Bert is my Hero!

Bert the Barn Cat caught his first vole this afternoon. While it is not exactly a mouse, the voles have terrorized my baby trees, so it is a legitimate and worthy kill. Any fewer rodents around Poplar Ridge is an improvement, in my opinion, so Bert Buddy, hunt on!

Winter on the Hill

Winter is here for sure, yes siree. It has been snowing non-stop since Sunday night, and the wind has been whipping it all around. I have no idea how much we have actually accumulated, but every time I look outside, all of the door mats are buried again. I shovelled 2 inches off the driveway on 3 separate occasions in 24 hours, and yet there are places where grass is showing.



These incredible looking "wind sculptures" actually look more impressive in real life than in photos, but this gives you an idea of how much it is blowing up here!



J and I look for animal tracks when we go walking, and we have seen a number of different ones. Most disturbingly, I have seen minute rodent tracks on the back porch, ending somewhere on or behind the grill. I have pulled everything out several times to be sure that there are no nests developing anywhere, and I haven't seen anything yet. This afternoon, while letting Kali out, I saw it! The little bugger was sitting right in the middle of the porch, staring at me! I have become quite an expert on rodent murder in the past 6 months, so I ran at it to trap it behind a box. Wouldn't you know it? It scampered straight up the wall and ran back and forth at the very top, taunting me. I took off one of my shoes and threw it, trying to knock the little beastie off...must have looked amusing, as I was hopping on one foot to avoid the snow that had once again blown on to the porch! I'm not a great aim any time, but with the adrenaline pumping and hopping on one foot to boot, it took me at least a half dozen tries to knock it down. The rest is history...and let it be a lesson for the rest of you varmints!

JP was out again last night with the plow. The girls and I decided to risk descending from the hill, and went out for allergy shots, groceries and to the library. We made it down, and back up again without any problems. (I held my breath the whole way up...was bluish near the top...but was afraid I'd repeat the 180* spin and rapid sideways descent down the hill as last time.)

Not too many city dwellers who could blog about similar stimulating happenings!

Family Photos

As I write, I am once again hearing the gnawing and scampering of rodents above my head. I can't believe they are back!


In other news, we made the shortest trip ever to VA over the weekend to visit (ever-so-briefly) with JP's family. He and his 3 sisters went through boxes and boxes of old pictures. Here are a few of the gems:


This lovely couple is JP's grandparents, around the time of their marriage in May of 1915.



This picture was marked 1959. Several of us think that L favors the girl on the left (who happens to be JP's oldest sister.)




This photo shows JP's father (on the left) with several of his siblings, and some sweet little peeps. JP's uncle believes this was taken to use as advertising for Shenandoah Wood Stoves.




While I am showcasing family photos, let me include this one of my aunt (my father's sister), my uncle and my Mom working on my parent's house...



and this one of my girls helping Mom celebrate her birthday last week...




...and my girls with 3 of their cousins...



...and finally, the newest member of our family in a quiet moment.

Rodent Wars Revisited

I read a book to the girls tonight about a little mouse who lives in a tiny house made of hay in the barn. All of his friends: the cat, the dog, the cow, the horse, and the farmer all squeeze into the house to bring him birthday gifts until finally the tiny hay house explodes. The whole time I was thinking "this mouse is TOTALLY ruining the hay for the rest of the animals, and WHY ON EARTH are the farmer, and the cat, and the dog not putting that awful thing out of its misery?

We have had a rodent experience that is the polar opposite of those sweet, cute little story book mice...the ones that you hope make it out of the claws of the evil cat. We have had rodents which have ruined our furniture, our sanity, and now it seems, our washer.

No longer do we hear the scamper of tiny feet in our ceiling, or the gnawing of tiny teeth on all the pecans stashed in our ceiling. Now instead, we smell the rank and sour scent of their urine which has apparently infiltrated the inside of our washing machine.

