It was during the pandemic that I began using automatic soap dispensers. They work fine for the soft soap that I use to wash my hands, but I also wanted to use one to dispense the soap in the shower, and that was a little trickier. The problem there was that I have a little … Continue reading Automated Soap Dispenser

After the first two squirrels were trapped, one more was trapped the following day. And then there were none. Really. None. No more were trapped. But more important, what had seemed like a steady stream of squirrels parading by out back had come to a halt. Was it possible that there had only ever been … Continue reading Closing the Hole

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, why did those squirrels have to pick my house to build their nest? That thought has crossed my mind continuously over the past weeks as I waited first for Peco and then for Critter Control. But the waiting is over. Shortly after … Continue reading Angry Squirrels

It occurs to me I never posted pics of the holes that the squirrels made, so here’s one of them. Peco was supposed to come yesterday, but they never showed up and when I called, it was too late in the day and I got voicemail. So I called this morning and the pleasant woman … Continue reading Did Peco Ever Come?

I gave Peco a call yesterday to see if I could find out the status of my request to have the electrical wires that enter my house insulated so that Critter Control can start doing its thing to get rid of the squirrel infestation in the top of my house. The nice woman who answered … Continue reading Hello, Peco?

When I lived in the Wissahickon neighborhood of Philadelphia, I used to get along just fine with the squirrels. I even gave them names. Like Britney: Britney was my favorite. But since moving into this house in South Philadelphia nearly four years ago, squirrels have become nothing but pests. Trying to grow any vegetables in … Continue reading Critter Control

The story so far…  A couple years ago I had new windows installed and originally they were going to install a new back door as well because the existing back door, meaning this one: …that old back door was leaky as hell and let in lots of outside air. But when the engineer came to … Continue reading Stan the Man

I was looking at my bank balance yesterday and was pleased at what I saw, especially given that I had recently purchased a new washer/dryer and a refrigerator. I’m keeping in reserve some funds for a boiler, as I expect the 34-year-old boiler in my basement to buy the farm any day now, but over … Continue reading Back Door Man

A couple years ago I ordered a new shower curtain from Amazon, but the one I wanted, a colorful blue one to replace the plain curtain that I had long been using, kept arriving in the the wrong size. I repeatedly apprised Amazon of the discrepancy between their product description and the reality, but to … Continue reading A Brighter Shade of Orange