Things that do not rock

[Heidi]

Look under the "explore" section at the top of the page -- there is a giveaways section. S.M. it is a good way to get reviews of your books if you want them :)

[S.M.]

Thanks Heidi! I see the "first reads" program is the same as the GR standard giveaways - a paper copy is required. I'm working on getting it into paperback. If you'd like an ebook consolation prize, let me know :)

[Brigid ✩]

I won an ARC of Beauty Queens from Goodreads once, which was super cool. I think that's the only one I've received.

Gahhh I'm really hoping to get an ARC of The 5th Wave ... It's by the same author as The Monstrumologist and it sounds kind of Chaos Walking-esque. I want it nowww. *Fingers crossed*

[Heidi]

Ohhh that one sounds good Brigid!

S.M. I am always more than happy to read fellow group members books :)

[S.M.]

Brigid - "The 5th Wave" looks really good! But not sure about "The Monstrumologist"... scary keeps me awake at night.... You're brave.

[S.M.]

Heidi (book pimp) wrote: "Ohhh that one sounds good Brigid!

S.M. I am always more than happy to read fellow group members books :)"

You can message me for your consolation prize ;) Thanks!

[Brigid ✩]

Haha yeah, The Monstrumologist books are some of the scariest stuff I've ever read. I'm usually pretty okay with dark stuff, but I really couldn't read those books before going to bed or while I was eating. They literally made me feel sick to my stomach sometimes. And yet ... I love them. XD

[S.M.]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Haha yeah, The Monstrumologist books are some of the scariest stuff I've ever read. I'm usually pretty okay with dark stuff, but I really couldn't read those books before going to bed or while I wa..."

I can't even watch "Ghost Hunters" before I go to bed, that's the kind of wimp I am. And when I was a teenager, "The Shining" scared the bejeezus out of me! Seriously. That's when I became an extremely cautious reader when it comes to the scary stuff.

[Karen’s Library]

Heidi (book pimp) wrote: "I do not love that I have not won one Goodreads First Reads Giveaway since a month after I joined this site in June 2009! Blurg! It's fixed I tell you. Some people win a bunch of books."

First of all, LOVE the "book pimp"!! YES you are! Hahahah...

I won a great book on GR, but it's the only one so far! It was an ARC of ... I loved The Passage and this was my very first ARC!

[Harold]

Heidi (book pimp) wrote: "Harold you can enter to win free books here on Goodreads -- have you never done so??"

No, I actually haven't. How do you do that?

[Heidi]

see above Harold!

[Becky]

I've won about 8 books and sadly have only read about 4 of them. I stopped entering the contests until I get myself caught up and let other people who would be more faithful in reading them (Heidi) have a chance.

[Vered]

Nope, I must admit my ignorance as well. How do you sign up?

[S.M.]

Vered wrote: "Nope, I must admit my ignorance as well. How do you sign up?"

So I'm not alone, Vered and Harold. This makes me feel better ;)

[Becky]

Go under "explore" and click on "giveaways."

[Heidi]

Thanks Becky!

[Heidi]

Ugh! We have some type of creature living in our attic again! A few years ago we had a mother raccoon who decide to hide her babies in our patio roof (and have very loud fights with males who were "coming around" at night) so we cut down a tree near the house (for a lot of money) and trimmed all branches so animals couldn't reach our roof. Here we go again but now they are right above my bedroom! Blurg!

[Brigid ✩]

Eeew. I'm sorry, Heidi. :-/

[Heidi]

I couldn't even read upstairs yesterday because all I heard was creak creak creak. I thought I was in college again! Besides the walking around I have not heard them making other noises yet. We are paying $900 to get a tree that was spilt by lightning taken down right now so just add this to the list of crazy expenses you don't plan for! It is worth it pay someone else to pick up all the fecal matter. Yuck! The joys of homeownership :) I should just be glad I have a house, I know I know!

[Brigid ✩]

Hahaha. We have raccoons around our house (but thankfully not inside of it) and they loudly come knock over the trashcans every night. :P Oh, and we lived in this horrible house when I was 11 that was infested with mice. They mostly lived in the crawlspace and underneath the bathtub. It was always unsettling to be taking a shower and hear things scratching around right under my feet. Uggh. *Shudders*

[Heidi]

OMG Brigid! I can not handle mice! We have only had 2 mice total in our house and they lasted less than 24 hours with my two cats -- my one cat brought one of them too me alive and dropped it at my feet!!! It scampered under the coach and about 2 days later we smelled it and had to move all the sectional pieces to find it dead (they smell so bad when they die).

We live in a really nice house but there is a creek of water near it and I think it brings the wildlife to us. When I was looking for the entry point around the house yesterday of where any animals could possibly get into the house (we thought we animal proofed it 2 years ago) I saw a beaver just sitting in our back year. He ran under our shed when he finally saw me. I have never seen so much wildlife near my home and I grew up out in the country!

