Day Eighty: Spring Cleaning

Fiftyfive degrees and sunshine at 7:00am in Chaumont, NY. Today I will be playing guitar at the Riveredge resort in Alexandria Bay, NY. Got up late this morning because for no apparent reason I couldn't get to sleep last night. So I got out of bed and read some more of Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. Very good book. First published in 1719. A few years ago I decided to start reading some of the classic novels that I am familiar with, but have never read. Haven't we all heard of Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on a South Sea island? But do you really know the story as written by Defoe? I am enjoying it. There is much about his soul searching and coming to terms with his life and relationship (or lack thereof) with God. The edition I am reading is 264 pages. I am at page 104. I reccomend this book.

Somewhere in a little hole in the wall a three legged mouse drinks a beer and tells his friends how he narrowly escaped with his life and a piece of the sweetest cheese he ever tasted.

Occassionally over the years I have seen evidence of mice within my domicile in Chaumont, NY. Usually it is in late fall when the temperatures are dropping and the approch of Winter is evident. So it was last year and I set out some mouse traps. I use the tried and tru spring loaded traps. Well much to my surprise when I checked the traps one of them was missing. Now once in a while a trapped mouse may drag one away a few inches, a foot at the most. I could not find this trap. I was a bit concerned about what kind of mouse would carry off the enire trap. I mean, it was NOWHERE! I searched the far, dark corners of the pantry. I looked behind the hot water heater. No sign of it. Over the next few days the remaining traps produced several dead mice.
Winter came and went and I never saw anymore evidence of mice. Good. It is Spring now, time for cleaning. I get under the stove in the kitchen to clean up the dust bunnies and lo and behold: A mouse trap with a leg in it. Evidently the poor creature got a hind leg caught, dragged the trap way across the room and when under cover of the stove, went to work chewing himself free. I know it sounds awful, but that's what happened. Unless one of his buddies chewed his leg off to set him free. That's not likely. Anyhow, I do feel bad for the critter, but he probably lives on.
Regards, Gary.