Last night I received a confirmation that I’d been hoping to avoid. It is now official. My house is infested with rats.
The responsibility for this situation is split. On the one hand there is my neighbor who has absolutely no hesitation for storing large amounts of garbage and assorted bits of junk in his back yard. He has even butchered animals back there – the bones of which occasionally show up on my side of the fence. As of today it looks like he has cleaned up a bit, so that could be why the rats have suddenly gotten very interested in my house.
On the other had, the sub-c0ntractors who replaced my siding on my house did not seal the bottom of the concrete siding to the concrete stemwall beneath. They left gaps big enough to fit my hand through – which is three times as big as a rat needs. It was shoddy workmanship and the only reason that I haven’t had a problem with rats before now is that I’ve been so careful to keep the area around my house clean and clear – no bushed next to the siding, no trash, no construction debris. I did this on purpose – because it protects the house and because it makes it more difficult for things to hide next to the house. I live in a sketch neighborhood. I do not want things unknown hiding next to my house.
So last night at 1 am I was awakended to the sound of a critter chewing through the floor. This was not the quiet gnawing of a hamster or pet rat in a cage. It was the sound of serious construction happening beneath my subfloor as a number of rats – as in more than one or two – attempted to dismantle the repairs we made to the dryrot in the bathroom in order to access the inner walls – the ones not filled with insulation.
They made decent progress in the four hours that they were at it. I know that they were at it for four hours because I was awake for the whole thing. No only where the rats ridiculously loud, but I was sufficiently skeeved that there was no way I could sleep through the noise. I’m a light sleeper with serious tendencies towards insomnia, so it doesn’t take much to keep me awake. This is why I take sleeping drugs. Not that they work. Even the strongest drugs are no match for my insomnia on a bad day. I know. I’ve tried.
So I went to the gym and then to work and then to class and then to meet the exterminator today on three hours sleep. I tried to work on my thesis afterward, but I was so tired and so brain fried – it was a total loss.
This is just another item in the list of things that have gone wrong this semester. It is like Murphy is pulling out all the stops to see that his law is enforced. Yet, I’m undaunted.
Over the weekend I made a private post – another entry of total self-loathing. I’ve deleted a few, privated the rest, but after that one, I decided I was done. I have friends with whom the only disagreement comes when they compliment me and I automatically discount it. And I do automatically refute anything nice said about me – particularly regarding my appearance. I do not know why. I do know that I am tired of feeling that way about myself.
I’ve decided to change my perspective – to revamp the way I see myself. I know it sounds glib here, and it is not easy. But changing my perspective is one of the few things that my personality is well suited for. If I can do it for other things, I can do it for myself.
I have to give the exterminator’s treatment (he spread the equivalent of pepper jelly around my house) to encourage the rats to stop entering the crawlspace, and then this weekend I have to go in with steel wool and foam insulation and block it all off. The time investment is going to be the most expensive part of this repair, but if it keeps me from laying awake listening to the sounds of rodent driven demolition, it will be worth it. I do need to refocus though. Time is ticking, and I don’t have much extra.
I cannot wait for the day when I can sit and watch a movie without the anxiety of my thesis or some midterm or paper hanging over my head. It feels like I am constantly carrying a sack of bricks across my shoulders. I’m ready to set it down. I have a really good feeling about this summer.
Stuff, it is a changing. 🙂
SecondHand Saint 