[Heidi]

p.s. my trash stays in the garage because we have WAY too many animals in the daylight I can't imagine what they would do at night. I have seen badgers, possums (yuck!), rabbits, raccoons, etc.. just come right up to our back sliding glass door in broad daylight. I thought these animals were nocturnal!

[Brigid ✩]

Ahh gross! Yeah we had a cat when we lived in that house, and she "took care" of some of the mice. Haha. It was always pleasant to walk out of my bedroom in the morning and find a nice dead mouse in the middle of the living room floor. Oh, and once a chipmunk got into our house and it was madness ... We were all just standing on chairs because my cat was going INSANE chasing the poor chipmunk, haha. My dad got it out of the house before the cat could get it, fortunately. But still, it was crazy.

Ooh that sounds so nice! But yeah I imagine there are pros and cons of being around so much wildlife. XD

[Heidi]

We've had birds get stuck in our chimney and our cats went crazy - that was another bill to have our chimney gate reattached. These animals get into everything! I guess technically they lived here first!

[Vered]

Heidi (trust me) wrote: "p.s. my trash stays in the garage because we have WAY too many animals in the daylight I can't imagine what they would do at night. I have seen badgers, possums (yuck!), rabbits, raccoons, etc.. ..."

Aw, come on, that's so cool!

[Heidi]

It's cool when they don't burrow into your house! hahahaha

[S.M.]

I'm currently living in house that was empty for a 1 1/2 years and I didn't realize how much wildlife had taken over until we moved in (frogs and ducks in the pool, raccoon and I even heard coyotes a few evenings... and we live in a fairly urban area). When the cooler fall weather arrived, that's when we became overrun with mice. I've never encountered so many. That's when I found out about peppermint - mice hate it. Apparently it hurts their sinuses. So while we animal-proofed the house, I threw peppermint soaked cotton balls every where I found mice droppings and instantaneously they were gone. We went from emptying 12 traps about 3 times a day to nothing. It worked.

[Heidi]

S.M. I put cotton balls of peppermint around the house when we had mice as well (we only had them right after we moved in so similar to you). We live right in town but like I said there is a nature trail and creek adjacent to our lot so they come from there. I am now fairly certain it is squirrels NOT raccoons in our attic because they only run around in the mid day or morning and are quite all evening (thank goodness). I hope to get someone to safely trap them and find the "leak" so we can move on with our lives without extra "visitors" :)

[Brigid ✩]

Oh yeah, coyotes ... In that same neighborhood where we had the mice, there was a population of coyotes also. Sometimes they'd just walk down the street in the middle of the day. Haha. I think there are some coyotes in the woods near our current house, too. I've heard them howling sometimes.

[Heidi]

No coyotes here yet - *knock on wood*

[S.M.]

Heidi, I think squirrels are one of the worst pests to invade your home. They like to chew and can do a lot of damage. Hopefully, you get rid of them soon!

I was talking to my neighbour (4 doors down) about this thread and she informed me she had rats in house!! My kids have pet rats, but the wild variety are scary! She had to call an exterminator. I'm hoping they moved on and they're not still in the neighbourhood looking for a new home... eeek!

[Heidi]

Noooo don't tell me that S.M.!!!! Ugh! Oh and rats -- scary!!!

[Vered]

S.M. wrote: "I'm currently living in house that was empty for a 1 1/2 years and I didn't realize how much wildlife had taken over until we moved in (frogs and ducks in the pool, raccoon and I even heard coyotes..."

Peppermint - that's so cool!

I use powdered cinnamon to get rid of ants. I know ants aren't quite as nasty as rats or as damaging as squirrels, but in Kenya, they can take over a kitchen pretty darn fast.

[S.M.]

Well thank you Vered because I woke up to a kitchen full of ants this morning! I'm going to try cinnamon. Do you just sprinkle it around?

Heidi - did you get rid of your squirrels yet? After hearing about my neighbour's rat problem, I talked to a few other people in the neighbourhood and heard a nasty story about squirrels! Get them out!!

[Vered]

S.M. wrote: "Well thank you Vered because I woke up to a kitchen full of ants this morning! I'm going to try cinnamon. Do you just sprinkle it around?

Heidi - did you get rid of your squirrels yet? After he..."

Yes, I just sprinkle the powder along their ant routes (you know how they stick to certain paths once they've invaded!). Or just wherever they congregate. If you can track them back to whatever entrance they are using, you can keep them out by powdering them there too.

If you think squirrels are bad, try a monkey invasion. Now those bad boys can do some serious damage! And they have big teeth...

[S.M.]

Vered wrote: "S.M. wrote: "Well thank you Vered because I woke up to a kitchen full of ants this morning! I'm going to try cinnamon. Do you just sprinkle it around?

Heidi - did you get rid of your squirrels y..."

I sprinkled the cinnamon and sure enough, the ants don't like it. Unfortunately, they discovered they could crawl up the wall and skirt the cinnamon on the floor. I also sprinkled it where they were coming into the house and now they've found a new way to come. LOL! They're not stupid critters.

