Today is not a good day
OK, to be fair, there were good times and an amazing amount of visits recently. In late July I went to Madison for a wedding and got to see some Mikes, a Molly, a moonrover, and other good people. Then I went straight from there San Diego for a GIS conference, got to stay with a good friend who I've known my entire life, plus met lots of colleagues and learned lots. Upon returning home Sarah S came for a week, during which time my dad also came for 3 days, and my mother and grandfather came for a week (leaving a few days after Sarah). So, I got to catch up with a lot of people, which was great though tiring.
But there have been other guests in my house, and less welcome ones at that. I've been fighting an invasion of mice into my ceiling (not the actual inside of my actual unit, fortunately) for about 9 months. At first it was just weird!, and I put some live traps in the ceiling (via HVAC filter panel access) and outside, and catching and releasing (far away) some adorable white-footed field mice. That went on for a while, I found a bunch of potential entry points and tried to seal them. Eventually sealed up the stoop in front of my unit where I know at least some were coming in. But a few weeks ago, the tiny cute field mice were replaced by house mice (which in retrospect may have actually been baby rats), and all of a sudden if I turned on the A/C the house reeked of mouse piss. I did another round of mouseproofing, including going into an unspeakably foul crawlspace a few times aimed with expanding foam and screen mesh. After this was unsuccessful, I finally gave in and allowed the exterminators to put some poison in my ceiling. I also found out that the bait boxes they have around the property to keep mice and rat populations down had not been serviced in months (they're supposed to be monthly). I felt really, really bad about it, but couldn't live with the stench and had spent several days of work trying to keep them out.
Then today (while replacing my dishwasher which had stopped working), I noticed a foul smell. At first I thought it was just the garbage, took it out, and struggled with fixing up a few abandoned decrepit bikes we found in the basement (one of which is actually a decent bike, and was fixable). But on returning the smell was still there, and I eventually figured out that it was an absolutely fucking enormous dead rat in my ceiling, right by my HVAC blower air intake. After getting that out (which was a challenge, it was so large it almost wouldn't fit through the gap I could reach it through), not only did the condo really reek, a pipe in the HVAC started pouring water out into my ceiling. Of course, being the long weekend no one is returning my calls who could fix it except a guy who says they can come next week sometime. I put some activated carbon up there, put a pan under the water, and am hoping for the best. I also reentered the crawlspace, found both the place where they chewed through my makeshift barrier and where they're likely entering the crawlspace from outside, and resealed both and applied peppermint oil liberally to the air (they apparently hate the smell).
Meanwhile I'm taking care of a spastic dog, wishing to get caught up on work where I'm rapidly getting swallowed in a wave of overdue things to take care of, can't use my closet b/c plumbers needed to fix a pipe via the closet ceiling recently and the drywall isn't repaired yet. Oh and to get to the dead rat had to fill the tiny portion of my tiny condo not already full of shit from the closet with the stuff underneath the HVAC to allow access.
The good news: I have an adequate supply of beer and liquor.
But there have been other guests in my house, and less welcome ones at that. I've been fighting an invasion of mice into my ceiling (not the actual inside of my actual unit, fortunately) for about 9 months. At first it was just weird!, and I put some live traps in the ceiling (via HVAC filter panel access) and outside, and catching and releasing (far away) some adorable white-footed field mice. That went on for a while, I found a bunch of potential entry points and tried to seal them. Eventually sealed up the stoop in front of my unit where I know at least some were coming in. But a few weeks ago, the tiny cute field mice were replaced by house mice (which in retrospect may have actually been baby rats), and all of a sudden if I turned on the A/C the house reeked of mouse piss. I did another round of mouseproofing, including going into an unspeakably foul crawlspace a few times aimed with expanding foam and screen mesh. After this was unsuccessful, I finally gave in and allowed the exterminators to put some poison in my ceiling. I also found out that the bait boxes they have around the property to keep mice and rat populations down had not been serviced in months (they're supposed to be monthly). I felt really, really bad about it, but couldn't live with the stench and had spent several days of work trying to keep them out.
Then today (while replacing my dishwasher which had stopped working), I noticed a foul smell. At first I thought it was just the garbage, took it out, and struggled with fixing up a few abandoned decrepit bikes we found in the basement (one of which is actually a decent bike, and was fixable). But on returning the smell was still there, and I eventually figured out that it was an absolutely fucking enormous dead rat in my ceiling, right by my HVAC blower air intake. After getting that out (which was a challenge, it was so large it almost wouldn't fit through the gap I could reach it through), not only did the condo really reek, a pipe in the HVAC started pouring water out into my ceiling. Of course, being the long weekend no one is returning my calls who could fix it except a guy who says they can come next week sometime. I put some activated carbon up there, put a pan under the water, and am hoping for the best. I also reentered the crawlspace, found both the place where they chewed through my makeshift barrier and where they're likely entering the crawlspace from outside, and resealed both and applied peppermint oil liberally to the air (they apparently hate the smell).
Meanwhile I'm taking care of a spastic dog, wishing to get caught up on work where I'm rapidly getting swallowed in a wave of overdue things to take care of, can't use my closet b/c plumbers needed to fix a pipe via the closet ceiling recently and the drywall isn't repaired yet. Oh and to get to the dead rat had to fill the tiny portion of my tiny condo not already full of shit from the closet with the stuff underneath the HVAC to allow access.
The good news: I have an adequate supply of beer and liquor.