word!

You’d think having a farm over run with some 20 odd small felines would pretty much decimate any kind of rodent population. But after feeding said cats on a steady diet of gourmet cat food and the occasional table scrap, they become complacent. So mice do exist on our farm, but mainly in the corn room, which happens to hold the cat food as well; in other words, off limits to the cats.

Having the amazing powers of observation, my mother has on more than one occasion caught mice in a lowly plastic 5 gallon pail:

There’s really nothing all that magical about this method either, it’s just a little physics and the occasionally ill-fated movements of the mice that meet there timely demise. See the pail can really be set anywhere in the room, just so long as it’s empty and in a suicidal mouse’s path. The little critters fall in, but due to the pail slippery surface and the deep depth of the pail, it is the last mistake they will make.

Quite amusing to watch a mouse try to hop out of pail to no avail, but that means it’s dinner time for the lazy cats. There’s even a few of the idiot cats that will play with the mouse once they get it and sometimes they invariably let it go. Silly cats. Therefore, the mousers of the bunch get dinner and the other sorry suckers have to wonder where all the mice have gone they could have eaten.

So don’t be fooled by stick ’em traps, the old cheese and snap trap or other inhuman devices to rid these varmin. A plastic 5 gallon pail will do just fine!

Whew, it’s been a gruelling summer. I have attended more county fairs in the last month than my past 26 years it seems. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just interesting.

So far, I’ve entered the storied gates at:

Wright County
Sibley County
Carver County

and yesterday two one day!
McCleod County
Renville County

So 5 out of 83 or so, ain’t too shabby. I know I’m not a real diehard, because I’ve missed some neighboring counties that I’ve been to in the past, but didn’t get to lately. I do believe they’re all spread out enough time wise to actually visit them all.

I’ve heard rumors that the Steele County Fair in Owatonna is where it’s at in Minnesota, but alas have never gone. And some crazy counties up north are so big they have like two fair within the county. Wow!

Although I’ve been to a bunch, the bestest ones are the ones locally, where you stand a chance to meet a neigbor or various friends and family. You can’t really go wrong with a fair in Minnesota though and given all this fair activity, it’d probably only fitting to fit the Great Minnesota Get Together in there as well. Good thing I’ve been saving up for a visit there for the past few years!