A Better Mousetrap?

I've been going back and looking at some of my very old posts. I started this blog back in 2004. Here's a story I posted in three parts back in 2005 that still brings a smile to my face. Hope you enjoy it too.

Of Mice and Men

(Post One)
The weather had warmed considerably. The cover came off the Miata. To his dismay, the little critter inside the trunk was encouraged to find a new home. I say "encouraged," because Bob cleaned out the trunk and tossed his fluffy nest into the trash figuring that would be the end of the rent-free intruder.

The little guy (the mouse, not Bob) had more stamina than he was given credit for. He rebuilt his nest--fluffy and warm, nestled against the spare tire. Bob discovered the little guy's handiwork this weekend.

"Don't we have a mousetrap around here somewhere?" Bob asked.

"I haven't seen it lately," I said with a smile. The Miata is Bob's "baby"--don't mess with the baby.

Bob tracked down two mousetraps, baited them with some swiss cheese, and set them in the trunk of the car. A smile on his face, he drove the Miata all day Saturday, confident that his freeloader would be taken care of shortly.

Sunday morning, Bob decided to check the trunk before we left for church. Like a great white hunter, stalking his prey, he opened the trunk...

(Post two)
Have you ever played Operation? It's the game where a body is pictured on a cardboard base and little body parts are in small cavities wired with an alarm. The object is to pick out the body parts with tweezers and not set off the alarm. It's a delicate operation.

I suspected our little freeloader in the trunk of the Miata had lots of practice with that game. The traps were picked clean and neither was set off until Bob picked them up. He, obviously, did not have a lot of practice with the game.

Undaunted and slightly amused, Bob headed for the peanut butter jar.

"Let's see him get this off the trap." Was that a maniacal chuckle I heard?

The traps were baited and reset. To be honest, I wasn't sure who I was rooting for in this contest. I much prefer D-Con. After eating it the mice usually just crawl away somewhere and I don't have to worry about desposing of the remains. I didn't want to actually see this clever little guy's demise.

Bob replaced the traps in the trunk of the car and returned with all his fingers intact and healthy. We waited...

(Post three)
It was a busy Sunday afternoon. I was getting ready for a writers conference and Bob was getting ready for his annual trade show. The temperature climbed into the upper 80s and I wondered if the peanut butter had melted off of the mousetrap.

Being the great white hunter that he is, Bob waited patiently until about eight o'clock that evening. I heard the door to the garage open and close but didn't think much of it until a little while later, he came into the den. He was grinning.

"I got the little bugger." He said with pride. "I knew he couldn't get that peanut butter off the trap."

The way he said it though made me wonder if Bob hadn't struggled with just a little edge of doubt--a slight suspicion that his small opponent might be a little too clever for an old fashioned mousetrap. After all, this is the era of electronical everything--who would guess something as old fashioned as a piece of wood, a spring, and a metal bar would still work so efficiently.

So, to the electronics wizards of the world--those great white hunters--Do we really need a better mousetrap or is it the bait that counts?

Root Canal Anyone?

Tuesday this week was another golden day. This winter has seen a roller coaster ride with temperatures. We have a little snow, some cold but not frigid temps, and then along comes a day like Tuesday--sunny and temps all the way up to 60! Not bad for Northeastern Ohio. And what do you do with a day like that? We went to the zoo!

We soaked up sun and fresh air--as long as we weren't down wind from elephants or camels. As we neared the Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine building, we decided to stop in and see if there was any special activity going on. Inside there are two exam/operating rooms for the care of the zoo animals. They can be observed through large windows by visitors. This day we were in luck. As we entered, the volunteer at the door informed us that there was a Mandrill monkey having a root canal that we could observe.

More volunteers told us that the eight or so people in the room around the monkey were mostly students from Case Western Reserve University who were studying dentistry. This was an opportunity to practice and observe.

We watched for a bit. The monkey never flinched. Of course if I was knocked out that cold in a dentist chair, I wouldn't flinch either.

Wordless Wednesday

Irish Inventors

I often get travel-related emails from companies wanting me to advertise their services and I usually don't post them. I want to keep my blog from being full of advertising and certainly not post something I haven't had experience with. But I couldn't resist this clever graphic that came from goIreland.com showing Irish ingenuity. So for what it's worth, here's a little more of Ireland for you:


To view it a little better, click on the graphic or visit the GoIreland blog.

Through My Lens--Still Practicing!

I am still trying to get the hang of this new camera. I think I have most of the auto settings figured out but now I need to get into the more creative settings where I can play with shutter speed and other areas I have yet to discover.




Check out Friday's post for more shots from the Cleveland Aquarium.

In My Backyard - The Cleveland Aquarium

The winter doldrums truly set in on a gray cloudy day in Cleveland that defines the term dreary. Rather than sit inside and wish for a peek at the sun that wasn't going to happen, we set off for the new Cleveland Aquarium that just opened on January 21, 2012.

To our surprise, it was better than expected. We have been in several aquariums around the world and this one, while not the largest or most exotic, was good--very good. It is located in a historic building, The Powerhouse, on the west bank of the flats along the Cuyahoga River. Also known as the Nautica Entertainment Complex, the building and surrounding complex hosts restaurants and entertainment venues throughout the year.

As you first enter, you walk through exhibits of local fish found in Lake Erie and the surrounding area's smaller lakes and streams. Not so colorful as those from the saltwater tropics but displayed in tanks that mimic their habitat somewhat. It's a whole different view of Lake Erie perch other than on the end of a hook or fried up on a plate next to a heap of potatoes.

The pathway winds through brick-walled rooms that give a nice abiance to the displays and allow for dramatic lighting in the tanks. We soon moved from the local fish to the saltwater displays where we began meeting with the kinds of fish we have seen while diving in much warmer waters.

The hallway near the display of clown fish echoed with cries of, "Look, Mommy! It's Nemo! Lots of Nemos!" I suspect many children will begin to nurture a love for our undersea marine life with their visit here. I look forward to seeing how the aquarium folks will use this as an educational tool in partnership with area schools.

My favorites among the displays? The seahorses. I've always been fascinated by them. They are hard to find when we are diving. Easiest to photograph were the lion fish. While deadly, they are beautifully graceful in the water as they flaunt their poisonous spines.

Lots of visitors were gathered near the touch pool. On tap to touch were a sea urchin (not a poisonous one), a starfish, a hermit crab, and a sea cucumber--yuck. We always call the sea cucumber a slug because of the way they look and amble across the bottom of the ocean floor. In all fairness, some are pretty but they all look like shell-less snails.

The most anticipated and probably hyped feature in the aquarium is the glassed tunnel that takes the visitor through the tank of sharks and manta rays and a few other fish that are just backdrop to the stars--the sharks. They swim back and forth and over your head giving you a good view of those lovely teeth.

While a bit pricey--tickets are $21.95/adult--I don't think they are out of line with many of the other aquariums we visited. We ended up buying an annual pass anticipating a couple of return trips. Some of the tanks were still a bit cloudy because of them being so new and freshly set up. We know how that goes. We have a 125gallon salt water tank ourselves. It's labor intensive--for my husband.

Would You Book This Speaker?

Forgive me. I'm showing off a bit. But I had so much fun putting together this promotional video for my speaking ministry that I wanted to share it. What do you think? Would you book this speaker after seeing this?