AFTER ALL, IT WASN'T WINTER TIME

'Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse' is a familiar saying around Christmas time, but it is not the case here in the last week of June.  A little mouse has been sneaking around at night and eating my peanuts!!!! My first clue was a week ago when I noticed peanut bits and shells in a corner of the washroom next to a small closet that contains the water heater.  There is a small space under the door where I figure the mouse squeezes through, but once the mouse has obtained a peanut from the kitchen, it cannot get that peanut squeezed back under the door to take back to its house, probably somewhere under the house.  So, it sits there, eating what it can, and leaves a peanut shell mess on the floor!!  Okay, so where does this furry little critter find the peanuts, you might ask.  Well, on a table right inside the kitchen door, I kept a small open bucket of peanuts for the chipmunks outside.  How that mouse crawls up onto the table I don't know, but then to get up the smooth plastic pail, drop down on top of the peanuts, get one in its mouth, and climb back out of the pail, is a bit of a mystery to me.  And then to do it a second time because there are always two peanut shells on the floor. This has happened three times now until today, when I switched the peanuts from the open bucket to a closed, secure container.  By the way, it was this same bucket of peanuts on the table by the door that prompted a Squirrel about a month ago to tear a hole through the kitchen screen door and twice help himself to the peanuts.  Both times I saw him, and both times I chased him down the hall into the sunroom, and swooshed him out through the sunroom door.  It's definitely neither a squirrel or chipmunk in here at night, but how does a tiny mouse carry a peanut in its mouth?  Tis a mystery I have going on here, but with the new security system container and its screw on tight lid, I am confident I have put a stop to the nighttime shenanigans of this bold Midnight Maurader!!  Now, here's something I didn't tell you about.  Also, about a month ago, I heard some scratching going on inside my tall plastic birdseed container.  I right away suspected a mouse, and I was right.  Cautiously peering down into the container, I saw the hapless little fellow and the predicament he was in.  There was no way it could get out. My first instinct was to help and not hurt or hinder.  That is always my instinct with creatures big or small.  I carefully leaned the container over, and the little chap was able to scurry out.  It immediately scampered across the kitchen floor and disappeared behind the fridge.  It was only then that my mind clicked in with the thought, 'I should have taken the container outside and let the little guy go out there'.  After all, it wasn't winter time.  I'm just not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes you know:((

 THE YELLOW BUCKET ON THE LEFT WAS MY FORMER OPEN TOPPED PEANUT BUCKET AND THE WHITE CANISTER ON THE RIGHT IS MY NEW SECURITY CANISTER

Al's Music Box:: Same Auld Lang Syne is actually a true story written and sung by Dan Fogelberg about an encounter he had with an old friend on Christmas Eve of 1975.  Dan Fogelberg has since passed away.

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GROANER'S CORNER:(( Harry had been feeling sick lately and was finally convinced to see the Doctor after his wife Suzy's urging.  After a thorough examination and much thought, the Doctor was ready to tell Harry and a very worried Suzy his prognosis:  Harry was too stressed out. He would need 6 months of pure relaxation. Suzy, very agitated, took out her notepad to begin writing down his list of orders for these months of relaxation. "How should I go about it?" asked Harry. "OK," said the doctor, "I would like your wife to take one tranquilizer four times a day......"

'OLD' Internet Axioms::

- The e-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.
- A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.
- You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.

- Great groups from little icons grow.

- Speak softly and carry a cellular phone.
- C: is the root of all directories.
- Don't put all your hypes in one home page.
- Pentium wise; pen and paper foolish.
- The modem is the message.
- Too many clicks spoil the browse.
- The geek shall inherit the earth.
- A chat has nine lives.
- Don't byte off more than you can view.
- Fax is stranger than fiction.
- What boots up must come down.

- Virtual reality is its own reward.

- A user and his leisure time are soon parted.

- Know what to expect before you connect.
- Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice.
- Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net, and
he won't bother you for weeks.

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A tough looking group of hairy bikers are riding when they see a girl about to jump off a bridge, so they stop. The leader, a big burly man, gets off his bike and says, "What are you doing?" "I'm going to commit suicide," she says. While he doesn’t want to appear insensitive, he also doesn’t want to miss an opportunity, so he asks, "Well, before you jump, why don't you give me a kiss?" She does, and it is a long, deep, lingering kiss. After she's finished, the tough, hairy biker says, "Wow! That was the best kiss I’ve ever had! That's a real talent you’re wasting. You could be famous. Why are you committing suicide?" "My parents don't like me dressing up like a girl…"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery