work, and mouse.

Yet again that passenger opinion poll that gets compiled about every month has rated PWM as one of the friendliest airports, and also one of the most efficient and safe-feeling. This time they included Canadian airports and, interesting to me, it was something like we were in the top five on both ratings AND the only airports above or close below us were Canadian. I expressed the opinion that this means Maine's culture is closer to that of Canada than the rest of the U.S., therefore we should secede and join Canada. ;)

And of course the manager who was reading us these results said "Oh lord, don't do that! You won't like the seventy percent taxes!" I'm pretty sure I heard someone else mutter, "But we might get paid more, too," so I suspect maybe everyone isn't fooled by knee-jerk jingoism. We would get to save money on health care, too.

That just got me interested in how Canada's national debt is looking, and unfortunately it's not so good.

So, in other news: Today I spotted the rodent which I have been suspecting. Hawk had been noticing it, too, I think. There is a distinctive sound to the rustling of rodents, marked by the way it stops just as soon as you move toward it, no matter how quiet you try to be. Today, though, he got confused in the maze of cardboard which was stacked by the door to take to recycling, and when I came over he was running in and out trying to find his way though. He came within about six inches of my toes, so I got a clear look - about two and a half inches long, charcoal gray, with a tail about half as long as I would have thought would be right for a mouse of that size. The tail didn't look as though it had been cut off, it seemed to come to a natural point. Also, he appears to be diurnal, which I wouldn't have expected. As per usual when trying to identify anything online, I can't find a picture of anything like it. Why aren't there pages where you can hit checkboxes for color, size, type of tail and the like, and then it gives you some possible answers?

I got the small have-a-heart trap out of storage and baited it with a corn chip with peanut butter on it, took most of the cardboard out to the car but left one piece and a paper bag sort of tented over the trap so as to make him feel comfortable. When I arrived home from my errands the trap had been sprung and the bait stolen. Crafty devil. The new bait is a huge lump of peanut butter on a small butter-bowl lid.

I really want to buy a cage for it, because I feel as though putting it outside in this weather is a death sentence, but a cage and stuff for it would run over 30$, it doesn't seem practical. :(