Root Beer!

Oh I know, it doesn't take much to put a smile on our face, just the familiar smell of ROOT BEER.  You should have seen the corners of Jays mouth turn up when he stuck his nose into the extract bottle.   What a great gift!  About a week or so ago an in term Dr. here on the station showed up at our door with a package.  "Open it" she said.    She knows her Canadians.  Inside were 6 bottles of extract to make root beer!  She, herself, being Australian didn't get what the big deal was and said it smelled like medicine, but she sure knows how to give good gifts.   I even think we got her hooked when a few days later we were able to make root beer floats, with some ice cream she had made! 
It really is the little things, like tasting a Root Beer, that balance things out, against the smell of a dead rat.  And you will be happy to know we are moved back into our sweeter smelling school room.
We also have to be careful what we call Root beer here, or we may get in trouble, so if we ask for a Root Pop when we get home you will know what we mean.
Mel for the Marshes

I Smell a Rat!

AND IT SURE DOES STINK!!
That is what I heard from the boys as we entered the school room this morning, and I was inclined to agree!
We have been having a battle the last few weeks with a persistent pest.  We first noticed wood bites and shavings all over the bathroom counter and upon closer investigation discovered the hole he had dug in the window sill.  We thought we would fix him and close the louvers on the window.  That didn't help as he was back the next night ripping up the other side of the window!  We also found a place at our front door where it was chewing to get under the door, as well as a hole in one of the window screens.  We stuffed things in holes, closed windows, patched screens, made sure we had all of our food secured away,and put out bate.  We were hopeful for a bit, when we saw that some of the poison had been nibbled, but when the screen that we had patched kept being un-patched each night we were not so sure.
We got our answer this morning as to the where abouts of at least one of our 'friends', up somewhere in the ceiling above the schoolroom, DEAD!  That is a good thing except now he is haunting us in a different way!
That is okay he won't get us down.  We will just plug our noses, dive into the school room long enough to get what we need, and relocate school to the kitchen table.
Mel for the Marshes