News From the (Mouse) War Front

General, , , ,

Nina feeds the birds. The birds feed the mice. Roland kills the mice. It’s a vicious circle.

bird feedersNina has four bird feeders attached to the railings on the back deck. Two have thistle seed and two have some kind of a standard mix. However, the birds are very selective about which seeds they eat and they toss about half the seeds overboard onto the deck or onto the ground below the deck.

A colony of mice have discovered the bounteous supply of seeds on the ground and on the deck. Over the winter a number of mouse holes have popped up through the snow just below the back deck. A week or so ago we noticed a few of the little critters venturing onto the deck to feast on the seeds that hadn’t been swept up. That was the final straw. Time get rid of the mice before they decide there’s a better feast inside the house!

I loaded six traps with peanut butter and put them out on the deck. So far: eight dead mice. I’m also putting a bunch of Decon down the mouse holes every day. I don’t know what the count from that exercise is, yet, but the little blue pellets keep disappearing.

A neighbor cat was coming into the yard earlier in the winter, but after the snow piled up along the fence the cat couldn’t get in anymore. I’m going to make a pathway for the cat. I’m sure that’s why the cat was showing such interest in our yard and we need Tabby to come back!

When the snow finally melts (still a lot of snow visible in the picture!) and the ground thaws sufficiently, then it’s time to start the fourth front on this war with the mice: the rototiller. We’ll churn up the ground below the deck and I think we’ll put down paving stones or something so we can sweep up the seeds the birds toss overboard and dispose of them in a way that’s less inviting to the mice. If I’ve killed off eight of them in the past four days, there’s got to be hundreds down there … breeding … eating seeds … pooping … peeing … just good fertilizer for the yard after I rototill them up!

I hope I don’t have to bring out the big guns … I wouldn’t want this war to have to escalate with no endgame in sight, kind of like what’s going on in some unnamed country who’s initials are ‘Iraq’….

It’s Been a Busy Weekend!

General, , , ,

Sometimes the weekends are much busier than the rest of the preceding week. This weekend is certainly an example of that. It started on Saturday morning when I took our car in at 8:30 a.m. to have the front windshield replaced. The shop, Dave’s Tint & Glass, did a great job and I was out of there by 9:30. An interesting part of my time there was when an elderly fellow pulled up in a beat-up old pickup truck and came into the shop. The owner and his partner apparently knew him and got out a coffee mug for him and poured him a cup of coffee (they have coffee and donuts delivered to the shop every morning, even though neither of the partners drink coffee … it’s for their customers). They chatted with him while they were working on my car. One of them went to the fridge and pulled out a plastic sack and gave it to him. Then they showed him the pile of cardboard in the corner and helped him load it in his pickup. After he left, the owner Dave told me that the guy comes around a couple of times a week looking for cardboard, aluminum, and their empty glue cartridges. They thought he might not have a lot to eat, so they bring in some leftovers to give him when he comes around. This place has my business and my hearty recommendation for life. It was a real upper start to my weekend!

Then followed Peter Norda‘s funeral. The viewing was at 10 a.m. followed by a service at 11 a.m. More than 800 people attended the funeral and the service was very fitting. It isn’t often that a Federal Judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals speaks at your funeral! After the service the Ward Relief Society provided dinner to the family and about 250 people were there for the meal. We got home after the cleanup about 4:30 p.m. plenty tired. But, for Nina, the day wasn’t over yet, as she still was going to the County Jail to visit an inmate.

While she was gone, I worked on my Priesthood lesson for the next day and worked through the hymns that we would be singing in Church as well as at choir practice as I was substituting for the normal organist and accompanist. After resetting most of the clocks, I was off to bed for a fairly short night.

Today was Church in the morning (playing the organ for Sacrament Meeting, teaching in Priesthood meeting, playing for the choir practice). Then we drove over to Soda Springs this afternoon to spend some time with my mother and dad. We had dinner with them and drove back to Pocatello … passing at least a couple hundred deer on the way. Driving through Lava Hot Springs we passed three wrecked cars and three dead deer in the middle of the highway. All three drivers were talking on their cell phones (to their insurance companies?) as we made our way slowly past. We saw large herds of deer on both sides of the road much of the rest of the way home.

We’re home for the evening. We’ve a busy week ahead as we get ready to drive to Chandler, Arizona next week for some time with our daughter, son-in-law, and their three boys. We’re way excited!

‘Til We Meet Again, Peter Norda!

General, , , , ,

The news on Monday evening, February 18th was shocking: Peter Norda had been transported to the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls after a skiing accident. Peter had been working on the Pebble Creek Ski Patrol that afternoon. The snippets of news in the intervening days were occasionally good but mostly cause for concern. His wife Judy was at his side when he died yesterday afternoon.

