Now that the hounds go into the coop every morning to hunt for the rat, it’s moved out, however Calvin said it sneaks in and steals chicken feed.  So I got a couple of sturdy Tupperware containers with lids for him to put the feed in, and plan to continue the hound inspections for safety’s sake.  I hated it when the rat ran out, nearly colliding with me, as the dogs had found it under one of the brood boxes I moved.

Then the other morning the dogs were insisting there was something behind the fridge.  As I moved it I saw a large rat dart out into the entrance, Frieda in hot pursuit.  Poor Louie was on the other side of the fridge so it took him a second longer to get there, and by then brave Frieda had killed the rat.  I showed it to Calvin who was quite impressed at the size.

And I can’t blame the dogs at all as it’s the cats who bring the rodents into the house and let them go.  Frieda emits a very high-pitched scream when I open the bedroom door in the mornings to let the dogs out if she’s smelled a rodent.  So the other day she sounded like a steam kettle leaving the room and both hounds ran to the back bedroom barking and scratching at the book case.

I moved it, and sure enough, Frieda came out holding a dead mouse.  They never eat them which is great, and it was so adorable as for a moment Louie also held the mouse so they were sharing it like the spaghetti scene out of Lady and the Tramp.  But as I’ve said before I really do get tired of the rodent bits lying around either balled in my blankets, or spat onto the ground.

As nice as the landscaping job is at mom’s, it involves small boulders and other gravel and so poor Louie tore off his baby toe nail on our last visit.  Alan made a path through the rocks so I’ll have to take Louie on it several times and admonish him if he tries to take a shortcut as he’ll just lose another nail.

He wouldn’t stop licking it so I called the nice vet to come and she said when a dog loses a claw like that the interior pulp stays behind, and this is the tiny piece of meat he was licking and licking.  She said I should get a baby sock and tape it on but I just keep threatening him with it.  “You’re gettin’ a sock” is shouted at him many times a day.

$136 later for the vet call plus antibiotics for the toe, so will be sure to train both dogs on the use of the path.  I’m going again on Wednesday and will have to steel my nerves for a two-nighter.  As I just said to my friends, I’m trying to cut down on the stress-shopping and the stress-eating however feel the stress-drinking is perfectly fine.

It rained for a couple of days a few days ago, so I bought some fabric at thrift and recovered a valance in the spare bedroom.  It was a mathematical puzzle at first, but I managed to do it and felt proud at the end result.  In many ways it’s kind of a miracle I did it at all given my happiness at wasting hours on You Tube videos.  But think of all the things I’m learning, free.

Already one of the sprinklers is leaking so I need the irrigation company, the key wouldn’t come out of the lock so I need a new set, and the faucet a plumber installed is loose, which needs fixing.  In other words, a life with small worries even with rats.

I don’t think I’ve ever met friendlier people than those in New York.  We stayed at an Airbnb in Brooklyn, took the subway to Manhattan daily, and everywhere we went we were helped, and we needed a lot of help.  It was several days into the visit before I fully understood we were on the subway going ‘Downtown’ to Brooklyn, and ‘Uptown’ meant Manhattan.  I think we only went the wrong way once, so we felt pretty proud of ourselves.

If someone told us where to go, and we began going the wrong way, people would run after us to help.  Once I asked a group of women in the bathroom after a play if anyone knew where the subway station for Brooklyn was, and a super nice woman said she was taking that train so we could accompany her.

We had the hilarious “run as fast as you can” to our connecting flight from Montreal to New York, but we made it, and after that I guess we just gave in to being over-stimulated and decided to do as much as we humanly could.  Both of us said this is likely the last time we’ll see New York City, so let’s try out best.

On our first day we went to the Empire State Building where they have an adorable museum and in one of the areas King Kong lurks outside a corner window, looking in at us menacingly.  For some reason we decided their gift shop would be fun, and both left going why oh why did I spend so much money on junk?

That day we wandered around 5^th Avenue, saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral and also the Rockefeller Centre, then through Central Park so were absolutely exhausted when we got home.  The next days were pretty much the same, Central Park, Times Square and we managed to see four plays: Sweeney Todd, Good Night Oscar, The Book of Mormon and Moulin Rouge.  Not cheap, but really worthwhile.

We spent four hours at the Museum of Natural History one day, and four hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next.  Again, evil gift stores at both museums, and so we both went home with polished rocks, and I got a dinosaur-themed shot glass and a really lovely navy and white dragon-themed bowl at the Met.

One afternoon we met Jerry Jr who lives in Manhattan for a drink.  He met us at the Met and we walked through Central Park and tried to find the most expensive hoity toit bar we could, but were foiled.  We went into the Ritz, didn’t like the atmosphere, then tried the Plaza Hotel, but would’ve had to wait for a table, so we said forget it, and ended up at an Irish Pub where we could throw down drinks and thank the Gaels.

We saw the hilarious Naked Cowboy with his boots and hat playing guitar on Times Square.  I wanted to get a picture with him, but that would’ve meant giving him money and I said to Bev I don’t know where I’d have to stick the cash so I’d rather not.  Also saw a fabulous guy with a giant sign, Hell Is Real.  Bev said yeah, and we’re in it.

On our last day we visited Bev’s friend in Queens, then ended with a tour of the lovely Brooklyn Botanical Garden.  And then, sure as middle-aged stomach fat, we had the heart-stopping “run as fast as you can” to make our tight connection from Montreal to Vancouver.  Whoever plans these must just kill themselves laughing.