Ask the PeeMan: Mice in Grill

Well, it must be the busy season around here because Wednesday’s Ask the PeeMan is on Thursday this week! This week’s question is especially relevant since grilling season will soon be upon us(I am sure most of you have been grilling for a while now – don’t rub it in) – one thing is for certain – none of us want mice up in our grill(because of my 22 year old daughter the double meaning is not lost on me). . .

Hi,
Looking for a suggestion to keep mice from entering my outdoor grill. I don’t have them in the house, but know they are outside as I’ve caught a few over the past year. Looks like you recommend the Bobcat Urine. Should I go with the 33 Day Dispenser and put them around the grill area on my patio? These 33 Day Dispensers are reusable, right? Or would you recommend some other application?

Thanks for your help.

Kevin

Kevin,
Look at our BobcatPeeShots – you can place right in grill when not in use and easily remove. here is the link:
http://www.predatorpeestore.com/Predator-PeeShots.html
KJ The PeeMa

Ask the PeeMan: CoyotePee vs. Rats

It is Wednesday, the PeeMan’s favorite day of the week! The day when I get to share with the whole world my pee-related wisdom. My wife would say that I do that every day BUT only Wednesday is “Ask the PeeMan” day on the blog. Enjoy!

Q. Hi. I’m pretty much sold, but we live in Chicago and the things come to our yard from the alley. Question: how does it smell to humans? We want to repel the rats so we can enjoy the patio. And…will it drive my small dog crazy? I honestly don’t care that much, if the rats leave us alone. Thx for your reply

A. CoyotePee smell dissipates quickly beyond range of the human nose and your dog will just be curious. Here is the link:
http://www.predatorpeestore.com/repel-rats-rat-problems-coyote-urine.html
KJ The PeeMan

*All inquiries posted come from actual people who have emailed the PeeMan

Why WolfPee Works When There are No Wolves

How can WolfPee scare a coyote when these coyotes have probably never seen a wolf?

The PeeMan gets this question a lot. It is a very logical thing to ask and there probably is a very complicated scientific way of explaining it. But here at PredatorPee® we’ve always found our customers’ experiences a lot easier for us to understand and explain.

gray-wolf-head-canis-lupus-436x544 So we have coyotes over-running unlikely places like Los Angeles and Chicago – places where you could probably go back decades or maybe centuries before you’d find evidence that a wolf had visited. Yet, we have hundreds of customers in those areas who have found WolfPee extremely effective in keeping coyotes at bay. Even Actress Krysten Ritter had lots to say on Conan’s Late Night Show about how WolfPee took care of her coyote problem in California.

So if a coyote has never seen or even smelled a coyote, how does it know to be scared enough to run away when it gets a whiff of WolfPee? It took a little pondering, but we think we have figured it out.

Just picture the PeeMan living his life in Maine where there are no poisonous snakes of any kind. He has never encountered one in the wild, never heard the rattle of an angry rattler. Now, all of a sudden he is transported to a wooded trail in California and he encounters the tell-tale sound of the rattler! Even before he sees it, all of us here are pretty sure he’d scared “pee-less” so to speak!

We somehow know what to be scared of before we actual encounter the source. So it is with coyotes and other critters. There is some sort of deep-seated fear instinct that is triggered by the smell of PredatorPee® – no matter if the critter has any personal knowledge of the predator itself.

It may not be scientific, but it makes it easy for us to understand how PredatorPee® has been working so well in so many unlikely places around the world for the past 30 years… And that’s our story and we’re stickin’ to it!

Until I find more words . . . The PeeMan

Ask the PeeMan- Rodent Control

It’s Wednesday again and time for our weekly “Ask The PeeMan” segment. Rodents seem to be coming up a lot this time of year. The PeeMan has the answer.

Q. Good afternoon!
I have a question regarding the Coyote PeeShots . I’m looking at them for a basement style room with a large sliding door that opens onto a driveway. It’s a fairly busy beach area, and we have rats! Our organization works with children, so this is a no go! The description says that they are “long-lasting,” and I’m wondering how long that typically is. Please let me know what the average length of use is.

Thank you!
Best,
Caroline

A. Caroline,
At least a month. 2 months or more if there isn’t much air circulation in the placement area – like under a sink.
Here is the direct link:
http://www.predatorpeestore.com/Predator-PeeShots.html

KJ The PeeMan

Q. I came across your site through a company called “Solutions”. I have had an issue with having mice enter my house over the past 2-4 years. I am not sure of their entry point BUT I really would like to deter them from entering at all !!!

My house is small, 984 sq. feet….. full basement below, attached garage with door leading to back patio. I am wondering how much of the bobcat or coyote urine I would need to protect my home throughout the winter season. Also, where should I place the deterrents? I do have dogs in the home, so I am also wondering what their response will be to this product.

