denying marriage licenses to same sex couples is unconstitutional was the correct decision. So much so that this week the Iowa house passed a resolution to define marriage as a union between one woman and one man and ban any other kind of civil union for same sex couples. And all this has made me wonder if people realize just how stupid they sound when they speak. So I am going to do my very best to break this down into it's various parts.

First and for most the constitution in Iowa states that there is equal protection under the law, meaning the majority can't get together and decide to treat any minority unfairly. This means that denying same sex couples marriage licenses is indeed unconsititutional. That should be where this debate ends but unfortunately it has not. Because of that I would like to take a moment and run through the reasons I have heard this week as to why same sex couples should not be allowed to marry.

1. It threatens the sanctity of marriage.

Gonna have to call bullshit on this one considering the divorce rate in this country between hetero sexual couples is hovering around 50%. In addition, some people get divorced and remarried more often than they change underwear. You can't use the sanctity of marriage as a reason until the hetero sexual population start taking it more seriously.

2. The whole point of a marriage is to produce children and a same sex couple can not produce children the way a hetero sexual couple can.

Okay, I will agree that two men, or two women are probably never going to procreate without the assistance of modern science, at least not in the traditional way. That being said when was it decided that that was the point of marriage? And what about all those hetero sexual couples that can't or choose not to have children? What about a person like me who doesn't want to have kids but would rather adopt? Does that mean that all the people falling into those catergories shouldn't be allowed to marry as well? Good luck getting that passed into law, and since we wouldn't discriminate against hetero sexual people for not being able to or choosing not to have children why would we do it to anyone else? Again I am going to call bullshit.

3. If we allow same sex couples to marry what is to stop us from changing laws to say you can marry and "internet character" or your pet?

I would really rather not respond to this because I find it incredibly insulting. But the answer to that question is, common sense, which isn't so common anymore. I can not believe a person would lump same sex marriage into the same category as marrying a fictional character or an animal that is not human. It disgusts me that someone would suggest that, and I find it offensive. Not only insulting and offensive to my own sensibilities and my intelligence but a slap in the face to same sex couples everywhere. Again I give a resounding bullshit to this as a reason to ban same sex marriage.

The bottom line is that this whole issue is born out of fear. Fear of what I don't know but the only time people act this irrationally is when they are afraid. I personally know several same sex couples some of which of choosen to marry some of which who have not. I can honestly say it has not diminished or changed how I feel about marriage, in general, or my future marriage, it has not had an adverse effect on my life in anyway. If anything it has brought happiness to my life because the people around me are happy and have found someone to share their lives with. Why would we deny anyone the right to be happy, and when did we decide that we GET to decide who has the right to the pursuit of happiness?

And back the real issue, of equal protection under the law. Some people may think it's a great idea at this point because they are in the majority but if we set this precident then those same people may find themselves in the minority in the future and then I am SURE they will not think it is a great idea.

It saddens me greatly that our society as a whole has apparently not learned anything in the last. . .oh I don't know. . .60 years. And it saddens me that we are still operating out of a place of fear and hatered of things that are different than what we are "used to". But apparently that is where we are at. And until that changes I think I am going to have to ramp up my political activism. . .email my representatives, use my blog and facebook page to get the word out, and if necessary knock on every door in my neighborhood. If you agree I would recommend you do the same, we need to take such a stand on this issue that there is no question about what the "people want".

Tumbleweed!!!

After a fabulous week in Colorado I have returned safe and sound to the great state of Iowa. I probably don't need to inform anyone that it was rather windy today. Turns out it was windy from the moment I left Colorado Springs to the moment I pulled into my driveway. This made what should have been a fairly boring but mindless drive home somewhat of a challenge. Especially in the beginning.

Monday I was driving back to Juanita's place from a coffee shop and saw a tumbleweed, which I was pretty pumped about because I had never seen one before. Juanita was surprised by this because "they are everywhere". In the short time from Monday afternoon to Wednesday mid morning, I went from loving tumbleweeds to hoping I never see one again.

As I drove down I-76 today (which on a side note has to be the most desolate stretch of road I have ever been on) I saw a tumbleweed. And in a moment of excitement in my car I said "TUMBLEWEED!" (Yes people it's THAT boring out there). Then I saw another and announced it again (what can I say entertainment is hard to come by out there). Pretty soon there were three at a time. . .woohoo. . .then five. Soon I felt like I was in a tumbleweed mine field. Tumbleweeds coming dozens at a time flying across lanes of traffic and me flying down the road just praying that they will tumble out of the way before my car meets them.

As I am dodging tumble weeds like Mario dodging banana peels I see a fairly large tumbleweed come into the left lane. Okay if it just keeps moving it will be out of the lane by the time I get there. As I come closer the wind dies for a just a moment and the tumbleweed pauses in the road. SPLAT! The front of my car makes contact the with the weed. Now tumbleweeds don't have a lot of substance to them however they are very branchy. When the tumbleweed met the front of my car. . .it got stuck. So now I am flying down the interstate at 80 mph with a giant tumbleweed stuck to the front of the car like a spiny. . .spidery looking hood ornament.

As anyone who has been to Eastern Colorado/Western Nebraska can attest to there aren't a lot of places to get on and off. So I had to drive down the interstate for a good 10 miles before coming to an exit where I could pull over and remove the weed from my car. After narrowly escaping being shmucked by a semi getting back in the car, the car was weed free and we were on the move again.

Like I said, if I never see a Tumbleweed again I will die happy.

Pikes Peak

I had the distinct pleasure to viewing the world from atop Pikes Peak this week. I must say it was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen. They say on a clear day you can see all the way to Kansas from the top. However they could be lying because really it's not like you can distinguish one things from another up there, it all looks like a very small ant farm, so small you can't even see the ants just the buildings, and barely that. Anyway I digress.

I knew that I wanted to see Pikes Peak while I was here but I also know that I have a paralyzing fear of heights so I was curious as to how this adventure would go. I also knew that we were on a little bit of a time schedule because we had to be off the summit by 4 and off the mountain completely by 5, we didn't get to the front gate until 3.

So first things first, we pull up to the gate and pay our 12 dollars a piece, a little ridiculous in my book but whatever, they tell us when we have to leave the summit and when we have to be down completely. Then they tell us that the temperature on the top is -2. WHAT!!!!!!. I mean I knew it would be colder but that is like the dead of winter in Iowa, yikes. But it's okay we can manage we have coats and sweatshirts and what not. So we get our receipt and head up the mountain.

The first little bit is going great I can tell we are getting higher but so far nothing to bad just trying to keep my eyes away from the edge of the road. About the time we reached the point where we were above the tree line (meaning nothing grows up there), the road got narrower, and the drop off steeper, I can feel the color leaving my face. I interrupt Juanita and tell her if she doesn't start talking about something very entertaining I am going to loose my lunch.

So we quickly change topics I close my eyes and hang on to the "oh shit" handle for the remainder of the ride. We reach the top and Juanita tells me I can open my eyes, after asking her twice if she was sure I peeked one eye open and saw the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There are really no words to describe what that looks like. I took quite a few pictures and I am not sure any of those will do justice either but we are going to find out.

Now -2 not matter how beautiful hits you like a ton of bricks and the wind up there was ridiculous. And there is almost no oxygen in the air, which can be a little problematic but all of those things are so totally worth it.

So the moral of the story is this kids. Sometimes it is more than worth it to push through paralyzing fear, you just never know what beauty may be on the other side.