New England B.S. Thread

Chipmunks are my biggest problem, so all these suggestions should work, right?

 

Good morning everyone. Back at it again

 

I've been trapping and shooting them. I only got one yesterday and the bait wasn't touched the rest of the day, but that could have been due to the rain. Today is going to be the big test of my local chipmunk inventory. If I don't get any at the house, I'll push some of the the traps into the woods a bit to start getting them there. I'll still keep a couple next to the house to get things that want to come inside in the winter.

Someone on another board recommended placing a milk crate over the trap--the chipmunks will play on the milk crate, and the milk crate will prevent your dog or some other species(turkey) from getting hit.

 

Could be, it's been a while since I've tried drinking anti-freeze

I think some have had or do have a bittering agent in them but it wasn't found to be overly effective as the deaths that occurred from drinking it weren't accidental.

 

The "No See, No Touch" round mouse traps... what, do you throw them away after they are triggered? They aren't reusable?

 

Yep, you just throw them away. 'Murica.

Personally, the old wooden snap traps and some decon in the attic (plus two cats, one of whom is an obsessive mouser) have always been pretty effective at keeping our rodent population under control, even with the grain buckets for the birds as a free food source.

 

Yeah that ain't happening for me. I would need about $140 budget a week just for these traps. I have probably 20 or 30 of the snap traps and use them until they are just too bloody and nasty with mouse fur to deal with.

 

They might - still smells sweet I guess. I dunno, it's been a while, and I don't use those at home. Haven't needed to.

My philosophy is that everyone should have two cards, each - so my wife should have two in her name, and then I should have two in my name. No annual fees. One should be no foreign transaction fees visa (taken nearly everywhere) and one should be an amex (travel protections boo yeah), otherwise do whatever you want.

Investing isn't too bad - I do index funds for the boring/normal investing stuff, VTI is the biggest one that most people invest in. Not terrible, just do it through Vanguard itself or a broker with no fees like ally (I use TD).

Nothing for prime day. What dash cams did you get? I have a

$150 Rexing V1P 4K Car Dash Cam 2.4" LCD 2160p Front + 1080p Rear Wi-Fi 170° Wide Angle Dual Channel with Rear Cam, G-Sensor, WDR, Loop Recording Mobile App Supercapacitor

Rexing V1P I haven't set up the rear camera yet.

Yup, they also like peanut butter and also are susceptible to drowning get captured in the humane bucket and removed from the property and moved to the wilderness to live out their fluffy chipmunk lives.

 

I don't fly so I've always gone strictly for cash back. If you do, though, I hear the miles/points can work out better than cash back sometimes. I always pay in full too, so it's free untaxed money. I typically end up around $700/year.

My high yield savings was an awesome 2.36% about a year ago. Now it's 0.7%. Still much better than my credit union savings, though. I bought a bunch of stocks low in April--I put about $1000 in and ended up coming close to tripling that in the end. Most of it was that I had two pharma stocks that went through the roof. I only have a few hundred left in the market in a couple of things that haven't rebounded, they've been more or less sitting where they were when I bought them six months ago. I'll sell those if I see them go back up to somewhere near where they were before the market crashed. My Roth is just in a Vanguard target retirement fund--I figure I got lucky with the individual picks I made, but I'm not risking a more significant amount of money by doing that.

I bought one of these:

$40 NOCO GENIUS2D, 2A Direct-Mount Onboard Car Battery Charger, 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Marine, ATV, Truck and Deep Cycle Batteries

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W3QSMF9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My ATV stays outside under a canopy in the winter. Last year I put a Harbor Freight maintainer on it but I eventually broke it. I figure I'll mount this under the seat and it's a more permanent thing. When it's 10° out, I want to know the battery won't be a problem. Plus, I think for many of the quick storms it never really has a chance to fully charge on its own given how much I use the winch (for the plow) and lights.

 

I really like the Tomcat plastic traps. I get the occasional smart mouse that can get bait off the wooden ones a couple times without setting them off, but that has yet to happen with the plastic ones.

 

Not that I really care much, that is actually illegal in many states. I will say I've done it with raccoons, but I'm not doing it with some nasty little rodent as cute as they can be some times.

 

Really, moving the vermin into the woods? Interesting. Never knew that - never had the problem to deal with. makes sense as far as not introducing predators/prey into new environments I guess.

 

And believe or not, most all states require a hunting/trapping license for small game which includes squirrels and chipmunks. Even on your own property.

 

That one I did know, I know a few squirrel hunters.

 

and another chipmunk this morning. Up to 14 eliminated right next to the house.

Accidentally got a grey squirrel in my squirrel trap---of course, the squirrel trap was on a window sill, so he was trespassing anyways.

 

Yes sir! I used to work with a guy whos wife didn't want him to kill the mice occupying their VT cabin. He would trap them and release them at the 91S rest stop in MA. He got a stern talking to one day...

 

It's been busy as hell this week...

 

Never tried to actually..good question

Get a cat. The rare one that ever gets in the house anymore, Ozzy takes care of

 

I got a pair of Aukey DR01s. They've gone to the slim style that mounts directly to the windshield. In my Tacoma I've got the old style DR01 which hangs off of my GoPro mount. I also got a pair of ODBII hardwire kits for them. I like that because it's a hardwire kit that you don't have to actually wire into the vehicle. I have that currently for my Tacoma and it's got a proximity sensor to turn on if it detects movement. I've been very pleased with it, so I'm hoping that the generic hardwire kit is as good as the Aukey branded one (as that's gone out of production). Someday I'll go nutty and get the rear camera, but this is good for now.

I also did a pair of H9s for the Jeep with a spacer harness to work with so I don't risk melting the headlight connectors, a set of yellow H11s for the fogs, then some maintenance items (cabin filters, Jeep air filter, etc). I didn't really want to spend the money, but it works.

I was really, really eying the Logitech G920 for my Xbox, but I probably wouldn't use it that much. The JL Stealthbox didn't go on sale either, so no luck there.

 

Definitely rodent season. Two more mice trapped last night. The chipmunks are slowing down, but they are still out there. I think I'll put some more mice traps out tonight as well.

I also may need to change my rodent graveyard. It gets cleaned out every night, but never really a mark. Judging by how torn up it was this morning I may have attracted a larger critter.