Well, on occasion, the dogs, while dreaming of running, will be sleeping close to something and end up scratching it. Tuesday morning, this is the sound I thought I was waking up to. I got up, to move whichever dog it was, but quickly realized that the sound was too loud to be coming from the playroom (which is where Luna was at the time) and it didn't seem to be coming from under the bed (Ragan's space). After inspecting for a bit, it seemed the sound stopped, so I decided to go back to bed after a quick stop in the bathroom... sound again... coming from... behind the toilet?? Okay... weird... freaky... yuck... BRYAN!!! Yup. I've had a snake in the house and was by myself, so you bet I took full advantage of the fact that poor Bryan was in the house-- sleeping with a terrible cold-- but in the house. So, I think it went something like this: "Bryan, uh... sorry to wake you, but there is something scratching at the wall in our bathroom somewhere near the toilet, can you check it out?" I then went across the house to the boys bathroom, while Bryan listened and indeed heard the sound as well. What did we do? At first nothing... we closed the door and propped a pillow under the door so whatever it was couldn't sneak it's way (easily) under the door to suprise us while we were sleeping. At least it would be in one room! And we tried to go back to sleep. Oy... try is the operative word here. Turns out it's hard to do that when you know something is eating your walls and will inevitably either die in your wall, or get out. (We were hoping and Bryan was convinced it would die there... not that the scratching sounded really strong, relentless or productive!)
So, we tried... then all of a sudden the sound changed from wood to porcelain/tile.... "I don't like that sound!"--said in the most girly squeamish voice you'd ever want to hear especially in the wee hours of the morning (from me of course)! Bryan to the rescue to check it out. He peeked open the door to turn on the light and quickly shut it. "yup, it's a mouse!!" Off to get tools to get it out... his weapons? An empty diaper pail (the deep kind maybe 2-3 ft tall?), cheese, and not sure what else. He tried to put the cheese in the pail and waited to see if the mouse would take the bait. Closed the door and waited... waited... for more sounds? After a bit, he checked it out... no takers on the bait. Turns out, cheese is not the best option for trying to catch a mouse! At this point, I was trying to go back to sleep-- I know, what a helpful wife, right? I figure I did my part with the snake! HA! Bryan again went to get more tools. Guess he was figuring if the mouse wasn't going to come out, that he'd have to force him out? This time, real manly tools-- hammer, crowbar... not sure what else-- basically he was going to make the hole LOTS bigger, so the mouse had no where to hide.
(No, I was not able to get a pic... this is courtesy of a site online.)
Yes, I'm still in bed, trying to go back to sleep... At this point it's about 3:30 (I first heard the sound around 2:30). Bryan makes quick work of the wall, and tears off the molding, then the sheet rock to expose the mouse. Then, I hear him talking (yes talking) to the mouse... something like, "No... don't go back in the hole! What the.... AAAAAH (girlish yelp)!! How can you jump out of there? No, you don't... get back.. get in... Paula, I'm gonna need your help." (In my head, there was a comic strip playing, which made it very difficult to fall back to sleep.) At this point, he'd managed to somehow get it into the diaper pail, and grabbed one of our decorative pillows to top it (not that we didn't have an actual cover for it or anything) to make sure his friend wouldn't get out. I was in charge of opening the doors so he could take it out to the backyard, where it literally leaped out of the diaper pail. As Bryan was re-entering the house, he says "Whew, I feel MANLY!" Yes, dear, my hero... ;)
By now, you may be asking where our faithful, fearless dogs were in all of this? Because as you know, our dogs will bark at a knock on our door, the doorbell, someone entering our neighbors yard, a squirrel in a tree, a walker, another animal in our yard or a neighbor's yard, a plastic bag floating through the yard.....etc. Wouldn't they be making all kinds of noise? To this I laugh! HAHAHAHA!! These dogs didn't have a clue... nor did they care to know what was going on! I believe Luna stayed in the playroom the whole time, while Ragan, remained (snoring even) under our bed. COMPLETELY USELESS I TELL YOU!! So, apparently, once the invader is in the house, their sense of protecting their territory is completely non-existent. I've no idea... I just don't get it. But I was the one who woke to the sound... had I not heard it, we very well could have been eating breakfast that morning with an unwanted guest!
Bryan cleaned up and was then up for the day... he went to work to look up online what exactly our company was. Turns out it was a "roof rat" which lives up in the trees (much like a squirrel) which explains its jumping ability. After checking out the roof and the attic, we figure it must have fallen from a tree, climbed into one of the vents on the roof to get into the attic, and then fallen through the studs to land in our bathroom. Fortunately, he chose the right studs to fall between, as we haven't yet started the renovations in our bathroom or bedroom. And, of course, the rat became the topic of discussion for both of his classes that day!
So, the official start of demolition to our bathroom was Tuesday, Feb. 2nd at approximately 3:30 am!
CAUTION!! THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!
Yes, we HAVE been living with this bathroom since we moved in (about 3 years ago!) ... it was (and still is) the UGLIEST room in the house. If the sight of wallpaper, tabacco stains, ugly fixtures, or general ugliness makes you nauseous, I urge you to look away from your screen.
I do have to document from where we've come SO these are the before pictures of our ugly bathroom!
Looking into bathroom from bedroom-- notice lovely paint peel.
Bryan demonstrates relative size of shower entrance.
Inside shower-- You'll notice on the left and partly on the right the location of our only shower towel rack... makes sense, right? Completely uselss except to hang our shower organizer.
These pictures were taken while sitting on the toilet. One of our neighbors, who'd seen the house before we lived here made the comment that it was that bathroom where you could stand at the door and touch everything... yup... that's about right. Tiny and almost functional... (I can handle tiny, but we need to work with the functional part on the renovation!)
Details, ugly details... To the left we have the sink. What we thought were cigarette burns (still could be) we later found out could be marijuana burns... great!! Our wallpaper, you can see the texture a bit better in this picture, though these pictures are very yellow (more yellow than in real life... sorry, don't feel like taking out the camera and trying again right now... maybe later!) Then, to the right we have the most beautiful decorative screws (?) holding up our mirror. Actually, this picture does it great justice, they are really much uglier in person. Pictures I've forgotten to take include the heating system, ceiling, and hardware on the cabinetry...all just as ugly as what you've seen here, I assure you. Maybe if I get the chance I'll add those here tomorrow.
Needless to say the renovation on this bathroom was a long time coming. And, while we've waited to be able to start it (so we could get other parts of the house done first), it appears we've been forced into it by a rat! (At least it wasn't my fault this time!) After removing the rat, we couldn't wait to start taking things apart. We'll still have to go relatively slow-- still have other repairs to finish first (and my CEU's)... then it's full steam ahead!! If there is a silver lining on this cloud it is the timing!! First order of business: cover those vents!
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