We started noticing the scent a couple of weeks after we started using the washer (which was stored all winter in the garage), but it happened to coincide with the period of time in which the exterminators were doing their thing in the house, and chalked it up to decomp. The strange thing is, the smell gets worse for a day or two after I do laundry, and then gets better. My Dad took the front off the washer, and found a nest behind the control panel, but even removing this has not lessened the smell. Now that we are doing more laundry since there are more people in the house, the smell is more or less constant. We had the appliance doctor out today, and he suspects that there is a nest up on top of the drum of my front loading washer. He feels that even if he were to tear apart the machine, find and remove the nest, and put everything back together, it is no guarantee that the smell will go away.

Do you remember where the washer and dryer are? That's right...in my work area. I stay in there at my desk until I feel nauseated and have to leave. I think that the mouse stench might be killing my brain cells. If that isn't, I'm sure the gallons of Lysol and air freshener that we have been pumping into the atmosphere is. I'm not the only one who has the pleasure of experiencing the aroma. The scent does not only linger in my work room, it wafts throughout the house, into the dining area right next to my craft room, and into my parents' room downstairs.

On a more pleasant note, my dad has been working hard at several projects around here. He built a floor to create an attic above the garage. We are already using the space for extra storage (for things that are mouse proof, of course!) He put in a fold-away stairway...

...which leads to the space above. It is really great!

Emptying the Garage

If you have been following this blog at all, or know us, you'll recall that we stored about 75% of our belongings in our 3 car garage over the winter while we resided in a 600 square foot apartment in town. You also might remember that the garage became infested with mice because I shortsightedly left some pecans in a box that I packed, and then the mice moved into the house (along with their pecans). Since we moved into the house back in June (and chased the mice out), we have been trying to clean out the garage of stuff and mouse residue in order to use it for its intended purpose: to park our cars there. It has been slow going, in part because it started out like this:

...and in part because the contractor is still finishing up around here, and has stacks of stuff both in our basement storage area, and in the garage.

This weekend, due to a forecast of several clear and sunny days in a row, we decided to bite the bullet and clear EVERYTHING out of the garage. This is what that looked like.

Then we thoroughly cleaned the garage, including scrubbing it with Simple Green and water.

After it dried, we (JP) painted the floor with 2 coats of Quikrete 1-Part Epoxy Garage Floor Sealer. This was to protect the concrete from salt in the winter and oil all the time.

While that was drying, we took 2 more storage shelves downstairs, and some more things that belong down there. I also separated piles of recycling (which I took out this morning), and Thrift Store donations (which I still need to log and load into the van). Then, after a delicious dinner of Greene County trout, fresh corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, and fresh tomato slices with drizzles of Balsamic Vinegar last evening, we set about to return things to the garage. This is what it looks like now...much more like a garage.

We still need to organize things in there, and we have plywood up above the rafters to screw down as flooring for a storage area up there, but we definitely made progress! In the process, we realized again that we made an error on the plans. The single bay is meant to be a work shop for my Dad, but instead of putting the walk-through door on his side around the corner to the North, it is next to the garage door. We will have 20 feet in which to park our 2 vehicles, which measure together 13 feet wide. (If we had relocated the walk-through door, we would have 3 or 4 more feet of space.) When JP was explaining this to me yesterday, I thought he was saying that we would be unable to park both of our vehicles in the garage, which made me want to rearrange the wood shop space a bit. I now understand that it will just be a close fit, and I'll have to be extremely careful when parking the whale of a minivan! I also see need to have a shed for the mowers and other yard care equipment down the road some day! It will still be a while until the wood shop is entirely set up, meaning that we can use some of that space for storage for a little while longer.

The other step in this process before we can park in the garage is just that: a step.

We need to get some driveway work done, including some gravel in front of the concrete so that we can get the vehicles up there and we don't end up with whip lash injuries every time we try to leave (the driveway is bumpy enough...no need to add to it!)

So, thank you Mom for all of your assistance with the carrying and cleaning this weekend, it was a HUGE help! And sorry, Dad, that we weren't able to sit and chat more...we'll save that for this winter when we are all snuggled up in the home on Poplar Ridge during a snow storm!

