Burned Out

That is what the rats have done to me. I just can't clean anymore!

My house is a total disaster... not the minor disaster it usually is. I can't stand being here! I'm already planning how to spend my day at the office tomorow so I don't have to look at my home.

Note: I teach tax school tomorow morning, then I'm free for the rest of the day.

Half of the cupboards in the kitchen are still waiting to be sanitized. That means half of my kitchen stuff is sitting in the living room. I dropped a piece of paper I was reading tonight... it landed on the far side of the table. Now I can't get it back... there is too much stuff in my way!

The rats are gone... but their legacy remains.

And I hate their remains.

Miscellaneous Updates

VN is not staying with me any longer. She was only here for a week.

She was referred to a friend of a friend who had space for her and her St Bernard. She now gets free rent in exchange for housework and dog sitting.

Good deal.

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It took JJ over a week to get JMJ into a school. I was talking to JMJ last night... he did not go to school yesterday. He was not feeling well.

I asked what his symptoms were. He said his ear is bothering him, and he has an upset stomach.

I recognize those symptoms.

The ear is unrelated to the stomache. His ear will bother him if there are allergens in his environment. He has a prescription nasal spray for that.

The upset stomach is stress.

He gets that most years at the beginning of school. He had a huge change this year... from a small class group and two or three teachers, into a high-school with 2000 students, and a class schedule to follow.

Hid dad likely has no idea about it. I know I told him about it each year. But he had no interest in being a parent. It was outside his realm of experience, so he paid it no mind.

Now, he is the parent.

He has alot to learn.

And he does not talk to me anymore.

He could learn from my experience. After all, he is a parent to my child. Who else could help him more?

I know he will not ask. I guess I should send him a brief email about it.

And try not to sound like I am telling him what to do.

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The cat is still not using the kitty door. He does not like it.

At 5am today, I got up to let him out, and then discovered he had pooped where the litter box used to be. Other mornings, I have found a poop in the bathtub.

He is trying to be a clean cat. It is just tough for him right now, because I am as stubborn as he is.

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I was catching up on laundry yesterday. After folding IJs clothes, I went to put them away. Usually, I tell him to put them away. This time, there was so much laundry, that I did not want to wait for him to come home from school, so I did it.

I started putting clean clothes into his drawers, and then I saw it: Rat Poop! In his drawer!

So I checked his other drawers.

They all had rat poop in them.

I took the drawers into the bathroom one at a time, and washed the contents. The bathtub is currently full of empty drawers. I need to sanitize them still. The clothes have all been sanitized.

The rat man came to check on the traps yesterday... they were all empty! So I now have only 1 trap inside the house... on top of the hot water tank, where they get into the house. There are 10 or so traps under the house. The idea is to catch them before they get inside.

The fact that no rats were trapped this time is a good thing. It means we got them! The rat man figures I had just one family of rats inside. I know the mother ate the poison I set out. We saw some dead babies, and the rat man caught a few half-grown rats (so did the cat).

The rat man will be back in a month to check traps again. If there are still no rats, he will come about every 6 weeks.

The trailer park management paid for the initial setup. I just have to pay the rat man for the follow-up visits, at $75/visit.

I plan to keep him.

Mom With Power Tools Strikes Again!

I visited Canadian Tire on the weekend to buy a circular saw. They had them locked in a cabinet, so I had to track down a salesman. I told him what I wanted, and he said "do you want a skill saw or a circular saw?".

I guess he's hard of hearing.

Or thinks that Moms don't know what they want when it comes to tools.

Then I went to the building supply store and asked for two sheets of standard 3/8" plywood.

They didn't question my decision.

I took it all home, and started fixing the one-eyed-monkey-designed kitchen.

I needed to finish the partitions between the bank of drawers and the cupboards on either side of it. The rats are getting under the sink, and then into everything else.

Measure, saw, glue, nail.

Done.

Next, the cupboards above the sink. The vent pipe for the water drains goes up one end of those cupboards. The rats have been climbing it and getting into that cupboard, and the ceiling.

Two boards cut and nailed in diagonally to block access from the pipe to the cupboard. Line the seams with steel wool, and another job is done.

Lots of wood left, so I construct partitions for the cupboards above the stove... if the rats do happen to chew through again, they will have an additional obstacle to get through. Plus, items can be stacked now without falling into the next cupboard. More convenient for storage purposes.

After lining the cupboards with mac tac to hide the raw plywood, Mom With Power Tools retires for the night, satisfied that the rats can no longer invade her kitchen.

Mom With Power Tools suffers from a false sense of security. In the night, the rats chewed a fresh hole in the ceiling and got into a cupboard previously unknown to them.

Mom Wisth Power Tools becomes Mom With Rat Poison.


I am Mom.

These Rats Are Driving Me Crazy!

After the incident with the Rat in the cutlery drawer, I went shopping and purchased everything on the list I posted... except the mint. I forgot the mint.

I spent the better part of the day on Friday trying to Rat-proof my kitchen. I stuffed all the holes with steel wool. I cut plywood and made partitions to keep the rats out of the cupboards. I set up my Ratzapper with fresh bait and turned it on.

By the time I went to bed Friday night, I was satisfied that the Rats could not get into my kitchen.

Saturday morning, I got up and checked on the Ratzapper. The red light on top was flashing... I caught a Rat! I switched the power off, then picked it up. It was empty! The Rat went inside, ate the bait, and left! He was supposed to be electrocuted.

