I got up at 4 AM and proceeded to make my coffee. Suddenly I heard a squeak, glanced at the rats and saw they were just sitting there. Then I heard it again and wondered since when rats were supposed to sound almost like guinea pigs. Then I realized where it was really coming from – under the sink. Sure enough, I opened it to find not one, but two mice, stuck to sticky boards. One was already dead, the other soon to follow. Once again they avoided the live trap altogether. It seems you can only catch them live in Arizona!

Yesterday I found I was up to 143 pounds and figured my body was going to reset itself to between 145-147 no matter what. But then today I awoke at 141, even though this is the second day I’ve been stuck, and I haven’t exactly been cutting my calories that low. Tom was unable to find calorie-free coffee creamer, but we got as low as 10 calories, so that’ll help.

Tom finally went to the dump a few days ago and said he didn’t have to wait long at all. They paid him for the recyclables and found out that it was $12 to dump other things. He’s going to make a couple of trips a week till we get caught up, getting rid of cardboard, bottles and other things.