The Battles are Real

 

I had an anniversary this week. November 18th, 1982. That is the day I entered the Air Force. I remember it as if it were yesterday. A time in my life I would not trade for anything. What amazes me is that it was 42 years ago. Where does the time go? 

The 'Cold War" was still going on. Always being reminded of that when our base would run nuclear or chemical warfare drills. It was a little nerve racking to say the least. I spent 3 years and 9 months on active duty. Getting out 3 months early to join the North Dakota Air National Guard, where I spent another 22 years. I was only deployed to three different foreign countries my whole career. Hard to believe. They were England, Panama and Canada. Aircraft we had on our bases over the years were this. F-111D, F-4, F-16, C-130 and the C-21. The F-111 was my favorite because it was the first .

I found this photo on the internet. It is actually from the base I was stationed at. Cannon AFB in New Mexico. The 27th Fighter Wing.

Now to the reason for bringing up past battles. My military training will stay with me my entire life.

The long standing battle continues here at the SSUVFL. The battle I speak of is man vs. mouse. Those pesky little critters are getting everywhere. Years ago I blogged about the battle with Rambo mouse. If you are new to the blog you can read about it here. 

For years I have been using the old fashioned spring loaded mouse trap. It has never failed me until this fall. Trap after trap I set. Only to come back in the morning to find the bait stolen. And as a slap in the face there would be at least 10 mouse turds all around the trap as a "thank you" from the mouse. Why don't I use the bucket trap? Well winter is almost here and the water required in the bottom would just freeze, providing a skating rink for them. They would be like a miniature Torvill and Dean's skating in the bottom of the bucket. No. This is war! I had to find a new trap to bring the war to the enemy. Find one I did.

This is a trap made by Tomcat. I set out two traps. One in our pickup camper and one in my sons camper. The next morning there were two mice in them. 2 for 2. That thing snaps down on them hard. I didn't want to show you the pictures because I know Jim is squeamish when it comes to those kinds of things. So that is one battle raging on right now. 

Here is another. Squirrels. Don't get me wrong, I like squirrels until they get into our bird feeder. They have had all summer to gather acorns because we have a lot of oaks on our property. They are not starving. Plus they also get the benefit of our walnut trees. So they could at least leave the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds to the birds. But NOOOO.

It starts with one.

They are very good at climbing that pole. They chase the birds away when they are up there. The red squirrels will chase the grey squirrels away just so they can have the feeder to themselves. 

Then two.

Then three.

I don't know how many times a day I walk by the window to see those little critters feasting on our sunflower seeds while the birds are waiting in the trees to have a turn. I will then open the window and yell at the squirrels which makes them freak out and run away back to the woods. But the more I do it the less freaked out they get. So now, (and I'm not too proud to admit this), but I will run out there barking like a dog to get them to scatter. No, that will not be on YouTube. So I went to the local farm supply store for a new weapon in this battle.

We will see if that solves the problem. It's been on for an hour while I write this and have not seen any squirrels on the feeder. However a red squirrel tried.

Lisa originally put the sunflower seeds in a plastic garbage can outside to make it easier to fill the feeder. Well the squirrels discovered that and had chewed a hole through the top to get to the seeds. No wonder our squirrels are so fat. We went and got a metal can and that stopped them. They are not pleased about it and let us know by urinating on it. Dang critters.

I am busy and I can see how someone may be confused at all of this. You're probably wondering if that is all I do all day? Worry about mice and chase squirrels in a dog costume. I do have a set of chores that I do daily. Our long list of things to do is almost complete, thank the maker.

Now I have time to share with you a third battle that I am waging. It is a battle on the planet of Pandora against bandits, psychos and all kinds of mean and evil creatures. It's actually a video game called Borderlands. I love it. I could play for hours and hours a day. Just ask Lisa. Look at these things you have to defeat.

It will literally take you months to finish the game. I don't like when you buy a game for 60-70 dollars and finish it in a week. That's not fun for me. I have been practicing because there is a new Borderlands game coming out in 2025 so don't expect me to take phone calls or anything once I get it. 

Just another exciting day at the SSUVFL.

The Itch

 What in the world am I talking about today with a headline like that? Is he talking about an "itchy trigger finger"? "Jock itch"? "Hemorrhoidal itch"? "The seven year itch". Too many things that you don't want to know the answer to and I am thankful to tell you, none of the above. Whew! To your relief and mine.

The itch I am talking about is this. To decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving or not? That is the question. If you walked into any box store before Halloween, you would have seen them fully decorated for Christmas. So who would blame us if we were to do that also? I'm sure there are lots of people already doing it. We are being brainwashed by big corporations and China to do so. (I included China because everything is made in China.)

Funny story about that. The summer Lisa and I worked in Yellowstone at a gift shop in Tower Falls, bus loads of Chinese tourists would stop and so many times they would come up to the cashiers and ask us if we had any souvenirs that were not made in China. True story. I can just picture it though. You're a Chinese person on vacation in America. You get home and find out that all of your trinkets come from China. LOL!

Sorry, I got off topic.We have movie streaming services now. When we go to the movie lists, there are more and more Christmas movies being added. We had the grand kids stay over with us last weekend and do you know what movie they picked to watch for our "Pops"corn party. The Grinch. I texted a friend of mine who shall remain nameless to protect his identity. I asked what he was doing and he said the family was watching the Hallmark Channel. So I went to the "Google" to see Hallmarks schedule of movies. I include a sample in the following pictures.

Nonstop Christmas movies. Okay, I won't tell you his name but I will give you a clue. J*m from J*mandB*rbsrvadventures. What a dork. (That's a compliment.)

How can we fight the "ITCH" to not decorate and start the holiday season a month early. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. In fact as I write this I am listening to Christmas music on Pandora. Trans-Siberian Orchestra to be exact. My favorite. I also like the classics like Bing, Elvis, Vince Guarldi and so many more. Even a little Mariah Carey thrown in.

Our tradition growing up as kids was that we had to wait until after Thanksgiving and I continue that even today. Music isn't decorating, right? I can get away with the music part while Lisa is working. She would pop a gasket if she heard me listening to Christmas music right now. So don't tell her.

I remember as a kid, we would get the Sears, JC Penny and Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs. I would spend hours looking at the toys and toys and toys. Circling almost everything in the pages and then leaving it on the coffee table with hopes that my parents would page through them. Those were actually "the good ole days". We just didn't know it. 

Kitten news. We have decided on a name for the new kitten. It is Stinky. Her formal name is Lady Stinksalot. She will also answer to Stinkus, Stinky Baby, Sweety, Wild thing and of course, Hey You. Stinky and Moose (who's nickname is Mr. Moo) get along well. He really wants to play with her but he is a big lummox and is a little rough with her. Journey (her nickname is Floofy McFloofin) on the other hand doesn't want anything to do with her. She will let the kitten know when she gets too close. She lets out an evil hiss and the kitten will then go a different direction.

One thing that we are learning is that having a black cat is dangerous. She is very hard to see in low light conditions or at night. Also being a kitten, she darts around all of the time, running between your legs as you walk. 

She has almost tripped me on many occasions. I bet you are all hoping that the day that happens, Lisa is recording because it will be epic! 

I wonder if Lisa would let me put out one Christmas decoration a day? That way she could ease into it. Or maybe I'll do it anyways to see if she will even notice it. I mean she never notices if my shirt is inside out or backwards or both. Or maybe she does notice and just wants me to walk around all day looking like a clown.

Tune in tomorrow kids. Same bat time, same bat channel.