Pumpkins, Blue-jays and Mice

Yesterday we got pumpkins at a stand down the road. Mine is tall, skinny and very big. Nathan's is very fat and big. Mom's is very round and small, with a very curly stem. There are more than eight fields full of pumpkins near Wolfville. Almost everybody has a pumpkin on their doorstep. There's enough pumpkins that people put them out for Thanksgiving, and then carve them for Halloween. We have seen ones that are nearly a meter tall, and a meter wide!

It's amazing how many Blue-jays there are around here. About three weeks ago they started flocking in big groups in the trees near our house. Yesterday I saw a group of about 12 fly past our house. Blue-jays are becoming the most common bird to see around here. Grandma said that some flocks stay in town, but not out here (because of where the bird feeders mostly are) all winter. Mom thinks that most of the flocks are going to the United States. The birds are pretty, and they stay out of your house, unlike...

MICE! We've been having lots of mice and they've been having sticking inside our house instead of out. We've been setting up live-capture traps. We've caught and released eight mice - nine if you count the one that Nathan let go IN the house! Sometimes we've driven them far away. Most of the time they get captured during the night and drive you nuts by scratching all over, so those ones we have to let go right outside the house. I think they've been coming right back in.
Mom is getting antsy with the mice. She is starting to wish we did have a cat even though she is allergic. I have to keep reminding her that they bring dead mice and drop them at your feet.
She heard on the radio that mice don't like lemony smells so she's been scrubbing the whole house with lemony cleaning chemicals! It seems to work - there are no more mice upstairs, but they still come up from the basement on to the main level. I think they are getting braver and might start going back up the stairs soon. They look pretty cute - when they are outside. When they are inside they look creepy. They skitter as fast as lightning bolts!

Emma