Race Day!

There's Houston's car! I spent hours getting the finish so glossy, so at least notice. It was pretty fast, perhaps fourth out of twelve or more. Next time, i'll polish the axles instead of just filing them smooth, and put weight very close to the back of the car. See, because the weight falling is what gives the car speed, and if the heaviest part of the car has the farthest to fall, there will be more energy to be gained from the drop. There would be a tradeoff in stability, especially if the weight went behind the rear axle -- the car would wheelie on every bump or jiggle of the track.

Karen was the pit crew mom, while Zane and i made faces at the camera. It was good to see Houston being buddies with his friends from Boy Scouts. And to see that there were boys there more rambunctious and troublesome than him. Now Houston isn't rambunctious or troublesome most of the time, but he does get in trouble for that stuff in school.

Finally, lemme talk about mousetraps. We live in an old neighborhood with countless opportunities for mice to forage, nest, loiter, congregate... swarm... so we've always had mice in our house during the spring when they have themselves little baby booms, and in the fall when it gets cold and they're seeking warmth. I got utterly fed up with the old mousetrap (than which those who build one better will have paths beaten to their doors) because they'd get sprung, fail to capture anything, and then mice would be at liberty to much on whatever morsel was attracting them. Setting them was an exercise in PTSD desensitization therapy: "tense tense tense tense SNAP!!! SHOCK gasp ow?"

So last fall i got fed up, and spent five bucks on four nice new plastic traps from Victor. They're white, and look a little like giant stubby clothes pins. They are easier to set than burping, they never spring unless they catch something, and the bait doesn't get eaten before or after then trap springs, so the ones in my basement have been catching mice on the same bait since fall. They caught maybe three all winter. But in the week since we got home, i've caught perhaps fifteen mice. Because they're getting warmed up and are looking for foooood. Today a mouse got really unlucky. All mice who get killed by traps are unlucky, i suppose, but this one got caught twice. I can't figure out how... did it somehow step on the trigger with its back foot and then drag the trap to the next source of food? Did the deployment of the trap flip the mouse over and randomly get his back leg caught in the next door trap? Dunno.

Okay, i'm falling asleep at the 'board, so goodnight.

How can you love bugs but not love mice? They’re so darn cute. Bacteria ridden, perhaps, but still… cute.
-- Steve (Email) (URL) - 19 April '09 - 07:40

Juanito!!! Never knew Houston was in Scouts. I’m glad! Always enjoyed the wooden car derbies, placed third one year I think.

Hey – give me a ring sometime – need to talk to you about wedding stuff.

Thanks!

-Richard
-- Richard (Email) - 19 April '09 - 13:17

Mice are totally cute! I love them, but i can’t let them gnaw my food and poop in my cupboards. So they need to stay out of my house. Bugs that are pests (flies, cockroaches, fruit flies, mosquitoes etc) aren’t allowed in my house either. Spiders, earwigs, dragonflies, bees, butterflies… they are all welcome to be near us!
-- juanito - 19 April '09 - 14:12

Um, except not earwigs or bees. I don’t welcome them.
-- karen - 19 April '09 - 15:05

That double mouse trap pic needs to be sent to the Victor company to use in an AD campaign.
-- mummu - 19 April '09 - 19:13

That is true… we have 2 pet rats, but they’re caged, and if we don’t supervise them well when we let them out then stuff gets chewed up. They ruined the speaker wires for my surround sound system! What is it with rats chewing wires? They’re not edible and it’s not like they were impeding their way!
-- Steve (Email) (URL) - 19 April '09 - 22:23

Great work on the car J and H. and that picture of the mouse? EEEEEEWWWWWHHHHH – Just looking at it made my stomach curl.
-- harri (Email) - 20 April '09 - 21:28

You have to answer this silly question because it keeps spammers off my site:
What are the last three letters of Juanito's name?
What's the last three letters of Juanito's name?  

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