Mice, Starlink, and of course, Riding

Our home has become a no-kill place for mice. We'll occasionally catch a mouse in one of our traps down in the utility room or in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. I always feel bad that the only solution seemed to be to kill them to rid our home of them. I found a no-kill trap online a month ago and it appears to work really well. I've caught two mice so far. The only improvement I'd like to see with it is an ability for the trap to send a notification to my phone when a mouse has been caught. I doubt there's much of a demand for a feature such as that but I'd pay extra for it. I try and check our traps twice each day.

Our spring season seems slow to get off the ground this year. We've had a smattering of warm days but nothing sustained. It looks like our warmer temps will arrive on Thursday for an extended stay. I made two trips to Gertens this morning to buy some hanging baskets and a few flats of flowers. I had to bring them inside due to one last night of frost warnings for tonight. Tammy and I plan to finish the remainder of our flower shopping on Wednesday. Gertens is typically very crowded no matter what time of day or day of the week we go but not so today. I would estimate 80% of the shoppers were wearing masks along with 100% of the staff. Do masks make a difference? I have to believe they do or caregivers wouldn't be so insistent on wearing them. That's reason enough for me to don one.

Have you seen the Starlink satellites, a broadband project by Elon Musk, flying overhead? They're quite cool to see although I have friends who aren't too fond of them, one of those friends being an astronomer. There are so many of them that they can be a nuisance for astronomers peering into deep space. There are several apps you can use to help determine when the next viewing in your area will be. I use Find Starlink: android and iPhone. The app will tell you where and when to look in the sky and the magnitude of brightness to expect.



Sales from my Etsy site were slow after the 1st of the year and I was expecting them to stay that way due to the downturn in the economy but I was surprised with 6 sales last month. It's about that time of year when I close up shop until next winter. But still, I'm hoping to take advantage of whatever rainy days are in store for us and add to my inventory.

We had 6 deer in our yard well before dusk one night recently. In the mix were triplets that were born last spring, still staying close to their mother. It's crazy the amount of wildlife we have in the suburbs where one would think we'd have forced them from their habitat with our presence. They love to munch on our plants and I really don't mind. I love seeing them.



After 19 years of faithful service, our water heater developed a slow leak and had to be replaced. The repairman who replaced it said the typical life expectancy for a water heater is only 10 years. We're good-to-go again.

I made it down to the trails along the Minnesota River last week for a really fun ride. It had been a few months since I was last there. Most of the floodwaters have receded leaving the trails in very nice condition. I hope to keep making this ride a regular part of my warmer weather riding and not just during the winter.



And one last video—this one from last Saturday's ride out of Northfield. It's our way of keeping our cycling group connected even though we've put our group rides on pause during the pandemic. After analyzing the forecast winds, Bruce drafts up a route for us all to ride; a route that hopefully gives us a tailwind on the return back to Northfield. Some ride the route clockwise while others ride it counterclockwise, giving us a chance to stop for a few minutes when we see another rider and chat a little while keeping our distance. These rides have become one of the highlights of my week.



Stay safe.

That's all I've got.