Thumper Thinks Out Loud

Ok, so it's a gas fireplace...



...so why are there fireplace tools, and why do they look used?

Electrician Dude came today, and fixed our living room. Turned out to be a loose wire, but in poking around he discovered previous owners had tried to do a little rewiring themselves, and he fixed their mistake. So yay! Now we can turn lights on in the living room!

And apparently rats are not fond of chewing electric wires; they tend to prefer things like phone lines. So that lowers one concern. And today the Spouse Thingy did some arboreal surgery and amputated a major limb from the cherry tree out front, one that the roofs rats could use for attic access. Remove a bush, get the roof sealed, and the little suckers should then die out. Quickly, I hope. I want them dead but I don't want to torture the little disease carriers. I know, I'm a little off that way...