Thursday, January 2, 2025
A Pleasant Unpleasantness
One of my reading goals for this year is to read the two Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels that I had not yet read.
I started The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club just before New Year's Day, but I finished it on New Year's Day, so it becomes the first book of 2025, and gets me closer to my goal.
I really enjoyed this one. More of Wimsey comes through, and the book has none of the Harriet Vane romance I've found tiresome in some of the other Wimsey books.
Good mystery. Interesting characters.
One quibble, though. Something I've noted in British mysteries is the acceptance of suicide as an "honorable" way out for for guilty parties facing trial for murder. I don't like that.
Other than that, I only have praise for this book.
One more Wimsey to go!
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Brother Rat ( an update)
My wife is for the birds.
Literally.
She's a member of Audubon.
Our backyard has several feeders and birdhouses. We have to make regular runs to buy 40-pound bags of seeds.
But along with the birds come some other critters.
Squirrels. (For whom I have a certain fondness, so we also feed them!)
Chipmunks. (Not singing, though.)
A woodchuck. A large fellow that makes my dog nervous.
And ...
A couple of summers ago, at least one rat.
He had apparently taken up residence under the garage, and was spotted making runs out to seed debris beneath the largest feeder.
My wife referred to him as Rattus rattus. But since he was a brown rat, he was technically Rattus norvegicus. Not that it mattered.
He was a rat.
The other guests were welcome. But Brother Rat, while still one of God's creatures, was an uninvited guest.
Besides, he and/or his brothers and sisters got into some books I had stored in the garage.
Now I know Francis was not a big fan of books, but to chew them that way ....
Options:
Poison.
A deadly rat trap.
A capture alive trap.
I opted for the latter.
First day, a chipmunk. I let him go in the yard.
Second day, Rattus norvegicus was in there.
He did not look happy.
After morning Mass, I took him to a nearby park where there's a picnic area and a large often-full dumpster. Mmmmm.
I released the lock on the trap. He leaped out in mid air, hit the grass running, and was gone.
I didn't even get a chance to preach to him!
After that, we watched to see is any of his buddies show up under the bird feeder before resetting the trap.
As for Brother Rat, given the life span of rats, he's probably no longer with us. But I hope his last days were happy and full of good things to eat.
Literally.
She's a member of Audubon.
Our backyard has several feeders and birdhouses. We have to make regular runs to buy 40-pound bags of seeds.
But along with the birds come some other critters.
Squirrels. (For whom I have a certain fondness, so we also feed them!)
Chipmunks. (Not singing, though.)
A woodchuck. A large fellow that makes my dog nervous.
And ...
A couple of summers ago, at least one rat.
He had apparently taken up residence under the garage, and was spotted making runs out to seed debris beneath the largest feeder.
My wife referred to him as Rattus rattus. But since he was a brown rat, he was technically Rattus norvegicus. Not that it mattered.
He was a rat.
The other guests were welcome. But Brother Rat, while still one of God's creatures, was an uninvited guest.
Besides, he and/or his brothers and sisters got into some books I had stored in the garage.
Now I know Francis was not a big fan of books, but to chew them that way ....
Options:
Poison.
A deadly rat trap.
A capture alive trap.
I opted for the latter.
First day, a chipmunk. I let him go in the yard.
Second day, Rattus norvegicus was in there.
He did not look happy.
After morning Mass, I took him to a nearby park where there's a picnic area and a large often-full dumpster. Mmmmm.
I released the lock on the trap. He leaped out in mid air, hit the grass running, and was gone.
I didn't even get a chance to preach to him!
After that, we watched to see is any of his buddies show up under the bird feeder before resetting the trap.
As for Brother Rat, given the life span of rats, he's probably no longer with us. But I hope his last days were happy and full of good things to eat.
Just as long as he didn't spend them in our yard.
Pax et bonum
Jubliee Year Prayer
2025 is a Jubilee Year. The following is a Jubilee Year Prayer from Pope Francis:
Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within
both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen
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