RoMOUSEo & Juliet

They nearly died at the very same time and I’m not talking about Romeo and Juliet. I’m talking about mice that were making a home in my kitchen!

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s been over 10 years since I’ve had a mouse problem in my home. In fact, here’s a video of the decade-old visit.

Now it’s 10 years later and maybe someone came back to defend the honor of their dead ancestor! Because yes, I had to mousetrap the little guy in 2010.

Just a few days ago, there I was laying on the couch. From this spot I have a partial view of the kitchen including the dishwasher. The dishwasher plays an important role in this story so just sit tight and we’ll come back to that. While I was watching YouTube (probably Trey Kennedy’s hilarious videos), the pup vacationing at my house (aka I was dog-sitting for a friend) was lying on the floor nearby. He was facing towards the kitchen.

As if we were all buddies, a mouse quietly and rather calmly walked into my field of vision through the middle of the kitchen and climbed into a little gap between the dishwasher and the floor. I thought to myself, “Did I just see what I think I saw?” It was surely confirmed when the dog got up, curiously walked over to the dishwasher, and sniffed around the base. He and I both saw exactly the same thing. I tiny mouse acting like he owns the place!

Then I thought about all the places the mouse’s diseased little feet touched and was immediately grossed out. Where did he come from? How long has he been visiting my kitchen in broad daylight? The little rascal!

Well, circling back to the title of this post, and I won’t dwell on this because I’m always an animal lover, I found an old mouse trap leftover from 10 years ago, applied peanut butter to the trigger side of it… and a day later *boom*snap* we had a dead mouse in the house. I dug around and found another mouse trap and just a few hours after Juliet went to mouse Heaven *boom*snap* we had a second dead mouse in the house. I guess RoMOUSEo came out to check on his lover, to his own demise.

The silver lining is that at least these two critters don’t have to encounter an assassin fly like I did the other day. This scary-looking insect might have given them a heart attack!

-Out of the Wilderness

Garmin Forerunner 245 with Music!

I only use overused cliches to be redundantly funny but after going out for my first inaugural run with this watch a few days ago, I must say it’s a real game changer!

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

The image above is NOT the Garmin Forerunner 245, in fact it’s not even me. It’s the only free image I could find that I liked. So back to my first inaugural debut of a run, for all 3 miles I was… bzzzzz bzzzzzz… just as gleeful as a honey bee! I’m known for overthinking everything so it took me a while to actually go through with purchasing the smart watch (you can take a look at it on Amazon here) but even after just one run I’m so glad I did. What sets it apart is the music function. Now I’ll admit it takes a few minutes to download a Spotify playlist, and sucks down the battery while doing so but this music option is the #1 reason I was looking at getting a new watch. There are a few different Garmin models that support music playback (I have the Forerunner 245) but my experience with Garmin has been so good that I didn’t want to stray to any other brand. Plus, I’ve got fitness goals this year so I wanted to make sure data from a new watch would still sync with the system storing all my statistics.

Before the first-ever inaugural run, I was able to sync my wireless earphones that don’t have wires (also purchased on Amazon here). The phone paired with the earphones quickly and without any issues. Once outside, I activated the run option then waited for the GPS to lock in. This also was quick which is really nice! The other watch I have, Vivoactive HR, is a great watch as well but lately has been taking a loooooong time to acquire the GPS signal.

So let’s talk about the music part of the watch. For the past forever, when I run with music I have a watch on one hand, and I’m holding a phone in the other– playing Spotify through the phone speakers. I actually like this because it’s loud enough for me to hear, but not overbearing for anyone in the neighborhood or on the greenways. But when I’m sweaty, I don’t like it dripping all over my phone. Plus, I just got a new phone so I definitely don’t want that getting all nasty from sweat, or possibly malfunctioning if it gets wet where it’s not supposed to. This run with the Forerunner 245 felt weird because I wasn’t holding a phone. Seriously, it was weird but I loved it! Just a watch and headphones and I was good to go. Well, I was wearing clothes and shoes, too, but I don’t need to say that, right? It should be assumed. OK, yes, I HAVE streaked before but I would never track it with a GPS watch or anything. We don’t need any proof or record of that happening 🙂

I know it’s only been a few days and one successful run, but so far I’m very happy with this watch. The fact that I can play music through it amazes me. Also, while I was running the watch would chime in with the split time for each mile, telling me through the earphones what my time was. Really cool! I’m excited to find out what else this watch can do and I’m sure to post more in the future!

