Being guardedly optimistic

I haven't heard or seen any evidence of mouse activity since plugging in the sonic dealies, so maybe the sound is just annoying enough to keep them away. Which is the best solution, I think - you can keep on trapping but you have to keep traps set (and keep checking them) to deal with the mice that move in in the absence of the ones you caught. I'd rather keep mice out of the house than have to kill them, anyway.

As I said, I can hear the buzzing (I can even hear it over here, a couple rooms over from where I have them plugged in), but if they work, I can put up with the buzz.

I just hope the mice don't adapt to it. Or that I get the Three Deaf Mice.

***

I had only a dozen or so trick-or-treaters last night. That may be a combination of "alternative" events (they do a downtown, "safe" trick-or-treat. I hope they mean "safe" in the sense of "we block off the streets so there's no traffic" and not in the "DISTRUST YOUR NEIGHBORS THEY ARE POISONING THE CANDY" sense.)

Also, it was game 3 of the World Series last night (I had it on while waiting on trick or treaters) and I suppose some of the kids wanted to stay home and watch that.

So I've got a bowl of candy that I'm going to take over to my department tomorrow. (Probably everyone else who does trick or treating will do the same).

***

This morning, I earned my "2 gallon donor" pin from the OBI. (Fortunately, having had the flu shot 10 days previous didn't disqualify me, after hurrying to get down there early. And fortunately my blood pressure was back down closer to normal after being considerably elevated in the summer - when I was taking Zyrtec. So I take that to mean, no Zyrtec for me ever again.)

I'd be more proud of that but back when I was earning my one gallon pin, the guy in line after me was earning his 8 gallon pin.

I figure it's a good idea for me to donate when I can; I have none of the pre-conditions that would make me an unsafe donor and I'm healthy enough to tolerate losing a pint of blood every two months or so. And it potentially helps people.

***

I also finished the first of a fancy pair of fingerless mitts.

It's very hard to photograph it well, because it's dark with a lace pattern. It's the Snow on Cedars mitts from Knitspot. It's a more complex pattern than most fingerless mitts, but like all the Knitspot patterns I've seen, it's very clearly written and very detailed, so the mitts were not difficult.



There's an old knitting superstition that says you should not try on anything you're making as a gift for another person, lest you and they quarrel. (I'm not sure how that originated. The person making the item falls in love with it and feels unhappy they have to give it away?).

Then again, a bit of my hair inevitably gets knit into most things I make, and another old superstition says if you knit one of your hairs into something that is knit as a gift, it will bind that person to you forever. So maybe the two superstitions cancel out.

At any rate, they're for my mother, and I doubt she and I would quarrel. Or at least we wouldn't stay irritated at each other for long.



Not that this picture is much better.

I will say this is a neat pattern to knit because it makes a picture - cedar trees and snowflakes. And as I said, it's very well-written and detailed.