However, I'll take the ants over monkeys - ugh! I came very close two weeks ago to booking a family safari on the Kenya/Tanzania border, but backed out last minute. I think its a trip I will take when my kids are older. I would love to see that side of the world (I'm in Canada).

[Vered]

Oh, S.M.! How old are your kids? Kenya is an amazingly child friendly place. Both my kids were born here, and we have traveled around with them since they were in diapers. If / when you make it over here, do let me know.

Hilarious about the ants - yeah, they're pretty clever. Must be a communal brain thing going on.

[Heidi]

No progress yet on the squirrels - I have not heard them for a few days but it is SUPER hot here so I wonder if they are staying outside since the attic would be like 200 degrees. I DO NOT want to hear your story until I get them out. My hubby wants to look into it since they charge a lot of money to have them removed $380 up front and $80 per animal - what!? He plans to research it this weekend.

MONKEYS Vered??? Wow! It could always be worse.

[S.M.]

Vered wrote: "Oh, S.M.! How old are your kids? Kenya is an amazingly child friendly place. Both my kids were born here, and we have traveled around with them since they were in diapers. If / when you make it ove..."

Vered, I didn't cancel because I thought it was unsafe. On the contrary, a friend of mine has a nature show for kids and he and his brother film in various place around there and he assured me it was wonderful. The reason I thought otherwise is my oldest daughter just started carrying an epi-pen and our doc advised against it since we still don't know what she's allergic to. We know insect bites for sure, but food is an issue as well. I did spend a long time researching the safari and I am definitely going one day!! I think every one should!

Heidi, I didn't retell the story for a reason. Let me know when you're ready. And who's your exterminator? Billy? That price seems a little steep. A shotgun is cheaper. LOL!

[Heidi]

Ouch S.M.! (although my hsuband said the same thing! - hahahaha)

[Vered]

Heidi (awesome group member) wrote: "No progress yet on the squirrels - I have not heard them for a few days but it is SUPER hot here so I wonder if they are staying outside since the attic would be like 200 degrees. I DO NOT want t..."

Now don't you feel so much better that it's only squirrels?!!

[Heidi]

Yes Vered!

[S.M.]

My house smells like peppermint. Guess why.

[Heidi]

S.M. wrote: "My house smells like peppermint. Guess why."

Ut oh! S.M. my hubby and I finally had a day off together last Sat. and we spent it exploring the attic (well he did because I am a fraidy cat) and cutting down and tree limb remotely close to upper the roof. My hubby saw at least one squirrel in the attic and we put a humane trap up there with no success. Basically I knew if we got them out of there it would be very difficult/nearly impossible to get back up so it was just a matter of getting them out. Monday morning I blared the radio at from 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. and made a TON of stomping noises and stuff and around 6:30 a.m. I saw 4-5 squirrels (one larger one and 3-4 smaller ones) on my deck looking freaked out and they ran away - I then saw a few pieces of yellow insulation near the deck (that is the color we have). So far it has been quiet since then- we are putting wire around the attic fan cover this weekend since it was likely their entry point (claw marks on it - light shining through). Hopefully that takes care of it. I have an electrician coming Monday to check for damages.

[S.M.]

Wow, so much work to get rid of unwelcome houseguests! Fingers crossed the squirrels are gone and won't be coming back. Hopefully they didn't do much damage. And I'm with you - I don't do attics either.

When we bought our house, we changed all the fans and vents to animal proof ones. I thought we had it licked, but mice are now in our attic. I've live trapped a few. I would have thought with our pet rats, they wouldn't come into the house (apparently, rats eat mice). My husband is home for a visit at the end of June... looks like I've started his "honey-do" list!

[S.M.]

I just experienced my first earthquake!! 4.8 on the richter scale! My house shook for almost a full minute. About 10 minutes later, there was a little aftershock.

Ironic I'm posting this in the "Things that do not Rock" thread because in this case, it did!

[Vered]

Love it, SM! Quakes are scary though. Almost as bad as squirrels in the attic...!

[Heidi]

Wow S.M. you've had a bad week!

[Karen’s Library]

Oh wow Susan, I've only experienced a very minor long distance earthquake in Scottsdale and thought I was having some kind of weird neurotic episode where my brain was having a meltdown... Very dizzy, off kilter, body was swaying... Didn't know until later it was an earthquake. Mine was very scary so can't imagine what being in the middle of a 4.8 would be like. Yikes!

[S.M.]

It turned out to be a 5.2 quake with a 4.8 aftershock. It really wasn't that bad, I was just excited because it was my first earthquake! My desk shook, the ceiling fan creaked and swayed, and for a split second I wondered if I could outrace it and get to my kids schools (2 separate schools!)! The irrational things that go through your mind...

Karen, it sounds like you experienced a stronger one - maybe a 6 on the richter?