Thank you
Kristine

A. Kristine,
Thank you for contacting the PeeMan. If you have mice already in your home, use our Bobcat PeeShots for indoor use.
Mice usually enter near openings like where wires and pipes come in, or under garage doors etc. Use the Bobcat Trigger spray bottle and squirt around any areas like that. Dogs will just be curious nothing more. See all the bobcat products for mice at this link:
http://www.predatorpeestore.com/mice-problems-bobcat-urine.html
KJ The PeeMan

Until I find more words . . .The PeeMan

PeeMan Discovers New Business Language Disorder

I must not have been paying attention. Somewhere along in my business career, I seem to have suffered some sort of loss of ability to understand the language of business. My Business Language Deficit Disorder or, BLDD for short, manifests itself when I interact with business people who use words that don’t seem to fit into the sentences they are a part of.

It started with small things, like when I would say “thank you” to a store clerk for their assistance. Instead of the customary “You’re welcome” response; the answer today is “no problem.” What in the world was there no problem with? Was the problem that I asked for assistance? Or was I thanking them because it wasn’t a problem for them to do what they were being paid for? Or was I thanking them because I wasn’t as much of a problem as I could have been? Next time, maybe I should be more of a problem so that their answer will be more logical.

inigo-montoya But it gets worse. The other day, when I contacted a company to get some information on their product, a nice sales associate thanked me for “reaching out to her”. Well, somewhat flustered, I said “you are welcome” because that is what I learned to say when someone thanks me. But, “reaching out” to this woman is something I did not recall or even comprehend. The last thing I remember reaching out for was the ladder that slipped away from me when I was painting the house last summer – and I missed. And not to mention that the idea that I go around reaching out to random women might not sit well with the wife of the PeeMan. Maybe, I should have just said “no problem.”

Then, after I told the nice sales associate what information I was looking for, she told me that once she had gathered the info she would “circle back”. This time I did say “no problem.” But that was a lie. Now, I knew I had a full-blown case of BLDD. My mind was receiving the signals but was unable to convert them into words I could understand. I can remember the Lone Ranger and Tonto “circling back” to find the trail again or to get behind the bad guys, but what was this nice lady planning to do. I felt like I needed to be looking over my shoulder even though I knew she and her company were 2000 miles away. No problem, I guess I’ll know what it means when it happens.

So, I had lunch with a businessman friend the other day and he was telling me he needed to hire a new marketing person, but was having trouble finding someone with enough “bandwidth” to handle the job. It sounded like it had something to do with being fat, maybe like a “fat cat marketing guy”. That sort of made sense, but I realized through the fog of my BLDD that it probably wasn’t what my friend had in mind. I had heard the word before, but it always had something to do with computer or internet stuff. So maybe he’s looking for a fat marketing guy who is good with computers. I told him I’d keep my eyes open, no problem.

And just today, I have been chasing a quote from a supplier and this is what the company representative told me word for word:

“I am still waiting to hear from our production team. I will revert as soon as we have an update.”

Uh oh. Now what have I gotten into. All I wanted was a quote. I wonder what she is going to revert into? No problem.

Until I find more words(that I can understand). . .The PeeMan

You Load Sixteen Tons . . .

This post is simply a fulfillment of my blogging101 homework – use a blogging prompt.

This is the prompt I chose – Take the third line of the last song you heard, make it your post title, and write for a maximum of 15 minutes.

“You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.”

It just so happens that this particular song Sixteen Tons was one that I included on the cd that I recorded for my daughters for Christmas 2015. Entitled, “Dad Sings Country,” the recording included 3 classic country songs. I got some friends with a recording studio to help me out, and I sang over pre-recorded tracks. I thought that this was a pretty unique gift, and I have to admit I was fairly pleased with myself. That is, until I brought it home for my wife to listen to. After the three tracks were over, with a barely suppressed laugh she said something like, “I think that cd might give the girls nightmares.” Well, so much for my country singing aspirations. I still gave the cds to the girls. Obviously, “Dad Sings Country” is a limited edition – they can at least use it as a coaster. Maybe next year I will try rap – “PeeMan Slays” or something like that.

My fifteen minutes is up – not fifteen minutes of fame for my singing – just fifteen minutes of blogging.

Until I find more words . . .The PeeMan

Virtual Handshake

Greetings from the FROZEN north woods! Highs in the teens today. . .brrr.

So, I have decided to up my blog game in 2016. I am taking Blogging 101 through WordPress. Learn something new? At my age? Well, my wife would wonder what I could possibly learn since I seem to know everything. As much as I hate to disagree with her, there are a few tricks I don’t know yet.

When I started in the business world, phone calls, business lunches and handshakes were what got things done. Now, my business is entirely online, I avoid the phone and I only really press the flesh at church or when meeting my daughters’ new boyfriends. The explosion of blogging and social media still befuddles me, and as always I don’t know why anyone would care to read about a 60 something Maine entrepreneur, but I guess this is now my virtual hand shake or phone call, and it sure is a lot cheaper than a business lunch.