Peter and I had only a couple of things, but important things, in common. He was a successful small business owner … I have worked for other people my entire career, up to now. He loved the outdoors, skiing in particular … I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I’ve actually been at a ski resort and no fingers are required to count how often I’ve been on skis. In spite of that we became good Church friends as he also loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was an active, involved member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He loved to teach, as I do. For a while I would teach on the 2nd Sunday and he would teach on the 3rd Sunday. Then he was called as an Assistant to the High Priest Group Leader and would teach on the first Sunday of the month, once a quarter. He told me on a couple of occasions that he really missed the opportunity to regularly teach the gospel. I knew I could always count on Peter to substitute when I was out of town on my assigned day to teach. We would talk about gospel topics, how best to present them, the opportunities for discussion, and how to get to desired outcomes. When he taught he was always well prepared and would lead a thoughtful, change-provoking discussion.

Peter, while I know you’ve gone on to other important things, I shall miss you. I’ll miss meeting with you about my home teaching. I’ll miss your lessons. I’ll miss your enthusiastic and welcoming handshake. I’ll miss your characteristic “Good morning, brethren!” when you conducted our priesthood group meetings. You’re now on my list of people to be sure to look up in heaven. ‘Til we meet again!

Chriss James: You’re Wrong!

General, Politics, ,

Corruption in our political system is minor compared to what I’ve witnessed in Bulgaria and the Philippines. It does exist, however. For example (Idaho State Journal, Saturday March 1, 1008):

Caribou County’s embattled prosecutor, Chriss James … pleaded no contest to the facts alleged by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office — that he dismissed citations in exchange for cash totaling $3,800.

According to news reports (which are locked up behind a stupid pay wall at the Idaho State Journal newspaper), James (the Prosecutor for Caribou County in Soda Springs, Idaho) would meet with people cited for a misdemeanor traffic offense and allowed them to make a “contribution” in exchange for dismissing the charges. The “contribution”, he told them, would be used for the Caribou County Fair’s 5-kilometer run. After receiving the “contribution”, James then deposited the money in his personal bank account.

In a hearing last Friday, James attempted to get the 11 felony counts of misusing public funds dismissed. Thankfully, he was not successful. His reason? “Everyone is doing it, so it shouldn’t be illegal.”

Wrong, Mr. James. Everyone is NOT doing it. Besides, it is illegal.

Politics? Don’t Talk No Mormon Politics Here!

General, Politics,

The church meeting this morning was going fairly well. The group leader’s topic was about the Mormon Church and political stands. He was trying very hard to keep on topic and not where many in the group wanted to go: Why.Don’t.We.Have.Anyone.To.Vote.For.In.This.Election? The discussion moved closer and closer to the edge until the patriarch of the group announced, “There’s 25 seconds until the end of the class and we still have to have a closing prayer.”

The group leader responded, “That’s a good reminder, Bill. Why don’t you….” At which time Bill stood up, folded his arms, and pronounced the benediction on the class. We ended ten seconds early, according to Bill’s watch. We were saved once again from a furious debate about why Mitt Romney pulled out of the nomination race before we in Idaho had a chance to vote for him.

A Technology Day

General

Late last week a potential client asked if I was going down to Salt Lake on the last Thursday of February and, if so, could we get together. At the time I hadn’t planned to go as mother was having cataract surgery on the Wednesday before. All that changed and I did go down for the day yesterday. It was a very good and energizing day.

The day started with Phil Windley’s monthly CTO Breakfast which is held in a meeting room at the Novell Cafeteria in Provo. A good group of folks were in attendance ranging from the CTO for the State of Utah to several entrepreneurs, college grad students, and me (of course). We had a very lively discussion about outsourcing, offshoring, tech incubators, Amazon Web Services, and more. I always enjoy this event and have gotten to know several of the people who attend regularly. It really is one of the highlights of the month.

On the trip to Las Cruces for the funeral, my video iPod gave up the ghost. It would show a little frowning face and wouldn’t work. I love my iPod and was not happy that it had died. I’d really like to get an Apple iPhone, but want to wait for the next version and (hopefully) a better choice of networks. Besides, the iPhone is a really, really good iPod. Then I remembered that I had purchased an extended warranty when I bought the iPod from Best Buy. So my next stop after the CTO Breakfast was the Best Buy store on 21st south in Salt Lake City. I fully expected to have to argue with them because the case and screen are scratched up and they would claim “normal wear and tear and my fault”. I was so pleasantly surprised when the fellow looked up the warranty, verified that I was the person that had bought the warranty, and said they would be shipping me out a replacement within the next three to five business days. It would be a refurbished unit, which was fine with me. My iPod was two years and three months old. Even a refurb unit has to be newer than that!

