I'd almost given up on catching whatever rodent had built a nest on my car battery.  Something has (quite consistently) been able to eat the peanut butter from the traps, even launching the springs in most cases, yet still not get caught. 

Judging from the totally cleaned-out orange peels that I keep picking up from underneath that tree we most likely have had a roof rat move in.  But yesterday we finally caught one in the big rat trap.  I suggested to Tom that "we" reset the traps, which he has done.  

I don't know whether to hope we catch another one or not; it would be great if we only had that one 'tenant', which we have now evicted!

Did a little sewing yesterday, and ran into a problem when I tried to thread a new color. It kept jamming up in one place that of course I can't get to, so after multiple tries I moved the little sliding cover in an attempt to "fix" it - but that just made things worse when I couldn't find anything to grab to open it up again.  The instruction manual was NO help (spot number 4 of the threading isn't even labeled on the machine diagram!), so next I tried calling Marcie (unfortunately she's in the same techno-boat that I am) and then Jeannie (who knows a lot about machines - but didn't answer her phone) and finally asked Tom to come in from the garage and put in his 2 cents worth.  But I actually figured it out and fixed it all by myself! To say that I was surprised (and thrilled!) would be an understatement; might wanna keep your eyes peeled for these guys...

  My biggest concern had been that if I ended up needing to take it in somewhere to be repaired I most likely would not get it back in time for the upcoming retreat - creating a real problem!

When Bill installed the grab bars in the shower Thursday, I had mentioned how the corroded metal soap dish in the tiles looked even worse than ever (hard to imagine) in comparison to the nice new bars.  WHO KNEW that there were just a couple of screws holding it in (well, he did!)  I had no trouble with the screws, though it took Tom and a wedge to pry it loose.  Of course if it's not a standard size (something we have run into many, many times with this house) it might be difficult to find a replacement at Home Depot.

I'd meant to call Patti yesterday - and then she beat me to it.  We had a nice long chat, catching up on things.  She and Gary had gone to San Diego the end of vacation, and tried to go whale watching - but shortly after heading out to sea heavy fog rolled in and there was no visibility.  Whale watching is on my bucket list - and obviously still on theirs!

She said her foot behaved reasonably well with all the walking they did while there, though she's still dealing with swelling and pain.  The good news is that at least she continues to see improvement in that department, though unfortunately it gets slower and slower.  In February she'll reach the one-year anniversary of her fall, and then in March the one-year anniversary of the surgery.  After that, the surgeon plans to remove some of the metal, which could (should!) help a lot with both the swelling and pain.  While her Olympics hopes have been dashed <g> and she's not likely to ever regain full movement in that ankle, the true happy ending would be to not have any more pain!

Last night Tom and I watched another Netflix, a documentary about life of the Paleo Indians in North America around 10,000 BCE. 

Although it's filled with stunning scenes re-creating the realities of life in prehistoric times, this A&E docudrama shouldn't be confused with 10,000 BC, the big-screen epic about prehistoric life directed by Roland Emmerich. In this program, you'll follow the earliest humans as they interact with a variety of now-extinct creatures, including woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, as well as a few animals that are still around today.

I found it interesting (and of course was easily able to follow all the flint-knapping!) though Tom was a little disappointed since he already knew everything!   

The Columbian mammoth was the largest land animal since the extinction of the dinosaurs.  I usually wonder how the scientists figure out many things, such as how the mammoths "spent x-number of hours eating each day", though assume they extrapolate how much an animal that size would need to eat and then figure out (from modern day elephants?) how long that should take.  Although I already knew about atl-atls (and have actually tried out one, though with very limited success) I was astonished that an experienced hunter could launch one 100 yards at speeds of 60 mph.  But that certainly helps explain how puny humans could take down a mammoth.

Today's agenda includes more mucking (anyone surprised?) and then around mid-day I'll head over to Patti's to take a walk around her neighborhood and "catch up" some more.  

For dinner tonight Tom in going to cook a roast in the new crock pot (which has a really short cord so it's a very good thing I had Bill install the plug as high up on the end of the island as I did!) as its "maiden voyage".  Wanda has been invited to join us, but she's going to a memorial service this afternoon with a group of quilting friends, and since someone else is driving (and the ladies may decide to do something together afterward) she really won't know her 'schedule' until later.

Guess it's about time to start doing something productive this morning...