-Out of the Wilderness

Life update- August 2020

I know it’s presumptuous to call this post “August” and it’s only August 16th… as if I can safely say nothing crazy will happen the rest of the month. With 2 weeks left and if we’ve learned anything about anything in 2020, we know anything can happen at any time. So even as you’re reading this, what’s listed below may have already changed completely by tomorrow.

OK, so I’ll call this “Life update- August 16th, 2020, 1pm, the musical, the series” (for all you Disney fans out there 😉 )

I saw a meme the other day that joked about asking a person in 2015 the philosophical question, “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” It’s a question everyone got wrong! Coronavirus, masks, murder hornets, lots of celebrity deaths, schools/sports/life postponed. The list goes on and on of ways life has changed in the last 5 months. The biggest changes in my life were and are church and sports. I haven’t played sand volleyball in Tennessee since the fall of 2019!

Adult league spring softball was also cancelled, but was rescheduled for summer and now that season has been completed. Of course, we all know what happened to professional sports and college sports, starting with college basketball’s March Madness. It all went away and is only just now slowly coming back. If I were a betting man, I’d say neither college football or the NFL are going to complete a season this year. I feel strongly enough about that that I even decided to NOT play fantasy football. I’ve played every year since around 2001 where I dominated the “Fella’s Fantasy Football League.” Dominated, I tell ya. Also, please don’t fact check me on that.

To be honest, I’d be shocked if college has any football at all, but at the time of this post (August 16th, 1:07pm, the musical, the series) there are a few conferences pushing forward with a plan to play this fall. How that will work with other conferences hoping to play their seasons in the spring of 2021 is anyone’s guess.

Church is another area that has been greatly affected by the pandemic. I haven’t been inside a church building since March, which is the case all across the country. Lately some churches have opened up, but there is still a caution about reentering the congregation and many people haven’t yet. I don’t know if that’s just from the media exaggerating the danger of going back to church but at the very least, it’s still smart to be guarded anywhere we go, including churches.

Have things in your life returned to a closer resemblance of how life was before March 2020? If so, tell me about it in the comments below. Hope you have a great week!

-Out of the Wilderness

Top 10 songs about things under things

This Top 10 list is inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” lyrics:

“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan, under someone’s bed…”

So I thought I’d put together a list of songs about things under things. Mostly, titles that include the word “under.” Check out the songs below and chime in with a comment if you have additions!

“Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” – Shania Twain (1995)

“Under Pressure” – Queen / David Bowie (1981)

“Underneath It All” – No Doubt (2001)

“Underdog” – Alicia Keys (2020)

“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” – Frank Sinatra (1966)

“Down Under” – Men At Work (1981)

“Under the Boardwalk” – The Drifters (1964)

“Under the Bridge” – Red Hot Chili Peppers (1991)

“Six Feet Under” – Billie Eilish (2016)

“Under the Sea” – Little Mermaid (1991)

Honorable Mention: “Pinch Me” – Barenaked Ladies (2000) with the lyrics, “I just made you say underwear.” 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

just an assassin fly, no big deal

In all the mayhem that’s happened in 2020, the most recent being a simmering threat of murder hornets, I came across this fellow hanging out on my backyard fence. Oh, it’s just an assassin fly, no biggie!

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As you can see, staying true to his name, he’s recently assassinated another insect.

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These aren’t a threat to humans, though. In fact, they go after insects so the assassin fly is beneficial to mankind in that they reduce the amount of flying insects which can be a nuisance. So……. I guess we can mark the assassin fly as a “win” in 2020? Terrorizing name aside, the assassin fly is a wild-looking insect. The furry legs, bipod-feet, the large smooth eyes, the hunchbacked furry body, it’s built like a predatory machine ready for speed and attacking.

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So if you see one of these flying towards you, have no fear. Well, good luck with that… I’ll be running in a zig zag pattern.

-Out of the Wilderness