I think they call that a "Varmint"!

Oh yes - we have had a few encounters with another kind here at tracy's blue house. It's hard to believe that I am sandwiched in between two major highways, in the middle of the city, and I have Varmints! We have seen quite a few things lurking in the night: skunk, raccoons, opossums, mice, and an occasional rat - yes I said rat.

The question right now is "What on earth did I trap in the garage this week?" I certainly know it had teeth. Apparently, it also has the urge to exercise. Last Thursday I was hopping in my car which was parked in the driveway to go visit my friend Kathy. As I was climbing in I heard a very loud machine like noise - it was really loud and it sounded like it was coming from my garage. What could it be? I pressed the automatic door opener and much to my disbelief - my treadmill was running at full tilt - 10 miles per hour - I was expecting to see smoke come out from underneath the tread. I turned it off and checked the LCD display - it had been on for 3.5 minutes! Holy smokes - what on earth turned that thing on? I unplugged the treadmill to prevent any further events - I can't even imagine the look on that varmint's face when he turned that thing on. I proceeded back to my car and on to my regularly scheduled plan!

Yesterday - Saturday - I was in the garage and noticed a bunch of blue plastic shreds on the ground. I followed the trail to my heavy duty rubbermaid container - the one that had - I say had because there wasn't much left - had the birdseed and grass seed in it. I used the heavy duty container - to keep the varmints out - apparently - it the lid is closed - they'll just find another way in - eat through the container. So after that - I realized I really had a varmint - so Sunday I vowed to clean out the garage. After much procrastination - I started at 3:00 pm!

I parked the cars in the driveway and began tidying up. I love to get that industrial vacuum going - slurping up every cobweb, spider sac, and dirty and disgusting thing that it's path can cross. It feels so satisfying - see you later spider!!! I swept up the little blue shard of plastic and made my way around. Then I began thinking to myself, "who was doing a wood project in the garage - there are wood shavings all over the floor. Wonderful - I guess I'll just vacuum them up with the rest of the mess." I went over to the window to open it and low and behold - more varmint evidence. That varmint must have been trapped in my garage - because he ATE my WINDOW casing - or at least a big chunk of it. That varmint!!!!!!

The folks over here at tracy's blue house now think that the varmint was trapped in the garage, he tried to get out by the window, gave up, and started searching for food. He sniffed out the seed and ate through the container when he couldn't get through it. He felt a little full and decided to take a run on the treadmill until I decided to finally open up the garage door!! What do you think? Crazy, huh?

Raccoon (I saw one sneaking around tonight!), opossum, rat, or squirrel? Let's hope he doesn't return!