Visitors

I've been apprehensive about my parents living with us for the several months until their house is finished. I tend to be the "glass half empty" kind of person, who imagines the worst (when I used to go jogging as a young person, I would fill my time by imagining what would happen if I was struck by a passing car). While I realize that this experience has the potential of being very good, I have been worrying about all the things that can go wrong. I want my parents to feel comfortable here, but at the same time, the whole concept is pushing the limits of my own comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED (as is the rest of the family) that my folks are going to be our next door neighbors. I grew up only seeing my grandparents every couple of years, so this is an incredible opportunity for the girls. I am also looking forward to gardening and preserving with my Mom, shared meals with my parents, and many other things.

Mom & Dad came out again this weekend with another load of stuff. Dad is having rotator cuff surgery tomorrow, and wanted to move some heavy things (this load was his wood working equipment and wood stoves) before he was unable to lift. He decided this time to erect a shed to store things in, so that we won't have to move it from the garage when we are finally able to clear it out, finish the floor, and at long last...park our vehicles in there! Mom, Dad and I worked on it together, with the girls running in, out and around, and erecting their own structures with found sticks and pieces of scrap wood. First Dad flattened out a spot with the tractor.

Then it went from this:

...to this:

With lots of this in between.

It ended up being a fun project. I really like to see things go from pieces into a finished product, that's partly why I enjoy sewing. It was hard work, and all of us got cuts and bruises (Wow! I know I was sore on Saturday night, can you imagine how my retirement-age parents felt??), but it was enjoyable to work together on this project. This weekend finally gave me the sense that everything was going to work out alright. We might have our occasional minor injuries, but the final product will be strong and good.

In other news, the builders finished the entrance last week. They are pouring the final bit of concrete as I write. I need to ask the builder how much concrete they used in this project.

My parent's septic went in. This is the guys unloading the tank to put into a huge hole behind the truck.

I finally got one of my hummingbird feeders up. Within a couple of hours, we had our first visitors!

As for the other visitors...the rodent ones...the exterminators were out last week and left nasty stuff around for them. The night scrabbling sounds have diminished, but not completely disappeared, and if the smell in the girls' rooms is what I think it is, at least one has perished. Hmmm.

Girls' Rooms

We finally got mattresses for the daybed in the girls' playroom yesterday evening at the Friends & Family 20% off sale at Big Lots, so we could finally finish the girls' rooms. They are very "girly"...decorated with flowers, butterflies and fairies.




I showed a picture earlier of the double pocket doors between their rooms. For now, these are open most of the time, but when they are older and want their own rooms, they can keep them closed. One of the rooms is basically a sleeping room, with bunk beds and dressers for the girls.

The other room is the playroom/overflow guest room. L calls the area under the canopy the "rain place", but J thinks it is a "sleep-over/fairy bed". JP also managed to unearth the hopscotch rug that has been in storage for over a year.

I will post more pictures later of the girls hidey-hole under the stairs when it is finished.

This morning I woke up to this out front:

...and this in the back:

Now it looks like this:

They will pour another section of concrete later this week to make it into a giant rectangle. Then JP will at last be able to set up his Basketball hoop. They had to pour it in 2 steps in order to have a way to brace the roof over the door.

This weekend we did some more clearing in the garage. JP pulled out all the deck chairs and I scrubbed them. I also cleaned some more mouse dirtied things: sleeping bags, and the extra parts for the pack'n'play. JP was looking for bug spray, and found the bin it was in had something leak during the winter, so we had to clean all that up too. SIGH...I am really looking forward to the time when "moving" means hanging pictures, and NOT cleaning up mouse poo and pecan shells!

We put the deck chairs and the picnic table (that we used for a dining room table in the apartment) out on the porch. The girls had lunch there today.

The Ducky Bathroom

It has been quiet around here this week. Well, quiet during the day anyway. At 9 PM, like clockwork, the rodents begin gnawing on things up in the ceiling. I can't tell you how dismayed I am that my new house is already infested with mice. I was so looking forward to a mouse-free zone for a number of years, after repeatedly trapping 2/day every winter at the old house. These seem to be a different species of truly annoying rodents, unlike the last species that merely showed up smooshed in the traps periodically. I finally went to Wal Mart yesterday for battle gear: D-Con and glue traps. I can tell you, that at 9:37 PM, there is still one alive in the Library ceiling gnawing on something...probably a pecan.

