Tuesday, June 13, 2006

My Space

I finally put together a myspace page...if you want to be "my friend"....I'd be happy to have ya. 

 http://www.myspace.com/jennerizer  

On an off-topic subject....I am currently under attack...by little 4-legged creatures that are oh so NOT cute.  This is how it started...Saturday night at my house I hear my 9-yr old niece say from another room "Oh my god."  She then comes over to me & says "I think I saw a rat."  WHAT???  What do you mean "you think" you saw one - either you did or you didn't.  With that I went to investigate & sure enough...something was in my laundry room.  I closed the door & panicked - where is a man when you need one?  I did the next best thing...called my parents...as if they could do anything over the phone.  My niece & I went to sleep that night pretty confident that we contained the little creature to the laundry room...boy, was I wrong!  I made an appt on Monday with some animal control specialists...of course they can't get here until Wednesday late afternoon...grrr. 

Let's just say last night was not a good night...I came face to face with 2 of those little suckers IN MY HOUSE...ughhhhhhhhhhh.  Again, no man to be found anywhere to help me out.  So I run to Wal-Mart hoping to find some gigantic rat traps because unless these two plan on paying towards my mortgage, they aren't living here.  Wal-Mart had nothing but these little itty bitty mouse traps.  I tried to imagine one of my critters (sounds better than rat, doesn't it?) getting trapped in a mouse trap & wearing it as a piece of costume jewelry.  So I get the sticky traps...the ones that they are supposed to stick to when they step on it.  I joked with my mom that they'll probably end up wearing them as shoes & still be able to get around.  I buy 20 of them...lol, I had high hopes.  I put out about 10 of them...no need to waste the other 10 if these 10 weren't going to work.  Then I locked myself in my room with my dog & towels under the door & prayed none were in my room.  So far that prayer has been answered.  I heard noise throughout the night...either it was light thundering (it's been raining a lot thanks to Tropical Storm Alberto) or these critters are running a marathon in my house.  They are lightweights...how could they make so much noise?  My mom says they must have found a way in & want food.  Well, they came to the wrong house...I have hardly any food here.  I'm sure they are disappointed, but oh wellllllllll! 

Amazingly, I managed to get some sleep last night amidst the critters invading my home.  By the way, I don't have a dirty home.  I live in a very wooded area....lots of wildlife out there.  Unfortunately, not enough wildlife to eliminate these pesky critters.  I had a feeling they had gotten into my attic, but never did I think they'd be able to get into MY living space.  So as I'm laying in my bed this morning...not quite yet ready to see what destruction has taken place outside of my bedroom...ideas go through my head.  Perhaps I should become a cat lady & invest in some cats.  I try to picture a cat vs. rat scene...it wasn't pretty.  I picture having a b.b. gun & taking out these little suckers on my own...but then reality sets in that I'd probably miss the rat & have a ton of little b.b.'s in my walls.  I imagine moving...but just the thought of moving is not a good one.  So I reflect on all the promises made to me by the animal control specialist that is supposed to come out Wednesday afternoon & I smile....I sure hope they are able to take care of this critter regime. 

I finally get up & sneak out of my room & start to explore all the while thinking "a homeowner should not have to sneak around their home."  I go towards the laundry room...where I believe I had contained one of the little creatures.  I was one told that they don't like aluminum foil...that they won't mess with it - so wisely I had stuck some under the door to close the gap because I read they are able to squeeze through a 1/4" gap...eek.  What do I see...shredded up aluminum foil...as if they were having a party & needed confetti.  So much for that theory.  I also notice that while a couple of my glue traps had been moved, there's not a single rat stuck to one.  I'm sure they are probably laughing at me & whispering "amateur" as I walk by.  All of a sudden, I notice something on my wall moving...ewwwwwww.  See, there is a fuse box on the wall next to the laundry room door.  In order to give it a little better appearance, my mom hung a small rug thing over it...which does make it look better usually.  By usually, I mean when a rat isn't making the rug it's home.  Have I grossed anyone out yet??? 

So I watch this creature move around & I see that it looks rather confused.  I actually begin to feel a little sorry for it as it's trying to figure out how to get back into the laundry room.  Did I mention that back on Saturday night, I had stuck a large piece of glass (from an old dining room table) up against the laundry room door.  In my mind, I was building Alcatraz.  However, I failed to learn earlier that rats can climb glass.  WTF???  How do I know this...because I watched it happen last night.  I was in shock, but I screamed & scared the little guy right back into the laundry room.  Who knew that rats can climb glass?  I thought they needed something to grip their little claws with...nope.  So back to the confused one...I could tell he/she was hoping to get back to the laundry room but just could not figure it out.  I decide to open up the porch door that is right there in an attempt to chase this one out the door...only now he's hidden in the rug as he has discovered I am there.  So I get a baseball bat....I'm sure a man probably would have beat the gross creature to death, but not me...I bang the wall.....he drops to the ground...goes running to the door...yes, yes, yesssssss...stops & runs back the other way...no, no, nooooooooo.  The only place to run that way is into my guest bathroom.  I didn't actually see him go in there, but I sure enough shut the door.  I'll let the animal control specialist go in there tomorrow & see what's in there.  Then again, with my luck, that gross little thing probably dived into the toilet never to be seen again....yuck.  Do they do that??? 

I have my brother coming over at 4 or 5 to set some traps around the house.  I'm hoping there are no more, but I have lost my confidence that I am safe at this point.  I have no idea how they got in or how many there are.  It's been pretty quiet all day, they are probably resting up to stress me out later.  A smart person would pack up & head to a hotel...but not me, I'm staying.  I like to know what's going on in my house.  Plus I don't want to leave my dog behind.  So when nightfall comes...I will be once again, locking myself in my bedroom & praying it will be a good night.  Wish me luck.  I'll update later.  I can only imagine how much this is going to cost!

 

 

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate those awful things. We had a few in my clean house to this winter. One night I'm at the computer and I hear chomping in the cabinet. Let's just say we hired someone and at this moment I hear no rats ever.

Anonymous said...

What a timely post.  I've had mice in my house before too, and I think I saw one last night.  I say "think" because I was watching TV after clinicals and was extremely tired, and something caught my eye and I'm not sure if I imagined it or not.  I set a trap but didn't catch anything.  I think I'll follow your lead and call an animal control specialist!  I HATE those nasty little creatures!

Cindy
PS  I just added you as a friend on MySpace!

Anonymous said...

Jenn, I am sorry for what you are going through, but I have to say I was laughing at the way you write.  You are very humorous even though you got critters in your home.  :o)~
Good luck on getting rid of the critters.  You are brave to stay.  lol