Going Home

It's Sat morning, shortly before 6 a.m. and I'm packing for a trip home.

Mom is in the end stages of COPD/emphysema and has taken a turn for the worse. I will be flying home this morning and would ask for prayer for traveling mercies, for Mom's comfort, and the family to come together during this trying time.

I don't know when I'll be back and probably won't be blogging while I'm gone. If I could leave you with one thought today it would be ...

If you don't smoke, don't start.
If you do smoke, QUIT

Did You Know Mice Liked Apples?

The last lines of my last post were "What next? I don't think I want to know ... "

I was right - I didn't ...

If you haven't before, read this post and this post first to understand what I'm dealing with.

Did you know mice liked apples?

(click photos to enlarge - if you aren't squeemish)

I got up Monday morning to find a couple of chunks missing from an apple in a bowl on my kitchen counter. Upon further inspection, I realized that the culprit had left plenty of evidence behind. Lovely ... NOT!


I got rid of the apples and made sure there was no more open foodstuffs on the counter, but further signs yesterday told me that they hadn't given up so easily and were still recon'ing the area. Ok, time to bring out the big guns - mouse traps.

Later in the day I called my lender and fed some info to the fraud dept to hopefully get things going on the issues with the home I purchased in March of this year. As soon as I hung up the phone, I went into the kitchen for a glass of water and noticed something out of the corner of my eye that didn't look right. My washer and dryer are still in the middle of the room, and it appeared that something was hanging out of the back of the dryer, where the hole for the vent hose was. I started to take a step closer, but there wasn't a lot of light in that area and something told me to back off. I'm glad I followed my gut ...

I hollered for Tom and told him what I saw and asked him to have a look. He confirmed what my initial reaction was - it was a big snake! After a scream or two, I grabbed the camera and jumped onto a chair while Tom chased it around the laundry room. He was able to capture it and get it to the garage to kill it, but not before it bit him.


I was sufficiently freaked out for some time, as you can imagine, but when things calmed down a bit I wanted to make sure that I had good pictures for my reports. Here you can see him stretched out next to the tape measure - he was a full 4 FEET LONG!





We covered up the space as best we could, but it still can't be completely enclosed until joists and subfloor are replaced, and I can't do that until an inspection and investigation is completed. So yes, the nightmares continue as a result of this stupid hole in the floor. I slept very little last night, tossed and turned for hours at a time, thinking about what else may be lurking in the house that I haven't stumbled upon yet. The few snatches of sleep that I did get here and there were filled with dreams, one that I remember about a big plant growing up the wall along the open area, that appeared to be wanting to take over. Talk about 'Little Shop of Horrors'!

To recap ...

Large hole in the structure.
Black mold growing up the wall.
Musty dampness throughout that area and the bathroom (which is behind that wall).
Mushrooms growing out of the side of the subfloor.
Mice in the kitchen.
And now a snake in my house, no doubt looking for the mice ...

I'm going to be smart this time. I'm not going to ask.

(On a more positive note, there was a dead mouse in the trap this morning. Pretty sad when a dead mouse is a good thing).

Am I Hallucinating?

Unbelievable.

(Read this post for a bit of background)

I'm still dealing with this huge hole down to the crawlspace beneath my laundry room and I'm about at my whit's end on how to deal with it. I actually broke down into tears this afternoon after what I found shortly before noon today ...

Mushrooms!

Yes, I have mushrooms growing in my house - not down in the dirt beneath the crawlspace, but growing out the side of the damp, exposed subfloor.

(click to enlarge)

Since no agency I've contacted yet has been very helpful, I called the structural inspector this afternoon to attempt to deal with him personally, but had to leave a message. If I don't hear something by close of business on Monday, I will be calling everyone I can think of on Tuesday morning, starting with the Dept of Commerce/Real Estate Division, the Health Dept and finally the media.

Large hole in the structure.
Black mold growing up the wall.
Musty dampness throughout that area and the bathroom (which is behind that wall).
And now mushrooms ...

What next?

I don't think I want to know ...