My first assignment for Blogging U(which is not as cool as Predatorpee University aka PU, but more popular as it turns out)is to reintroduce myself and possibly set some blog related goals. Well, I wish I had waited to write Back to the Blog until after I had received my homework! That’s just like me – always ahead of the curve! Anyway, here goes . . .

peeman_puckets So, how do you do? My name is Ken Johnson aka The PeeMan. I am a long-time entrepreneur( 5 Qualities of an Entrepreneur ), husband and father to 3 lovely grown up daughters(Thoughts for my Daughters: Risk ). I fled New Jersey right after high school and rejected the corporate rat race shortly thereafter, always preferring to work for myself, and a lot of times by myself. predatorpee.com is a big part of the family business that now occupies my entrepreneurial energies. I like the solitude and natural beauty Maine affords. At my home, Winterberry Farm, we have chickens, 2 dogs and flower and vegetable gardens in the summer. If I have to “share” anymore about myself, then I might as well meet you for that business lunch after all.

2016 finds me right where 2015 left me – feeling my age, filling my days with farm chores, honey do projects, and of course – pee. The pee business just keeps on “flowing” and even in the cold winter months in Maine, people in warmer parts of the country and world are ordering predatorpee to keep away coyotes, pesky rodents, hungry deer and moose, etc.

My blogging goal for 2016 is pretty simple – write the dang blog posts! Topics will probably include such things as: life on Winterberry Farm, tales from the seasoned entrepreneur, project updates, blunders, mishaps, glimpses of the family, and of course all things predatorpee related!

Until I find more words(which will probably be tomorrow because I will have more homework) . . .The PeeMan

Back to the Blog

Greetings!

Well, it seems like every year at this time I look at the blog and realize that I have been woefully neglectful. Fortunately, the world can continue to spin without my thoughts adding to the cyberspace clutter. But, since this blogging thing is supposed to be good for business(my daughters tell me)I guess I will get back on the horse.

Obviously lots of things have happened at Winterberry Farm since May but I don’t want to update you with one huge post so be on the lookout for posts to come about the summer and fall goings on. The topics may or may not include: The Airstream Not So Dry Run , The Great Fall, Wilbur and Templeton, The Great Rooster Culling, PeeMan Sings Country, The Boyfriends, etc.

For now I just want to say that I hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2016!

Star light, star bright

PeeMan Christmas Tree

Narnia

PeeMan’s Gotta Have Hobbies: Airstream #2 continued

Hello!

It is warm and sunny here and the grass is growing like crazy. Mowing has once again become a regular part of my day, although my wife has grown attached to the zero turn mower, so I don’t have to do quite as much. Anyway, this post is the second in my “second” Airstream refinish. Demolition has continued and I have had to take the floor all the way down and build her again. The walls have mold and years of dingy buildup, so those will have to be cleaned and then painted.(I am hoping to recruit some grandchildren for that task-my 6′ 7″ frame makes painting the rounded walls awkward)The old benches and bathroom area have been pulled out as well. There is really not too much that I liked about the dated interior. I just bought it for that beautiful aluminum shell. Well, this was meant to be a short update today. There will be more to come about the camper. The clock is ticking. It needs to be ready no later than mid July, but preferably sooner. If I can keep up with mowing, gardening, oh and the busy pee season, I should be able to finish it up in time. Until I find more words . . . The PeeMan

PeeMan’s Gotta Have Hobbies: 2nd Airstream Refurb

Greetings from the green North woods!

Sunny and warm today. This post will be short on words and long on pictures. Since this is the second time that I have completely redone the inside of a classic Airstream camper, I decided more photo documentation would be good this time around. As to why I would take on such an endeavor. – I mean, I got pee to sell and a farm to manage, right? Well, it is like this – in order for me to do those things well, I need to have a project. Usually, it is more than one project. I want to work with my hands, mull things over in the solitude, and most importantly – see progress! I like results! So many things that we do in our lives either don’t produce clear results or the results may come after we’ve passed on. I may not pay close attention to the little details or do it like a carpenter would, but you bet I will get ‘er done!

The beginning

before: inside view 1

before: inside view 2

before: inside view 4

Well, as you can see, she wasn’t too pretty when I started. I ripped out all of the beds/couches and the table area. I only really kept the kitchen unit. Even the overhead cabinets came out. The outside is really nice to look at but the dated, plastic interior had to go. As soon as it was warm enough to work in the unheated storage area where the camper is kept, I began ripping and tearing and basically gutting the metal beast. Progress has been swift and many more pictures will follow in the weeks to come. This is just to give you a taste and to begin from, well from the beginning. The first step to getting results!

Until I find more words(and pictures). . .The PeeMan