At the moment, I'm actually having fun in Seasonal Garden!
I'm going to do a Tower run for a map, and I went to the Library to get an Assignment - and I got a Seasonal Garden Research Assignment

Rather than smashing it and hanging around for an hour in the Library, I accepted it to use it for the amp charging. And it's an assignment that works nicely for combined results:
Catch 30 mice in the Seasonal Garden using Attraction Charm
Catch 30 mice in the Seasonal Garden using Bamboozler Base
Catch 3 Firefly Mice using Horrific Venus Mouse Trap
Catch 1 Summer Mage Mouse
Catch 3 Monarch Mice using a Tactical trap

So I'm hunting Firefly mice using HVM, BB and Attraction Charms, and it ticks off three task details for each mouse

I wasn't sure it would work this way, but it does, so this will need only 30 catches before the assignment is finished, not 67 (or perhaps some more for the Summer Mage). The setup may affect my catch rate, and I probably won't have charged the amp fully with 30 catches, but then I can always get another assignment

Then I need a team to go with for another Train - a team of 2, if no more.

Edit:
16/30 mice so far, caught all the Firefly and the Monarch mice, just waiting for the Summer Mage - and then I suddenly catch the Harvest Harrier.

I finally caught my first Stowaway Mouse this morning. That just leaves the two Magmatic Charm mice and the ?.

So how's everybody doing on trap parts? I currently have...
103 Iron Pebbles
82 Copper Beads
76 Tin Scraps

I'm still debating over which trap to get first, but I have learned that if I want to get the trap that improves the Canyon part of the train ride, I need to do more runs where I'm awake during that segment so I get more Tin Scraps to drop. /doesn't like the Canyon part

Meanwhile, the train I'm currently on... isn't looking so good. :S Hoping it will pick up, but we're three hours in and barely have any supplies so far. Though I'm sure we can at least make the team goal and that gets you more supplies.

77 Iron Pebbles
65 Copper Beads
56 Tin Scraps

I don't have a clue which trap to get first. At the moment, I figure I'll just farm parts until I make up my mind. I lack the stowaway, the Magnetic Golem, and I have one "Unkown" mouse on my mice page.

I'm missing the unknown mouse, the Cannonball, and three of the Fueler mice.

So far my favorite part is that the Stowaway mouse is a caricature of Fievel from the American Tail movies.

Only mice I am missing on the Train is the Magmatic Golem and Unknown. Filled in a few other blanks the last few days, so I'm happy.

The most recent 24h train I did was pretty awesome; I got tons of loot. I'm currently sitting at 96 Iron Pellet, 125 Copper Beads and 132 Tin Scrap.

Seeing as I've only been on two train rides, I think I'm doing well loot-wise:

Cu Bead: 29
Fe Pellet: 25
Sn Scrap: 15

84 Iron Pellets, 80 Copper Beads and 86 Tin Scraps.
I'm not sure, but I think I've been on 3 train rides (possibly 4)

Currently, I'm back at CSC. I bought the Claw Shot Base, and after three hours of active hunting, I'm under the impression that the catch rate has improved considerably. 15 hunts/trap checks gave me 10 catches and 5 FTCs, and no FTAs at all (with Gouda and Prospector's charms).
Three hours/15 hunts is still a very small sample ... but so far I'm pleased with my new base.

Buying it brought me down to 2 Fool's Gold, though - I need more FG to spend on charms for the trains, so I hope the current poster will be finished soon

Edit:
Finished in just under 4 hours - without a Deputy!

Looking at my loot so far, I'm thinking the trap that I'm going to get closest to first is the Bandit Deflector (for the middle section). I'm not sure if I'll go for it first, though...I seem to have the hardest time hunting in the last stage, but I collect the least loot in the first stage. Either way, I still think I'll just buy which ever one I reach first.

I'm still on my Furoma run.

Getting close to 13 million in gold. I'm trying to get as much as I can before event season starts, since there doesn't seem to be much time between the end of event season and the time Ronza usually comes. So this is probably the best time to farm gold.

Does anyone know when the Halloween event will start?

~Riella

Probably within the next two weeks.

In other news, I caught a Magmatic Golem today, so all available mice caught from the area now!

Is there any way in particular to get charms to drop in the canyon area? I use the ones you can buy, and RARELY get any of the second coal charms, and I've never event gotten one of the third charms.

Am I doing something wrong, or is it just a dose of DHU?

Yeah, they said in the last FBF that the Halloween event will probably run for about the same time the others have. (Though last year it was extended due to Hurricane Sandy.)

Other interesting items of note from FBF. The new area is not entirely complete yet. You may or may not have noticed that the items that drop are craftable and that will be important later on. I suspect when they release the boss mouse of the area that'll be it, but we'll see.

Jacob will be drawing something Halloween related this Friday.

I think that was about it. They did answer a lot of questions regarding the new area, so if you're interested, you can go check out the video.

Gymmie, congrats on catching all of the mice! I haven't even been able to attract a magmatic mouse yet. Ah well. All in due time.

Thanks to the magmatic Golem I was able to max out my coals for the first time. One REALLY nice thing is that any extra coals carry over once you "stoke the fire". It's not like the dewdrops where they just get wasted; don't drop.

Good to know Gymmie. I've maxed out my coals one time, but I had exactly 20 and I was wondering about them being wasted if I got more. Now I know.

I just remembered something else I forgot to mention above. They're running a patch for the new area that should hopefully fix a lot of the bugs. I noticed my team name is now spelled out across the whole screen so I wonder if that patch just went through. I guess we'll find out.

ETA: Sorry I missed your post DiGs. No, I don't think you're doing anything wrong, you're just unlucky thus far. Have you caught any of the Black Powder Thief Mice yet?

Have you caught any of the Black Powder Thief Mice yet?

I have not

And I'm experiencing a pretty lousy catch rate in the canyon area right now, so I doubt I'll even nab one on this train ride.