Critter Control

 The mouse catcher came this afternoon.  He set traps in the attics, traps in my basement (because my tenant is in quarantine), installed roof vent grates, and sealed all the little places where mice could possibly get into the house.  Did you know that a mouse can get in through a quarter-inch hole?  Me neither.  I haven't heard any traps spring but I hope that's only because I had the TV on.

My fingers were frozen today.  So cold that I brewed a mug of tea just so I could wrap my hands around it.  I didn't even think to pull out one of the pairs of mitts that I've knitted.  I just put some on, makes a difference.

I cast on the next preemie hat and knitted more than is in this picture but not a lot.  Once again I found my attention on the television watching the dramas of the Midwives instead of knitting.  It's a good thing that I knit for my own amusement and not for pay because I'd starve.

29 October--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview.

"What are you thinking?"  Will stood in the doorway watching me pack.

            "I'm following Dad's and my dream to move to Anguilla, buy the Seaview, renovate it, and run it as a B&B."

            He folded his arms across his chest.  "I can't believe you're going to waste Dad's insurance money buying a run-down hotel on an island at the back of beyond."

            I put a stack of t-shirts into my case.  "I'm not wasting it, I'm spending it on something we both dreamed of and planned to do once he retired."

            Will shook his head.  "Dad told me that you were the one that wanted to go down there and buy that place.  He said he wanted to stay in the States and take it easy."

            I kept packing.  "He said things like that when he was trying to get a rise out of me. He would have enjoyed the challenge."

            Will flopped on the end of the bed.  "Mom, he didn't want to go.  He was humoring you.  Get it through your head, this is a mistake."

            Tears blurred my vision but I shook them away.  "Why are you saying these things?"

            "Because I don't want you blowing all that money in a place I've never seen.  I won't let you."

            I went back to my packing.  "It isn't your decision."  I felt a lump in one of the suitcase pockets, reached in, and pulled out one of Jim's socks.  I put it to my nose and sniffed.  Clean, thank heavens, but it still smelled like him.  I sat down next to our son.  "I'm going, Will.  I'm going tomorrow and unless a hurricane has swept the Seaview into the ocean, I'm buying it, and that's that.  End of discussion."

            He stood and stormed out.  "I'm only trying to keep you from making a huge mistake," he said as he left.

 For the first time in many months I cried myself to sleep.

 

Today's toss was a box of gardening and craft books.  These are old books that I haven't used in a while, especially since I started straw bale gardening.

I saw one bird today, a Junco, no others.  I don't know why and the only squirrel I saw came at dusk.  Trying to take its picture would have set off the flash and been just glare.  Not a bird day.  Oh, and the exterminator said that I shouldn't feed the birds because it attracts mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and rats.  Yeah, yeah, I know that but I get such joy from seeing them and my life is so limited right now I just can't bring myself to stop.

--Barbara