The construction crew has been out this week on another job. They have promised to return on Friday to pour concrete in front of the driveway and for the stoop at our entrance door (so that we no longer have to use a packing pallet to step on). I assume that means that they will actually return tomorrow in order to get the forms set up. I hope that next week they can finish in the storage/utility area so that I can put the stuff that has stacked up in the Family Room away...it looks like a smaller, cleaner, rodent-free (I think) version of the garage in there!

We did finish the girls' bathroom. They requested that it be decorated with rubber duckies. I decided to use adhesive wall stickers so that when they tire of the duckies in a couple of years, it won't be too hard to change. There is a crack in the bathtub, which apparently happens frequently in construction. Someone is coming to fix it next week.

The counter is loooooooooooooooooooong! It will be perfect when the girls are teenagers and have piles of make-up and creams and doo-dads to put there!

In the meantime, it is swimming lessons week, so we are spending 2 1/2 hours a day at the pool. J worked on the back stroke today, and L played "Simon Says" in the shallow water.

Haunta Virus, Anyone?

Friday I found that the mice had nested in my wedding gown during the winter. Not too much damage, but dirty with random poo stuck between the lace and the silk. I'm taking it to the cleaners on our next trip to town.

Today I opened the last wardrobe box and found the yuckiest mess of all.

The casualties: my favorite lab coat and my calf length wool coat, along with JP's leather coat and work sweatshirt.

Thank goodness the washer and dryer are functional for all the rest of the coats!

GRRRRR!

Things That Go "Bump" in the Night (Or Welcome to Country Livin')

The desktop is up and running, so I was able to upload a few pics from my camera.

It is now the 3rd day that we have been here, and it seems that little progress has been made. Even though I tried to label all the boxes in storage REALLY well, I look at them now and say "Lamp? What lamp? And why are there mouse traps in with the lamp?" It's slow going to say the least.

Since we found the first nest of mice last week, we have uncovered at least 2 more. This means that on top of moving everything out of the garage, unpacking boxes and finding new homes for things, not to mention putting furniture back together (no easy feat in itself), I have to steam clean all the couches and chairs. EWWW. Haven't seen any more of the nasty critters though, thank goodness, although I did find the mouse traps when I unpacked that lamp.

The alternate propane company delivered this beauty on Thursday afternoon. I wonder if I'm allowed to paint a hot dog bun and some condiments on it? I guess I'll just plant some shrubberies around it.

Thursday night, a muddy raccoon climbed up over the hood of JP's truck...

through a half open window in the back...

and rummaged through his trash can, leaving dirty footprints everywhere.

The builders were out on Friday, and with the exception of putting trim around the oak bookshelves by the stairs, they worked outside. They finished up the deck, and put vinyl around all of the posts on porch. They also wired the garage.

One of the first orders of business on Friday was to "shock" the well. This involves dumping large amounts of Clorox into the well, and later into the 2000 gallon holding tank, letting it sit for hours and hours, and then emptying it all out. Want to take a gander on how long it takes to empty a 2000 gallon tank? It took about 20 hours for the whole process, all told...probably should have let things soak for longer, but we got impatient. So...without having it analyzed, we have been drinking the water. So far no one has developed uncontrolled vomiting, diarrhea, fevers, or bleeding from the eye balls. J did loose her other top tooth this morning...related????

I was in the process of washing dishes when the cistern emptied. (Did I mention that there is no hot water in the kitchen yet? I'm heating water on the stove to wash with!) This coincided with a tremendous downpour, so I captured some rain water from the roof to use.

