Mice happen and make a mess in a hurry. The swanky areas here with their waterfronts and citrus trees have rat issues. Ick. I want to try those sonic dealios that drive away ants and other bugs and see how they work. Next summer when I go north I will absolutely try the sonic mouse repellent devices. Worth a try.

YP supervisor: "That's good, it looks like a sketch by Leonardo DiCaprio."

So a lot of inappropriately young models, then?

Natterers made me break my FB fast to check out Hec in HONY. I did not read the 1.6k comments! I often feel a kinship with the people featured in HONY, but this was extra awesome.

The gym has no hot water. I don't know how to cope with this.

Cold shower?

I must be a terrible housekeeper because I didn't notice the disgusting condition of my kitchen cupboards. Droppings throughout. Three junk drawers full of yuck. Why, rodent, why? There is absolutely no food in with the old batteries and spare power strips!

Oh Katerina Bee, please cut yourself some slack. Years ago, we had a mouse at the old house. The exterminator said baby mice reach sexual maturity in something like 30 days*, so a small mouse problem can become a large one, in short order. It's not you; it's them.

I don't envy you the clean up. I hope you're able to wipe out the problem soon. I am not humane about killing off rodents. They spread disease.

• This was in 2003 or before, so I could be misremembering the time, but the point remains the same : they multiply quickly.)

Ditto what Cindy said - mice can go from zero to OMGSOMANYFUCKINGMICE in basically no time. And they can get in through cracks that are more or less invisible.

Shout-out to my local PD for bringing the funny about tomorrow's weather forecast: [link]

Since this snow is supposed to start later in the day (or maybe early, depending on who you ask), we're going with afternoon snacks. You do NOT need to rush the grocery store UNLESS you don't have Oreo cookies. That is your key to surviving Snowvember (â„¢ï¸, ©ï¸, ®ï¸, Patent Pending and dibs on that newly coined phrase). Back to the cookies. Oreos are the king of cookies. Yes, you're always safe with Cinnamon Toast Crunch (bonus points for Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch, if you can find it), but this first brush with the cold calls for cookies dipped in milk.

(Since I do in fact have Oreos, I do not need to rush to the store. Except I do, because I don't have any buns for the turkey burgers I'm making for dinner.)

Cold shower?

No, thank you. It is 37 F out. I will just stink. Sorry, coworkers. I feel like my gym should have given me little apology cards to give out or something.

Thanks, everybody. Guess I needed to vent.

DH agrees that poison has a terrible ripple effect and unintended consequences. I experienced the horror of glue traps at our previous address. They were up on top of the kitchen cupboards, little Chloe stepped into one and was stuck all day until we got home from work. That poor cat, she was so scared and so happy to see me and my problem fixing hands.

Spring traps, they are on the shopping list now. I reckon I could put some under the coach while I'm at it. It will rend my heart to damage cute little mammals, but this is my house and we're not sharing with those smelly, messy poop factories.

DH is doing something that requires the power off where my work computer is located so I can't work and am forced to finish my book. The struggle.