I was not happy.

I made myself a cup of tea. I opened the cupboard door and got myself some sugar. As I was sipping my tea, I saw it... Rat Poop in the cupboard. I was sure they could not get into that cupboard. I went looking for a way they could have gotten into that cupboard... they chewed a new hole in the ceiling!

That was it! I had had enough! I went to the local nursery and bought Rat Poison. I have been trying to avoid poison... I don't want any poisoning accidents. Alot of animals live in my neighbourhood... and in my home.

I cleaned the cupboard above the hot water heater (in the bathroom). They are getting into the house there, so I knew they would be back. I put a package of Rat Poison there, then washed my hands thoroughly.

Within an hour, I could hear Rats eating in that cupboard. I resisted my curiosity impulse, and did not open the door. Instead, I just smiled.

Today, the cat has made regular trips into the cupboard under the kitchen sink. He hasn't brought anything out though.

I will probably peek into the bathroom cupboard before going to bed, just to see how much of the Poison the Rats have eaten. If they finished off that batch, I will set out a fresh package for them. The box has 8 packages in it.

I don't want them to run out.

Rats!

And I mean rats!

In the last week, the cat has brought me 2 young rats. He doesn't eat them, so I have to dispose of them.

Tonight, I decided to clean my wine bottles in preparation for bottling my wine. I had cleaned about half of them, when I needed something out of the drawer. I opened the cutlery drawer, and a young rat was sleeping in it! He scurried around a bit, then jumped out of the drawer, into the cupboards.

That startled me! I was not expecting to see a rat. I haven't seen one in the house for a few weeks now. The two the cat brought me came from outside.

I yelled, and jumped back. Now I have to wash everything in that drawer... and everything in the other drawers, and everything in the lower cupboards....

It never ends!

The cat knew something was under the sink, so I opened the cupboard and he went right in. I closed the door behind him... it doesn't latch, so he can push it open when he wants out. After a few minutes, I heard some scuffling. When it stopped, I opened the cupboard door, and out came the cat with a rat in his mouth.

He took the dead rat into the living room, and played with it a bit on the carpet. The dog approached cautiously, and sniffed at it. The cat picked it up and tossed it in the air a couple of times.

I let them play with it for a couple of minutes, then I got out a garbage bag and disposed of the body, followed by disinfectant spray on the carpet where they were playing with it. Then I told them that if they wanted to play some more, they would have to get another one.

I have really had enough of this. I made a shopping list for tomorow:

• circular saw
• rubber gloves (lots)
• disposible painting suit (2)
• 1/2" plywood (2)
• nails
• carpenters' glue
• safety goggles
• mint
• bleach

I read that a mixture of peppermint and spearmint acts as a rat / mouse repellent. So, I have been applying mint extract after I clean each area of the house. I don't know if it really works, but it is worth trying.

Tomorow is devoted to plugging up the rat holes they use to get to my food and dishes.

I don't ever want to see them in my kitchen again!

Rodent Update

The official word on the mice is : They Are Not Mice. They are Rats.

That is why the mouse traps did not catch anything.

That is likely why my mouse traps are Missing In Action.

The new cat killed a large rat shortly after we left on vacation. How do I know it was shortly after we left? The maggots told me. They were getting hungry. Wasn't much left of that rat.

The cat killed another, smaller, rat shortly before we got home. How do I know it was shortly before we arrived? The blood was still wet, and the body was not yet stiff.

And the smell! Oh, it was awful!

I set up the tent in the yard so I could empty the utility trailer into it. Then, I lined the utility trailer with some heavy plastic, and started throwing things out. Anything that was touched by rat poop or maggots.

The living room was cleared right out, and I rented a carpet cleaner on Monday. On Mondays, I get to keep it for 48 hours for the price of 24 hours.

I cleaned the carpet, then I cleaned the carpet, then I used a strong bleach solution in the carpet cleaner and bleached the life out of the carpet.

Then I did it all over again the next day.

I've had the fan running, all the windows open, and the heat turned on trying to dry out the carpet. It still smells in here... I'm hoping total dryness will make the rest of the odour go away.

I checked on the areas I used the spray foam. The rats chewed right through it! Someone suggested using steel wool to stuff the holes. I did that as soon as we got home. It is still in place.

End Of The Roll is opening just down the road soon, so I want to wait to buy new flooring from them. I've wanted to remove the carpet since I moved in here, anyway. This smell is giving me good reason to stop putting it off.

I received my Ratzapper right before leaving on vacation. The instructions said rats are very intelligent, so to put bait into the trap with no batteries until the rats had taken the bait. As soon as one rat successfully takes food out of the trap, other rats will follow, no matter what happens to his buddies after that. They hadn't taken the bait yet when I left, but it was all gone when I got home. I have batteries and bait in the zapper now, but have not caught anything yet.

FdM asked me if any of my neighbours was doing a major rennovation or yard work. The answer is "yes". I now have 2 neighbours engaged in major rennovations. One of them is also doing some serious landscaping. That is why I all-of-a-sudden have rats. Their homes have been disturbed.

Now, they have been disturbed in my home, too. I eliminated their food supply, I set out scary mouse traps, and I have a dangerous cat.

I'm still not sure they are gone.

But it shouldn't be long now.