I may have to revise my glowing review of the Sears Outlet store. It seems that on top of their very poor delivery service, the appliance damage is not only cosmetic. Our new refrigerator does not work, and only the 2 burners on the right hand side of my induction cook top work consistently. A repair guy is coming out Monday (some time between 8 and 5) to look at them, along with my washer, which sprung a leak while in storage. Unfortunately, once the countertops were installed in the kitchen, there was not enough room to maneuver the fridge back out, leaving the only exit point up and over the bar. It took 4 men to make it happen!

I need to get to work if I want anything to get done today since I spent the morning at the Laundromat! I will try to post about rooms as they get finished...it might be awhile!

Father's Day and Rodent Wars Part Deux

We had a pretty productive weekend out at the house. Unpacking a few boxes today worked wonders on my mood. The closet in our bedroom is GREAT! We have built in shelving, and 2 clothes rods a piece, plus there is room in the back corner for John's 800 lb. gun safe. I put shelf paper on over half of the shelves today, and we unpacked about 4 boxes. We also got our bed put back together, but couldn't carry the King mattress ourselves.

Out in the garage, we unearthed another nest of mice. This one was in our sofa. I vacuumed up everything I could, but there is still a stain in the corner of the cushion. This sofa will be getting a good steam cleaning before it goes into the house!

John managed to catch one of the offenders in the craft/laundry room, so there is one fewer fuzzy, germ infested critter roaming the house!

Downstairs, we fit some of the carpet remnants into the space under the stairs. This has an opening on the family room side which will eventually have a door, and connects all the way through into the closet in one of the girls' rooms. We fit 2 small bookshelves in to make our little game closet, and after some panelling on the inside to cover up the insulation, the rest will be a secret hiding area for the girls.

The girls were beside themselves today when we opened up a couple of boxes of their things. They even left some of their favorite toys behind at the house in order to bring a couple of toys that they haven't seen for months back to the apartment!

We spoke to the builder and architect this weekend about the refrigerator problem (I really would like to be able to open the doors on the fridge!). I think we have decided to take out the pocket door (ouch) into the pantry, and widen the doorway to allow the fridge door to open up into that space.

At some point we will have to get creative with 70's beads or something to close up the space.

My Neighbor is NOT a Totoro

We are big Miyazaki anime fans. A favorite one is "My Neighbor Totoro", which is about a family with 2 little girls who move to a house in the country. Their home is near a forest which is inhabited by Forest Spirits named Totoro. In the movie, the Totoros leave acorns through the house, and give gifts of acorns. Here are some pictures of the girls with their stuffed Totoros.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been finding pecans (in the shell) in the house in random places: in a closet, in the cup holder of a folding camp chair, on a shelf in the garage. We were hoping that we were being greeted by friendly neighborhood Totoros. The nagging worry, however, was that the bag of pecans given to us by JP's cousin at Christmas was discovered by some nasty rodents who then spread the love. I don't think pecan trees even grow in our neck of the woods!

This weekend, we began phase 1 of the final move. We moved the boxes from the garage into the correct rooms in the house. Now the furniture is accessible for moving in later this week (phase 2). We have to be out of the apartment by Friday morning as the new tenants are moving in that day.

The last row of boxes revealed pecans spilled out on the floor behind them. The very last box was the problem box, there was a hole gnawed in the corner.

I pulled everything out of the box while still in the garage since I didn't want to unintentionally take mice into the house. The bottom was littered with droppings and empty pecan shells.

Next, JP picked up one of the camp chairs which was folded in a carrying bag and heard scampering noises. He ran out of the garage, shouting "IT'S MICE!" One jumped out of the bag on the way out and scurried away, and another scrambled up his arm. The last one succumbed on the driveway. JP shook more empty pecan shells and a nest out of the bag. I would have much preferred a Totoro!

We were quite disappointed that the counter tops weren't in yet...they were supposed to arrive Thursday or Friday. So...we still don't have sinks, and therefore no running water. We do have toilets in the house, they just aren't installed yet, so the girls will still have to do their business in the woods for a few days longer.

The newest issue is that the refrigerator doors do not open when the fridge is installed in its proper area. I've consulted my brother, the architect, who is on another job out of town this weekend, so he won't be able to look over his blue prints until tomorrow night.