Holy crap, Cheetah just died. The original Cheetah from the 1930s Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies: [link]

I like that Cobb evidently thought the interviewer was a bit of wack anthropomorpher, or whatever you call the people that imprint personhood too firmly onto animals.

Let them be free. Personhood isn't that great anyway.

Going to visit an aunt-in-law once-removed tomorrow morning, before the beach, I think. I haven't spoken to her much, since I had an acrimonious parting with one of her daughters. Like, public and hostile with threats. But she's had a stroke, and her husband is ill, and our times in Jamaica are coinciding, so I'm going to try and make the most of that and see her tomorrow morning.

She sounded just awful on the phone--the sort of awful that makes you feel guilty for even bothering with the niceties of "How are you?" Man, rough, rough, rough.

Walked into my parents arguing. The election is soon. My mother and sister are voting third party, and my father's not voting. That's how bad the two main choices are--Portia's stance on buggery notwithstanding. No one on her side can work out why she suddenly supported homosexuals. There have been rumours of bribes, because it's political suicide, right before the election. Some external gay lobby putting pressure to bear.

Either way, no one in my immediate family is going for the big two. My sister, at least, figures she's really voting for the next election, if she can help this currently small third party be more of a factor at the next poll. So she's playing the long game. My father, on the other hand, insists that democracy includes the vote of "FUCK YOU ALL, YOU SUCK, I HAVE THE FREEDOM TO TELL YOU ALL TO SUCK IT." So he won't be voting, because there isn't a candidate he doesn't feel works actively against his vested interests and what he sees as best for the community and the island and his future. Nothing. And he doesn't see it as an opportunity to lay building blocks, like Sav does.

Should be interesting. Luckily I'm leaving early that day. They can be...feisty.

In other non-geriatric chimp news, I spent over two hours tonight scouring the net for good-sized Maxfield Parrish paintings. It's been years since I saw a big museum exhibit about him, and I'd sort of forgotten how breathtaking some of his work can be.

I spent over two hours tonight scouring the net for good-sized Maxfield Parrish paintings. It's been years since I saw a big museum exhibit about him, and I'd sort of forgotten how breathtaking some of his work can be.

Next time you're in SF go to the bar named Maxfield's. They've got a huge one - The Pied Piper - behind the bar.

That Calvin-christopher Robin link was gold.

P-C, awesome reviews! You are rocking the end of 2011!

We have mice -- or at least a mouse, so I assume multiple meeses -- in the kitchen, and they are eating my damned potholders AND they nibbled on a bar of TJ's dark chocolate with sea salt I had stashed in a drawer for Dan.

So I cleaned all the edibles out of the drawers, moved potholders to top of fridge, figuring they would move on. Also? I HAVE FOUR FUCKING CATS. WTF?

Nope. Mouse turds in drawers still, so I got two wooden snaptraps from mom, baited them last night with peanut butter. They nabbed the PB, set off traps, but no dead mice. Bitches. So I reset them this afternoon with fudge, figuring it would be stickier and more likely to snap. Fuckers got the fudge.

Tonight, I used a smidge of jelly, and carefully arranged the traps in an unbalanced corner with an obstacle of rolling objects and unbalanced matchboxes. If they manage that, I'm going to buy tiny land mines.

IT'S ON, BITCHES! No one fucks with my potholders.

Seriously, if these traps don't work, anyone have recs? Throw the outdoor cat in the cabinets all night with a litterbox and no food? Napalm?

Also? I HAVE FOUR FUCKING CATS. WTF?

Lazy cats, I'll warrant.

Oh, yeah, our cats just stare at the mice, fascinated. My old Koogie would share the food bowl with them, chewing contentedly as they nibbled from the other side of the bowl.

I suspect we're just contributing the evolution of smarter, more nimble mice with the traps.

INORITE?

Earn your keep, furballs. Granted, the mice are in the drawers and cabinets.

I'd poison the bait, if they are eating it, then let them eat something that will kill them.

The only problem with poison is they wander off and die in your walls and then you have dead mouse smell for a while. It does go away, but till it does, yup. Dead mouse smell. Once known, never forgotten. Also, No Sticky Traps!

Erin, you might want to go a size up in spring traps. If they're really healthy cagey mice, a trap with a harder spring and a bigger kill bar may work better. Good luck!