Oh that’s a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion - he could rent until parent’s weekend and decide then.
1 Like
I’ve heard about rodents in some of the dorms at Berkeley and I’m already skeeved out about it! 
1 Like
C19 has never seen a rodent in her college house. Now, if we’re talking about cockroaches…
1 Like
I understand.
We never had any at home either - but somehow, once they lived in the city, trading stories about their “pet” mouse, seemed to almost become a “right of passage”. To my own surprise, I overheard my daughter and her peers talk about it quite casually.
It’s an unavoidable fact of life, so the kids seemed to deal with it - probably because everyone else before them did too.
How did those get past security?
Also just discovered that Whitman has a free bike share program; you can check out a bike (and helmet) from the library.
3 Likes
I don’t see how there wouldn’t be a mice/cockroaches problems in college dorms.
Kids eat food everywhere!
My son’s desk/bed area has so much crumbs from ramen, chips, crackers, rice, etc.
And he leaves dirty bowls/cups around his desk (his dorm has a caf, but he still cooks stuff/order out, etc.).
Who raised this Neanderthal?
Oh, that would be me. He leaves bowls/cups in his room every time he comes home.
3 Likes
One benefit of most amps is that headphones can be plugged into them. (And yes, my kid is probably bringing her guitar and amp—and headphones!—with her.) They don’t take much room at all.
And we’ve bought essentially a “disposable” bicycle (read: a cheap one from Walmart) each year for our kid who’s at a college big enough to use a bike. They’re cheap and can get goodwilled at the end of the year (so no need to store them), and they’re not theft targets.
4 Likes
S21 has his guitar and amp at school and not a music major. One of his roommates also not a music major, has multiple instruments and an amp. As for bikes… check where they keep them on campus. Most have to keep them on bike racks outside and theft is an issue at some schools.
2 Likes
Fortunately the West Coast is likely to have a largely smoke free summer after the continuous downpours this winter. Though next year might be another matter.
2 Likes
I hope so too, but the lushness of the foliage right now does make me worry that it’s just more future fuel for after it dries out this summer. It’s INSANE how green and full things are right now. The GRAPEVINE was completely green on Sunday as we drove over it, headed north towards home. Never ever seen it like this!
4 Likes
We went to Arizona two weeks ago to visit colleges and even the desert was green and full of flowers.
Easter weekend at Carrizo Plain was amazing, endless flowers as far as the eye could see…
3 Likes
I certainly hope so; the wet spring helps mitigate early fire season risks, but one unfortunate side effect a wet spring often has though is that the grass, weeds, and underbrush volume goes way up. Then when that drys out during the summer (especially on the eastern side of WA and OR) it becomes a huge source of fuel for wildfires - it’s all that tinder and fuel that can catch fire quickly and spread fast. 
2 Likes
I’ve got a serious aversion to rodents. I honestly would flip out if I saw one in my house or in a dorm.
2 Likes
You definitely don’t live in New England. We all fight the battle against mice every fall as the cold weather sets in. At least anyone living in an older house which is most of us. It’s pretty much carnage every fall - I hate to do it - and would never kill them if they stayed outside where they belong - but if they’re coming in my house they’re going out in the trash.
11 Likes
Yeah no, I’d be killing them too. Well, my husband would be as I’d be at the holiday inn. We have occasionally gotten field mice in our back yard, around our built in barbecue, and once I had a field mouse eat some wiring in my car engine. That was a fun expense. We’ve never had anything in our 2000’s era house. My husband traps around the backyard every fall as that’s when they come up looking for warmth. So far, so good.
3 Likes
Until I moved to my 125 year old farmhouse two years ago, I felt the same. Now, I am happy if it is only a dead mouse or two when I go down into the fieldstone-wall cellar and not a live squirrel I ran into last month. Terrifying.
We move after graduation to yet another state, and my main request, after a dishwasher, was that it be basically rodent-free inside.
1 Like
I’d have a house full of cats, and I’m horrible allergic… maybe pet snakes?
1 Like
Cats….hahahaha. We have watched a little mouse scurry across the floor right in front of our cat.
1 Like
I thought that’s what cats were good for! 
2 Likes
Cats - yep. Us too. If they’re fed every day, they aren’t going to try to catch a mouse. Lazy things!
And we also had a pet snake for 10 years. We had to buy the mice and rats to feed them. Wouldn’t want the snake to get a disease from the rat…
Mice and rodents don’t bother me too much. Infestations (ants/fleas) on the other hand…
3 Likes