We've at times left the back door ajar with the same results. Once my grey tabby brought his live mouse (his prey is almost always very much alive) upstairs and to my bed. If we had a cat flap, I'd probably have a house full of mice and the occasional baby rabbit. Probably cicadas too.

I received two lovely packages this week--one from Carly (jcpyburn) yesterday, and one from Chau (Chaud111) today. Bulbs, bulbs, and more bulbs! And I love bulbs! So my birthday month is winding up with a bulby bang. (Er...that doesn't sound quite right...) :) From Carly, I received a box absolutely crammed full of bulbs and other goodies: an adorable notepad, thermometer, a really cute stationery set, a heavenly vanilla carmel scented candle, a flower stake and a decorative frog on a rock, and the all-important bag of dum-dums! And the best part: bulbs! A bag of tulip bulbs, some mixed allium, Triteleia (these will go next to the ones Daylilymom sent), a large white allium (for my white garden!), a red amaryllis, ornithogalum, Pink Giant chionodoxa (my front step is surrounded by chionodoxa in the spring, so I will plant these there, too--I don't have any pink yet and will be anxiously awaiting them next spring), Dutch Iris "Blue Magic," a whole assortment of glads, some anemone, a red spider lily, and a pink surprise lily. Wow! Literally an abundance of bulbs! Carly, I can't thank you enough for the generous package! From Chau, I received a box chock-full of some of the largest bulbs I have ever seen in my life, freshly dug and ready to go: a yellow canna, assorted single coronaria anemones, a bag of freesia (can't wait to try forcing these this winter), a huge red dahlia, a Hawaiian white ginger (can't wait to smell this), and what is truly the most enormous Pink Magic Lily bulb I have ever seen in my life--honestly, it's almost the size of my head! Chau, everything was a wonderful surprise, and I'm a little sad that I won't be able to send you anything nearly as nice (given that Illinois will be in the middle of a deep freeze during your month). I do have a quick question: the writing on one of the labels got wet and washed away--I think it might have been the one for the second leafed plant (not the canna). Is that the white lily? Or are the lily bulbs the ones that are loose on the bottom? (They look like daffs, but maybe they are lilies and I am just confused.) I will be looking up the zones and potting up all the tender bulbs to brighten up my indoors this winter, and planting the others just as soon as possible. Oh, and I loved the way you wrote the plant names on the actual bulb and on the leaves of the canna--I will have to remember that trick! skohler, Daylilymom, femilr, pchanggeo, jcpyburn, and chaud111: Thank you all so much for your generosity! I will think of all of you when I am out in my garden. (Anyone I haven't heard from yet: If you opted to send a donation for animal rescue, I thank you as well! Just please drop me a quick e-mail letting me know that you participated this month--you don't have to tell me an amount or anything--just check in so I can keep my "send to" list straight.) And thanks again to everyone for participating, and making my month a good one! It looks like I may very well be going on strike in a week or two (my union meets on Thursday for the vote to file notification of intent to strike), so now I have some lovely garden things to keep me busy when I'm not walking the picket line. Hope everyone else has as great a month as I did!

I have not owned an evoluent but I did try one and did not like it as well as the wow pen.When I decided to go with the vertical style mouse I did major work on figuring out which one to go with, my research and time paid off. I have NONE of the complaints listed, If you have a really big hand maybe the pinky would be an issue not at all for me. This mouse has a rubbery soft material on the area where your fingers go which provides a very good grip I love the feel of it.I have never used a mouse pad with mine on my desk which is a laminate wood type surface it glides fine and I have never seen a jiggle?? I would wonder what kind of surface they were trying to operate on. The impression may be that it takes more pressure for a left click but in reality it does not it is due to the way your finger is on the button, on a regular mouse you are pressing straight down with your finger on this mouse you are more pressing down while your finger is in a side ways position just like it is when shaking hands. I have really bad arthritis in my hands and fingers and I do not have any problem using it, in fact I have a hard time when I have to use someones mouse that is the regular kind now. I have no idea what they mean by intensities??? Personally I do not feel the price of this mouse is high, any good quality product is going to cost close to this price, I have found it for a range of prices so be sure you do look and search, I found it for multiple prices on amazon alone. I am sure not every person is happy I can tell you from myself and my husband we will not be using a regular mouse again, I have purchased 4 of these and every single one has been excellent. The fact that I have gone from having to wear a brace on my hand and arm at all times to not having to wear one at all and all I did was change my mouse is worth so much more than I paid for these mice.

OMG, those cat pics are priceless . . . I'll be chuckling the rest of the day! I wish we could get a cat but both my kids, and most of my siblings and their kids are allergic to cats. What would this be called . . . Murphy's Law? The morning after I posted my response here, I walked into our laundry room closet to start a load of clothes and there in the always-present mousetrap was a dead mouse! It's been half a year since one got in there and, darn it, of course it had to happen right after DH had left for work! I could do no laundry until DH got home from work that evening at 7:30PM to get it out of there, because (sigh) there is no way I'm touching a dead mouse! I was a real tomboy growing up and still have a lot of it left in me. As a room-parent, I thought nothing of hunting down and grabbing the class's wayward 3ft bull snake that periodically managed to escape it's big cage. I still routinely rescue large tarantulas and carry them to safety in my hands. In my mind, they're just gentle little misunderstood giants. So why is it that when I see a dead mouse, I totally flip out? Not a live one, mind you, that would be more logical, but those don't bother me at all. Only the dead ones bother me. I have a real dead-mouse phobia for some unknown reason. I don't ever recall even seeing a dead mouse until we moved out here to New Mexico. Apparently my childhood home never had any . . . at least that my parents told me about. And it's not the death specifically, because seeing dead birds, animals, bugs or whatever doesn't bother me; I just feel sad for them. But seeing a dead mouse in a trap hits me hard. It's like something knocks the breath right out of me and I stand there gasping for air. It's only in the past couple of years that I've managed to not holler out loud~ once I catch my breath again~ when I see one. What I need in a mousetrap is one that kills the mouse instantly (because I truly don't want it to suffer); that is some kind of longish, opaque box that holds the dead mouse inside the box where I can't see it and don't have to touch it; that has some sort of signal (like the red flag that goes up on a mailbox when you get mail) so that I know there's one to dispose of . . . and that allows me to simply touch a button to release the mouse into a (NOT! see thru) sack. Can someone please invent one like that? I'll take a dozen! Lynn PS: A funny now, but not funny then mouse story: years ago DH, the dead mouse disposer in our family, thought it would be much more sanitary to seal a dead mouse in a small ziploc bag and store it "out of sight" in our (attached )garage's upright freezer until trash day. Bad, bad, bad idea! I found it while searching for a package of ground beef later that day. Let me tell you that for someone with a dead mouse phobia, finding one in your freezer, and actually grabbing the bag to see what it was is even more (much, much more!) traumatic than seeing one in a trap! Luckily for me (NOT for him, though!), it was a weekend and he was home. My blood curdling scream and tirade that followed convinced him that our freezer was NOT a good place to store dead mice ever again! Funny now in the telling, but I still shudder when I think about touching that baggie!