the backyard, mouse, and job update

When you step out the back door and look toward the front of the house this is what you see. We installed the lattice to keep the dogs from going under the house, which is raised about two feet. Straight ahead is the shed that you could see from the front. It is in poor condition, and is missing much of its roof.
Since I have talked about the space between our chain link fence and the shed/wall beyond it I took a picture. This is one of the places Jake likes to look for lizards. There are small trees (some dead) and trash in this space but we can't really get to it. The vine on the left has heart shaped leaves and blue flowers (in the morning). If anyone knows what it is we would like to know. It is taking over.
Here you can see the vine again on the right. This house has not been fixed up since Katrina, and is empty.
This is looking at the back corner of the yard. You can see the back door (and the lovely trash can).

Well that is the whole house and yard. I hope to get some neighborhood pictures soon and post those.

We were getting really frustrated with the mouse. He kept alluding the traps. He could steal the bait, and the trap would not go off. We did save some of the contaminated bread to use for bait. His tally is one package of buns, and two partial loaves of bread. On Saturday I took everything out of the pantry to check all of the food and look for hiding places. Then we put the food in plastic boxes and left it out of the pantry. We were still not able to catch the mouse. Finally hubby got a bright idea. He placed the four traps in a circle with bread in each trap and in the middle of the circle. That proved too much for the mouse and he met his demise last night. Today I made a trip to Walmart and picked up some plastic containers that I could use in the pantry to store bread, cracker boxes, pasta, etc. in. If the food isn't already in a mouse proof container then the food box or bag has to go into a plastic box. The containers were on a good sale, and I figure they will pay for themselves by saving food. I also got a live trap in case that works better. We will continue to keep our eye out, and a trap or two set.

Today hubby had a lie detector test as the fourth stage in the hiring process. Those are always a pain since they ask so many questions and act like they don't believe you. "No, I really have never driven drunk." (He could say he doesn't drink, but that would be really unbelievable.) Hubby has the psych exam on Friday, and then he will start the academy on the 25th (assuming all goes well). Although this isn't the job he was really wanting, it is exciting to think that he should be working soon!

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday singer and I went to an open house and audition at a nearby arts school in the vocal department. She got in! She will start classes on Saturday, taking about five hours of class each Saturday. She will continue her homeschool work during the week. She is really excited! This will be a great opportunity for her, especially since she is thinking of majoring in music in college. It is a quality school, that we had first been told she would have to wait a year to apply.

On Sunday we went to church, and then singer had a harp ensemble concert at a nursing home. She wasn't familiar with all of the music, but had a good time. The nursing home patients were happy that they had come. The concert was primarily Louisiana music so that was a learning experience for us as well. The next harp ensemble concert will be hymns.

This week I am finishing preparations for school, and we will start school full force next week. That is when the nearby school will start as well. Well, that is all for now. I need to work on a mountain of paperwork (a little bit of an exaggeration) for singer's school. We haven't had to do anything like that for a while.

Michele