When the cat's away, the mice will play!

Or in this case while we were away the mice had a great time.
I had a wonderful Christmas with my daughter and her family.
I returned home to mice tracks all over the house.  YUK!!
I even put out poison everywhere I could think of that the mice might go and the dogs wouldn't.  This after an early morning visitor while I was in the bathroom a week before we left.


We live in an old house and when we first moved in we had issues with the little creatures.
It took a couple of years, but I thought we had gotten rid of the problem.

Seriously even my dresser drawers had droppings in them.

I'm totally grossed out right now.  This was not what I wanted to do New Years Eve.
Rubber gloves and disinfecting wipes in hand I'm now on a clean-a-thon.
Everything is getting vacuumed and disinfected and all my clothes are getting washed.

I just had to vent, but right about now even Mickey & Minnie would be exterminated if they showed up at my door!

On a happier note.  It is a good reason to sort through my stuff and I'll have less Spring cleaning to do this coming year.

Happy New Year!

Family found

After 30+ years of doing genealogy and searching for my Grandfather Spotton,  I've finally found him and his family.  Using Family Search and ancestry.ca  I guess I had to wait for the government to release the proper census records.

I'm going to make my dad a family tree for Christmas.  Dad has no memories of his father as his mom and he divorced when my dad was young. Daddy is 81 now.

Not only did I find my grandfather in the Canada census, but his parent and grandparents.

I'm so grateful for all those people who do indexing of government records.
Hopefully someone will benefit the same way from the ones I index.

There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.  ~John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery, 1994

Gratitude is the best attitude.

Yesterday there was an incident at the Magrath School, hence the 'Lockdown'.  A lot of people feared for their children and rightly so.  I have seen a disturbing number of blogs and comments on other sites of people complaining about the school staff and the RCMP.  I felt inclined to share a few thoughts on this, so I'm getting up on my soapbox.

1/  One parent wrote that they could have at least put something on the automated phone line. 
I'm sure they'll think of that next time should the problem exist.
Yes, you didn't know what was going on.  Sorry that not notifying each individual parent wasn't our first thought but, the safety of the children was.

2/  Kids complaining that they weren't allowed to use their cell phones. 
This is so inconvenient in a world that lives on facebook, texting...
The staff can not keep track of every phone called made during a lockdown.  It is simpler to ban the use then try to figure out who would cause a panic situation, give out wrong data or maybe even converse with the 'suspected criminal'.

3/  There was so much drama and overkill by the police.
 Let us count our blessing that it ended peacefully.  Sometimes it doesn't, as anyone with a TV will know.  Better to be on the safe side then.  Instead of complaining about how inconvenient it was and be grateful that we have such services in our community and country.  We complain if they do something and complain if they don't.  They can't win. 

4/   Laying blame. 
Before we start laying blame let's walk a mile in the shoes of those involved.  Many problems of the world would be over if we all remembered the Golden Rule.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_rule_(ethics)

I'm getting light headed up here on the soapbox so I'll step down and wish all involved {even in the slightest way} peace in their hearts and hope for a bright future.

Dennis Morgan - When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Ginger Rogers could do everything as well as Fred Astaire...except she did it backward and in high heels!

To all of you younger people.....

This lady was a headline dancer way,way,way back in the 1930's and1940's.
Watch all the way through, the beginning is a warm up.
She is 92, her great grandson 29 - watch them dance!

Don't give up after the first minute,that is the teaser.

My 'signature' for Greytalk

Now that I spelled it right.  I was so involved with the design I didn't check the spelling.  All my English teachers growing up would not be surprised.  I love spell check!

Peter Paul & Mary - Blowin in the wind

I Like Big Books - Dowell Middle School

Cabin Fever

It is currently -18 C.  We've been much colder before.  This issue is that now that we have a greyhound.  They aren't built for cold weather.  I have to bundle her up like I used to do with my children when they were small.  Booties and a fleece lined coat is the fashion statement of the day.  Even our Gigi gets booties and coat, even though she really doesn't need the coat.
Now that we're emply nesters, my daughter says I've replace my kids with dogs.  Not quite true but, the dogs do listen better.

Shelby has major cabin fever.  It is quite different playing catch with Gigi(bichon mix) than Shelby (greyhound).  It only take her 4 'steps' and she's already caught the ball, and that is through 2 rooms.
I think that someone should start an indoor dog park.  They have indoor rinks, pools, even tracks.  Why not a doggie park.  It could have a pond for them to play in and hills like the ones they make for Monster Jam.  some trees and park benches just like the off leash parks but only indoors.

One major advantage would be no deer poop.  My dogs think they are some kind of Calebaut truffle.  Glen asked the vet why they eat it and he said, "They must like the flavour".  I'm sure the guy who wrote the song, "Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play"  had never lived where the deer roam and play.  My yard looks like a sheep pen in the spring I have to go around and pooper scope it before it thaws and so the dogs won't snack on it and make themselves sick.  Our garden has a 6ft. fence around it so the 'cute little deer' won't feast apon it.

I don't know how I got from cabin fever to deer poop but, such is my life.  Maybe I have replaced my kids with my dogs! 
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