Thanksgiving Photo Update

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We enjoyed the first Thanksgiving at SilverMoon with a feast, games, movies, a concert, and walks to burn off some of those calories!

It was pretty relaxing. 4 days of friends and family, cooking, some cleaning and organizing, and we even went out into the crowds - not to buy, but just to observe the chaos and enjoy the decorations.

Early on Wednesday morning, very early, we woke to screaming and gunshots coming from outside. We couldn't see anything but it was just to the other side of our neighbor's house. Generally our street is pretty calm (yes, just our street) so this was very unexpected and upsetting.

I was not a happy camper at work on Wednesday. Thank you to my bosses and co-workers for being awesome. Wednesday was rough.

Thankfully, after work I was able to focus on preparing the menu - getting the veggies chopped, fruits washed, and sides made took my mind off the violence. I searched for the police report just to see what the story was - but they don't publish reports on open investigations so I let it go.

I assumed no one died as there were no news stories or news vans in the area. I made a pie and cranberry sauce since those things taste better after 24 hours and they took all of my attention.

Thursday I made the ham - Alton Brown style - finished the potatoes and the sides and we enjoyed a feast with friends and games and so-bad-it's-good TV.

The Menu -

::Main & Sides::

Glazed Ham

Maple Syrup baked Sweet Potatoes 

Braised Carrots and Parsnips

Corn

Biscuits

Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

 

::Snacks::

Grapes

Carrot sticks and Garlic Humus

Little Oranges

 

::Desserts::

Chocolate Truffles

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Bread with home made Whipped Cream

 

::Drinks::

Ginger Ale

Apple Cider

Mulled Cider

 

When we finally got restless and dared to venture outside - the weather was lovely...cold, but lovely. We walked around Greenlake and into the stores to enjoy the throng and excitement and energy without feeling the need to buy anything.

Also, my scarf matches the Japanese Maples in Waterfall Park - who knew?!

 

On Sunday we found out what the shooting was about. Apparently someone was walking their dog in the early morning hours and another dog, a dog known in the neighborhood as being very aggressive, jumped the fence and attacked the dog walker and their dog. The screaming was the woman being attacked and the gun shots were someone shooting the attacking dog.

Lessons learned -

My neighborhood is interesting.

Keep an eye out when walking you dog.

In my neighborhood folks pack poop bags AND loaded guns when they go out in the morning.  

 

 

Hello Musty!

During the Halloween Holidays, while T, D, and I were visiting my family and friends along the East Coast, my grandfather gifted me his 1966 Mustang.

Thank you grandpa!!!

I call her Musty...well, for obvious olfactory reasons. The goal is to make her Lusty over the summer :-)

She runs, which is wonderful, but she hasn't been water-tight for quite some time. There's a laundry list of things to do with her, firstly, installing the cowl covers and cleaning the drain getting her thoroughly detailed to remove the musty from Musty.

Hello Weekend!

Musty, just off the shipping truck

 

Enter BattleMouse!!

I spent Veterans' Day doing another deep clean of the house, scrubbing the countertops and resetting the laundry. This started after I followed a little trail of pasta sauce from the prior evening's lasagna as it went across the counter, leapt from the counter to the stools, and leapt again from the stools to the top of the dresser. Then the trail of sauce went behind my plants, behind the picture of the dog, and squeezed on the dresser and the wall where the mouse brought the noodle to rest on my white jacket. I've never been so mad at a rodent. Brazen little devil!

This time I wrapped all my clothes in brown shipping paper so the mouse will (hopefully) make noise and will (hopefully) stay out of my drawers. We also reset the live traps and moved them closer to the trail the mouse made with the rogue noodle.

The ultrasonic plug-ins are fired. The mouse would have been standing next to two of them - one on the counter and one in the socket behind my drawer. Didn't seem to bother it at all.

The dog is also fired. He can obviously smell the mouse, but has yet to catch it or bark at it or anything. He did find my sauce stained jacket very interesting and sniffed all around my dresser and tried to get under the cabinet (which I cleaned and re-cleaned) which was futile but hilarious to watch.

Next step - borrow a friend's cat.

Live trap or a cat

Life, or death if you choose

MouseBattle is on!

-mouse haiku

Mouse in the House

Oh Crumbs! There's a mouse in the house!

Last weekend, while putting some laundry away, Mr T found mouse droppings on top of the clothes already in the clothing drawer. YUCK.

Upon closer investigation, it seems a mouse had been hiding in the clothes for only a few days at most - not many droppings, no chew marks in any furniture or to any clothes, no nibbled drywall, and no issues with the dog's chew toys.

Still, it was a major sanitation project over the weekend and we have yet to capture our unwelcome little guest.

We did ALL the laundry, washing all the clothing and bedding in the house. Pulled out ALL the ground-level storage and found new homes for it throughout the house. This included Mr T's guitar cases, the board games we generally store under the dresser, and the cookie sheets I was storing under the kitchen cabinets. Everything was lifted up. I did a deep cleaning on all floors mopping with Dr Bronner's Peppermint Soap and crawled around inspecting the floorboards and hunting for any cracks or gaps where a mouse might hide. I also inspected along the ceiling thinking perhaps a mouse might run along the cables and pipes through the ceiling.

I noted some gaps and that the seal at the bottom of the door had broken - so those things will be fixed.

We bought ultrasonic deterrents and live traps that I baited with a mix of maple syrup and peanut butter...which Fams had to have in his treat ball too in order for him to leave the traps alone. Poor dog thinks I'm stashing toys and treats on him!

Mr T also spent some time in the yard hacking down the tall grass and wild sunflowers that we'd been letting grow free. Mr D took the cardboard pile we'd been saving for the yard and tossed it all into his truck for a dump run.

So, I feel we've done some serious mouse-deterrence over the weekend. Hopefully he or she was just house-watching while we were all away over Halloween and won't come back now that we've all returned. Here's hoping!