It is 3:30 in the afternoon and it has been quite the exciting day. From the start, let me be honest with you...I do not like creatures, reptiles, vermin or any other kind of nature. I love cute nature. And there was a day when something like this would have happened and the For Sale sign would be in the yard and I would have packed my bags and headed over to the Inn on the Biltmore Estate to wait for the end results and report.
Last night, right before dusk, I noticed the birds didn't have any water in the birdbath. I got a pitcher of ice and went out to give them water. I also put water in the back birdbath. I think I added a little bit of seed to the front feeder and then I came back in through the garage and shut the garage door. A little later while sitting on the front porch with Buddy, I kind of heard this loud thumping noise. I had brought out the little speaker and just though a bunch of birds were hanging around and making noise cause my bird calls were calling them in. Later in the evening, after coming in I kind of heard a loud thump and thought it was Buddy. This morning while drinking coffee I heard a thumping noise again and I went to see if Buddy had come back in the house...no, but I had pulled the recyclable bag out and thought the noise merely could be the sound of bottles settling. After taking my time and easing into the morning, I opened the garage door to go out and put bird seed in the feeders. Oh my goodness! The corner where the birdseed is kept was a mess. The one night I didn't put the feed back in the container tightly... I deduced with my citified eyes that things had been thrown to the ground, a fruit fly trap package had been opened and strewn about. Strawberry baskets and been moved...I didn't think this was the job of a mouse but maybe a squirrel, seeking revenge, or a raccoon. I was leaning toward raccoon after my experience with them two years ago. Apparently, my choice of yard decor was not their choice. So they threw it about the yard. But I am kind of new to all of this and learning my way about. So before I called Roy or phone a friend or text a friend, I called Orkin. The call was recorded for quality purposes. The young woman getting the info and everything else was just so nice and yes...I did the old lady nervous thing...I started talking way too much about everything...then I said to her, I'm so sorry, when I get nervous I talk a lot...without taking a breath...and giving you details that you don't care about because there is nothing that you can do about it. Ugh, I hate when I do something like that. Guess it is kind of was a pride thing because I was so happy that yesterday when the service checking out at Academy was sub par, I almost said...hey, you know Academy began in Houston, TX...and I am wearing an Astros shirt...did you ever think I might be a secret shopper John and Sheila? But I didn't say that and just went on my merry way. So back to this most engrossing story....so I texted Bill and Vivian. Then I called Roy and he said he would order mountain lion urine for me...I thought he had and he said no that was a joke. Hey, I am in dire straights here....come on! He ordered fox urine with expedited delivery. He said, call Brenda because Vivian was at a Mary Kay Director Meeting or call Inez. So, I called Brenda. She and Larry came over, inspected the scene of the crime of unlawful entry and found raccoon, uh...DNA...but I will say this does a raccoon poop in a garage...yes, it does. Then Brenda found a paw print. Larry looked throughout the garage and felt pretty sure it was gone. Then all the snake videos and such came to mind and I asked him, it wouldn't be hiding under the hood of the truck would it? He doubted it but looked for me and showed me no paw prints on the battery or anything like that. I heard from the Orkin guy about an hour ago and they were on their way. They will inspect the attic and crawl space and elsewhere. That will be complete peace of mind for me.
When I talked with Roy he reminded me of a story from the long ago when we were first married. Roy traveled quite a bit and the apartment we were living in had carpenter ants in the linen closet. They lived in the door and nothing got rid of them. So every morning I would get up, grab my Bible and read Psalm 91 to them, letting them know they could not live there and told them they had to leave in Jesus Name. Them I kicked the door to let them know I meant business. I did this month after month. One night, we came home from church and when we turned on the light in the bathroom. all those carpenter ants were out of the door and in and around the bathtub. Quickly, we began killing them. So he said, go out there and read Psalm 91 out loud. A little nervous, I just read loudly through the door and was getting ready to go outside to read when Larry and Brenda to the rescue and detective work.
You know that peace of mind thing I wrote about? It has been anything but.....
It is now Saturday morning. It has been a whirlwind since I began this post. I wish I had never called Orkin but it is what it is. We are trying to determine if what they said is true or not or if they are just trying to do work that might not need to be done. Funny, nothing here ever gets done in a hurry in the area. No push, but Orkin is pushing and I have turned them over to Roy. Here's the deal, Roy is easy going but when someone starts to push him to do something, he doesn't stay all that easy going. When a company tells you there is damage etc to the crawl space and they want $12,000.00 to fix it...well you would like to get a second opinion. This started because a rogue raccoon got into the garage and it has dawned on me, even if there had been a problem, the two guys who came out would not have fixed it. They are just inspectors. They didn't even want to look in the attic...now if there is such a problem below wouldn't a look see in the attic bear notice? And why do they want to begin the process so quickly and they kind of poo pooed, seems to be a theme here, the notion that Roy wants our contractor to look before okaying work? One guy said, yep, let a guy from Lowe's come in...they can't even get the materials cause they are not licensed to do so. Uh, no our contractor isn't just some guy standing outside of Lowe's with a sign, will work for money. Gee whiz!
In the midst of all the stress I was trying to keep relatively calm. One of the hottest days temp wise we have had this summer. I think dealing with all this was just the icing on the cake and the stress and heat spilled over...unto the next post....
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