Survey for friend...Outer Circle Publications HOTSHEET, Your opinion valued...

[GordonJ]

As an old Bill Myers customer, you know people buy magazines, books and reports to fuel their DREAM...not to make the dream come true.

And there is a huge niche of people who want to get back to the land and nature...heck, your post is an article...

So, be glad to publish it and mail it out for our test.

Opossum, turkeys and skunks...OH MY.

G.

Originally Posted by Cornell

No offense intended but glad I live where I do.

Skunks and bats also carry rabies here, as do the odd raccoon, fox, and coyote.

I am always vigilant of animals acting out of the norm. Any nocturnal animal out in the daylight spells trouble and a call to the authorities.

Had a rooster camping out under cedar bushes by house 2 years ago ( a bylaw officer cracked down on a property owner a couple of roads over so he just turned them all loose)....you would swear the little sucker was sitting on the bed. Tried everything to deter him...hot water, cold water, firecrackers....he would flee but would be back the next morning.

Finally had enough. Took my trusty puppy dog (Siberian Husky/Chow) out the back entrance and to the front corner of the house...at the first ****-a-doodle-do I turned her loose...last I saw of him he was making like Wylie Coyote (the road runner cartoon) heading off into the bush.

Originally Posted by GordonJ

So, be glad to publish it and mail it out for our test.

G.

Hi Gordon:

Yes you can use it as you see fit and no need to credit me with it.

Here is another little one.

I recycle as much as possible and as such I reuse the plastic grocery bags for kitchen garbage.

A few winters ago I got lazy one night because it was frigid outside and snowing like a banshee. Instead of walking across the deck to put the garbage in the bin I just set it outside the door on the deck.

The next morning when I went to pick up the bag I noticed little tracks in the snow going to the bag and a small 1 inch hole chewed in the bag....so out of curiosity I just left it there and checked the next morning.

More tracks. So set out a soda cracker and piece of cheese that evening.

Next morning food was gone with tracks leading back to the bag....that was mid January.

For the next 2 months I put out food every night to feed the little mouse that had made the garbage bag his castle for the winter.

By the end of March the weather had started warming. The garbage having sat there all winter was getting pretty ripe with the thawing temperatures. Also, the food put out the night before had not been eaten so figuring the mouse had moved on I disposed of the bag.

Stepping backwards for a minute...the night before I removed the bag of garbage I had gone out to check the property along with my puppy dog - aptly named Snowy - a pure white 85 pounds of terror when allowed to be. While out noticed she was tracking a scent.

Back to day of the garbage bag removal....after putting the bag in the bin I walked around the deck to the side of the house and there in a pretty mangled mess was a plump little mouse.

Presumed it to be the deck guest of the winter due to its well fed size.

I had fed it and fattened it most of the winter...and then my dog had used it as a throw toy....kind of ironic, sad, and yet a little funny.

She is allowed to defend herself with dogs (hasn't lost a fight yet) but I had trained her to - leave the rabbits and birds alone, retreat from skunks (this one was absolutely necessary as she got sprayed as a puppy), opossums, raccoons...and chase the cats. But I never thought about mice.

C.

Pertaining to the antique hotsheet in a previous post....the hotsheet grew too large just to be a hotsheet...the result is shown in the attached image.

The following is for SOWPubbers only...it is something that just came to thought.

If any SowPub member is interested in starting an antiques web site I have put up a little page about it so as not to turn this post into something that is banned on the forum.... http://zsell.com/antiques/sowpubbers.html ....but as I said it is just for SowPub members to view and only one to have.

Hopefully I am not violating any rules here with this.

Cornell