Good News/Bad News

I finally located the missing water feature pump over the weekend. That's the good news - the dastardly pump managed to slip behind the heavy duty shelving in the garage, hoping to avoid a summer of hard labor spent pumping water through fiberglass rocks.

The bad news is that I was lead to the pump by a ghastly trail of dried rodent blood. I fight a semi-annual war with the field mice that make their way from the greenbelt to the house. Their big offensive occurs in the fall, but every spring the hantavirus carrying vermin test my perimeter defenses. The poor bastard that led me to the pump set a trap off that clamped down on it's hindquarters, and the amount of flailing that transpired must have been epic in proportion to the mouse's diminutive stature. This mouse was going to his inevitable demolition roaring like a mighty lion and thrashing like, um...some animal that thrashes when trapped. (Note - I'm not a zoologist) Anyhoo, as I was cleaning up the carnage from the lil' varmint's struggle to save his own miserable plague ridden life, I peaked behind the shelves...and there was the pump. While I feel bad that a rodent had to lose his life in order for me to stumble upon the missing pump, I am thankful all the same. That mouse's inability to set a trap off head first saved me $40.00....although I may have used close to that amount in bleach while cleaning the garage.

My electric razor is still missing, here's hoping a dead badger doesn't figure in the eventual location of that gadget.

In other news, I'm still fat and my knees are giving out at an alarming rate. I may have to stop running on the treadmill because no amount of ice and anti-inflammatory medication is mitigating the pain and discomfort. I could hardly leave my desk today, and when I did get up my first couple of steps would have made Fred Sanford look spry. I know I've b*tched and moaned about my knees before, but this is different. In the past I would drop a few elbees and run through the pain as it would eventually subside. This pain is constant though, and I know my right knee is bone on bone grinding on bone with little bits of bone and cartilage making things that much more interesting. I'm going to have to stop running...bottom line. If I'm going to be remotely mobile in my 40's then I'll have to sacrifice the treadmill time.

I didn't run tonight, but I did take the bike out for a spin. I made it up the big incline without going into cardiac arrest, so I had that going for me. Unfortunately, I was in so much oxygen debt when I finished the climb I was afraid I was going to get the bends when I eventually caught my breath. Biking didn't kill my knees the way running did, but I still iced down and stretched out. Here's hoping I can walk to the train tomorrow without wincing.

Oh, and Japan is finding plutonium over a mile away from the failed nuclear plant...and a mutant ear-less bunny was located near the plant as well...and it more than likely has an insatiable appetite for human flesh. This is how zombie apocalypse scenarios begin, my friends....