Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

In the late morning rain

It's probably just as well that it's cold and rainy, because I won't have to feel bad about not working in the yard today. I took up some of the bricks in the patio yesterday, the ones nearest the back step, and I think I found some clues to our little visitor: some scraps of rug and some bones. I have a bad feeling that the rodent door is under the step, so I'm still not sure how we are going to get to it to plug it up. In the meantime, I've ordered a Havahart trap. I've also asked the regular resident rats to stop sending out ultrasonic invitations to their wild cousins.

I do need to get away from the Internet, though. I keep looking at the sports section of every news outlet on earth, but especially the ones in Canada. I'm getting a giddly little tingle when I see (to use tsn.ca as an example):

Make room in the post-season for Ovechkin and the Capitals, who needed only 4 1/2 months to go from worst in the NHL to Southeast Division champions. Washington snagged its first post-season berth since 2003 - and put their Russian superstar and MVP candidate in hockey's showcase tournament for the first time - with a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night in their final regular-season game.

I realized that my last couple of posts may make it sound like I'm downbeat, but that's not so at all. And believe me, when I mention juggling baseball and hockey games, it ain't a complaint. If you'd have told me in spring of '04 that in '08 I'd have a baseball team I love in a glorious new stadium and the Caps winning the division, I'd have thought you were teasing.

So, good things come to those who wait. (I hope the critter in the basement ceiling isn't rubbing his paws thinking the same thing.)