After a couple of visits with potential clients, I stopped at the Apple store because the faceplate on my Macbook had a crack in it. No problem … come back at 5:30 p.m. and it’ll be fixed they told me. So I did a thorough job of browsing (and not buying anything!) through Barnes and Noble and returned at 5:30. It was fixed, but they were running a thorough diagnostic on it and that wouldn’t be done for another hour. Problem was, I needed to be in Draper at 6 p.m. for the next Big Technology Event of the day … the monthly Utah Blogger / Geek Dinner. Fortunately for me, Laura Moncur, the delightful organizer of this event, schedules it to be on the last Thursday of the month so I can do both the CTO Breakfast and the Blogger Dinner on the same day, then drive back to Pocatello.

So, I made arrangements to pick up my Macbook after the dinner and headed south to Neil’s Halibut and Broiler for the event. A couple of the same people who attend the CTO Breakfast also go to the Blogger / Geek Dinner, but mostly it’s a significantly different group of people. Last month we got together in a blizzard and not many people braved the weather. This month, after a sunny, warm, spring-like day, a lot of people showed up and I had a great time chatting with folks about what they’re doing with blogging and the like. It’s another energizing event for me.

I headed north about 8 p.m., stopped at the Apple Store and picked up the now-whole laptop. They told me they had also changed out a daughterboard and loaded some new firmware which should finally fix the random keyboard-not-working problem (so far today there’s been no hangup). I was home and in bed by 11 p.m. Got lots of technology discussed and it felt good.

Snow, Hospital, and Forgetfulness

General

snowflakes

I haven’t really figured out how to take pictures of snowflakes during a snowstorm. There is definitely an art to this! I got up Sunday morning to big flakes falling from the sky, accumulating at about an inch per hour. Then it changed into rain. Then finally it quit. By the end of the day, all the new snow was gone and much of the old snow has melted as well. Our forecast is for temperatures in the low to mid 40° for the rest of the week and we may not have much snow left. However, I’m sure we have not had our last snowstorm of the year.

Nina and I went to Rexburg on Saturday to a Book of Mormon Symposium and had a delightful time there. I enjoy sessions where I learn new things and Saturday was full of those classes. It was well worth our time. On Sunday I spoke in two Wards as the companion to the High Council speaker. That was also enjoyable. Meanwhile, Nina made the newspaper … big article on page 3 about her working at the prison and the project to make baby hats and lap blankets. I went downtown to pick up several extra copies of the newspaper when dad called Nina to say that mother was having a heart attack and that the ambulance was on its way.

We dashed over to Soda Springs (Nina pushed her luck by driving significantly over the speed limit!) and met them at the emergency room at Caribou Memorial Hospital. By the time we got there, the diagnosis was pretty complete: no heart attack, no stroke, but probable stomach flu coupled with dehydration. They decided to keep her overnight for observation. Since we didn’t want to leave dad alone at the house, we decided we better stay the night.

Staying presented another problem. We hadn’t brought anything with us, and for me in particular, I needed my nasal CPAP machine or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep. So, when mother was ready to go to sleep, we drove dad over to the house, Nina stayed with him, and I drove to Pocatello to pick up the things we needed and drove back to Soda Springs. I got back there about 10:15 p.m. and as we were getting things ready for bed, I discovered that while I had brought the CPAP machine, I had forgotten the hose and the mask. So, I drove back to Pocatello, spent the night there, and drove over to Soda Springs this morning.

Mother was released from the hospital about 10:30 a.m. this morning. My sister Terry drove up from Ogden and will stay with them a couple of days. Mother is doing better and in a couple of days should be back to normal. For that I am very happy.

Now, the plan is to pack a small bag to take with us the next time this happens so we don’t have to make so many back-and-forth trips. Nina says I should make a checklist to put with the bag so that I bring everything that needs to come with us, including all parts to the breathing machine! That’s a good idea. Those senior moments are quite frustrating!

The Wrong Guy!

General

The Other Roland SmithThe name “Roland Smith” is somewhat common. One person with that name writes fiction, generally intended for young-adult readers. He also has a blog and a web presence at http://www.rolandsmith.com/. Doing a Google search on “roland smith” shows a link to Google Checkout (to buy his books) in the #1 position, his web page in the #2 position, and my weblog in the #3 position. In spite of that, occasionally I’ll get an email from someone wanting information about a particular character, suggestions for plot lines, or requests for telephone calls … like this one:

i really like your book “Peak” it is so cool. i love the part after chapter Blink how peak says he saw sun-jo over the top of the hill, he looked like a raged guy but he looked ready to climb. aftrer that i yelled woo. so the whole resone why i am sending this email is because i’m doing a book report on the book Peak and i need to now things about you for it. so if you can help me do that and talk to me that would be great. My email does not work but thats an old one so just call me at 530-xxx-xxxx and you could tell me the things i need to know for my book report if you want to. talk to you later i hope.

The person was right. The email did not work so I wasn’t able to let him/her know he/she was contacting the wrong person. So I went to Roland’s web page, clicked on his “email me” link, and forwarded the email. I hope the requester will get the telephone call…. Notice that we have the same barber, though.

I wonder what readers will do when I publish the Great American Novel?