J.S., I don't know. I guess I would be afraid to try it, unless someone who knows more than I do could give me assurance. Some of those rodent repeller light thingies that I was looking at were supposed to be hooked up to the car battery somehow. When I asked my mechanic about that, he wasn't very positive. He said anyone who does that better know what they are doing.
Robin, I was going to say exactly what you did about the news coverage. It has irritated me right along that they haven't given much attention to the fires. When there were horrific fires in the Texas Panhandle earlier this year, I might not have even known about it if it hadn't been for Facebook. Lives were lost and a lot of livestock. I think it has to do with population density but still, there are people in the fire areas, whose lives are every bit as devastated as those in the coastal storms.
Kat, it is so nice of you to take Goldie out early enough to see some kids. I hope you can solve your digging mystery.
Muzz, I'm so sorry your beloved town got hit by the fires. It is sad to see our familiar sights disappear.
J.S., I agree about Poirot's pipes not freezing. Before we got "city" water out here, our water was always freezing. One Christmas my parents had all the family over at their house. Water froze up. Mother was cooking a big dinner. They were better at coping with this than the rest of us because they had grown up with no running water. But it did help that they had an old cistern out back. Not good for drinking but it was a lifesaver for "flushing," with a house full of people. No bottled water for drinking back then either.
Kt, I've been wondering whether you got any heavy rain or wind out of the storm, and if it has all passed.
A. Guy, I hope you made it through the phone call without getting overly agitated, and that you worked out whatever you needed to happen.
Shan, I homeschooled our youngest son, he married a young lady who was homeschooled, and she now homeschools their two 11 yr. olds, so naturally, I have positive thoughts toward that approach. It is a very personal decision so I would never advise anyone on it one way or the other, but if your daughter decides to do it, I would hope to encourage you in her decision. She only wants to do it for one year, and since there have been increased numbers of parents homeschooling over the past several decades, there is sufficient evidence that results are good for those families who are committed to the investment of time and energy.
We had to put our son in public school for 2nd and 3rd grades (when he turned 7, the required age for starting school here) because homeschooling was still strange to most people back then and Texas had not yet had a legal ruling on it. I had been teaching him some for a couple of years so when I took him to enroll him at age 7, and they tested him to decide what grade he should be in, he tested at 7th to 8th grade in reading. They gave me a choice of 2nd or 3rd grade. I put him in 2nd, so he'd be with his age group. If your daughter does teach your granddaughter at home for 1st grade, her daughter will do fine. An extra year under the influence of her mom won't be a bad thing.