Nathanael graphs his efforts at de-mousing his place.

I find it hard
It’s hard to find
oh well whatever
ne-ever mind

Contribute your our own word play or someone else's. Have at it.

John Ford posts fourth-quarter apartment-rent numbers for Boston.

Note to self: Next time you open your bedroom window and use a loose bedpost to knock down some of the two-to-four-foot-long icicles hanging from your front gutter because you and the kidlet think that might be cool, you might want to let the wife, sitting downstairs watching TV, know first so she doesn't think the house is under attack or something. But at least I proved to the kidlet that just because I'm going to do something stupid (i.e., use a loose bedpost to knock down giant icicles), it doesn't mean I'm going to do something really stupid (i.e. lose my grip on the loose bedpost and then have to go outside and navigate the three feet of snow in the front yard to retrieve it or, even better, listen to it bounce off one of the shrubs and crash into a living-room window).

Four months of construction hell that will make you wish you could just burn the whole building down.

As a J.P. resident, the short walk down Boylston St. to the Stony Brook T stop becomes treacherous during the winter because several neighbors rarely clear away snow and ice from the narrow sidewalk in front of their homes.

I know it's a pain to shovel. I'm a condo owner in one of J.P.'s triple deckers, and we share shoveling duties. It's no fun, but we do a decent job of it. These folks, however, don't even make the effort. Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances, but in any event it's a genuine safety hazard.

Well...you won't have much to choose from. While Back Bay was formerly made up almost completely of single family homes, over the past 30 years this has dramatically changed. It started with landlords converting many of these into multi-family apartment homes and more recently with developers converting them to multi-unit luxury condos.

I got a thank-you note today for a Christmas tip, from the person who delivers the Globe! This was so unusual that I wanted to post it - there is still great service out there.

I also got a typed-up note saying that she would not be delivering the paper for a couple of days, but someone else would, and it included a phone number to call in case of any problem with delivery.

She also delivers the paper right to the front step, every morning, even during the awful weather we had last week. (I really love having the paper delivered.)

I don't know if the Globe instructs the people who deliver the papers to do this or if this is just a really great employee. Either way, thanks Renee! Delivering papers is a tough job, but you are appreciated.

Ho ho ho to those who go that way today! Hope everone wasn't up too late last night wrapping or celebrating, especially if you have kids.

Happy Chanuka to those who celebrate for more nights than just one. Adam Sandler's classic has been getting a lot of airplay lately; I heard it twice in one morning, I think on the same station (hmmm, did Mix's playlists change dramatically when Lander went, or is that just my imagination?).

Joyous Winter Solstice for those who are thankful the sun has come back to us, a little more each day.

I need to build a "staircase" for my three-legged cat to get up to my couch; he's no longer able to jump up more than 3-4 inches.* I'm using phone books right now, but they're pretty slippery.

An old set of encyclopedias would be perfect; they're large, they're hardcover, and they have a nice grippable surface. Does anyone have a set that's too old to bother giving to schools, but too new to be a Valuable Antique?