Rat Story Part II

Now that you know the long standing history between me and rodents, maybe you will appreciate this story a bit more :) 

As you have seen in previous posts, Cameron and I have been working to put the finishing touches around the house. One thing we have put off was base shoe around the floor. Well, unfortunately the mice have been capitalizing on our laziness this year. We finally figured out where they were getting in and the path they would take to get to the dog's food at night. We set out several traps and over the span of a couple of weeks probably caught at least 6-7 mice. 

Now, because of my history with rodents, I had no problem buying the type of trap that killed instantly. None of this "sticky glue- give them a second chance" kind of trap. My philosophy was immediate death, lock and load again. Every time we had a "snapper" I sent Cameron in to dump and reload (I wanted no part in even touching the container that held these beasts). 

So a few weeks ago, we were throwing Molly's squeaker ball (if any of you know this dog - you know this game of fetch lasts all day) and heard what sounded like something fall in the kitchen. It's not unusual for our clumsy little Molly to run smack into things when in pursuit of the squeaky ball, so we thought nothing of it at the time. A few minutes later we heard Dougie barking and I just thought he wanted outside. When I went to the back door, he was not standing in his usual "I want outside" spot. He was over by the stove intently focused on a mouse trap. 

My mind was now reverting to 20 years ago in my neighbor's yard across the street - except now I was glad my pet had cornered this mangy little beast. I yelled for Cameron (of course) and he came in to collect the dead mouse - or so we thought,,,

It was not 30 seconds later when Cameron is screaming and jumping around at the front door. I went outside to see what all the ruckus was about and he manages to tell me in between screams that the mouse is still alive! Apparantly, the trap had only snapped on it's tail so when Cameron went to dispose of the rodent - it's little head came poking out of the trap. "It looked at me!" Screams Cameron... 

I look across the yard to see the trap on the ground - apparantly he threw it down whenever it came out to say hello. Somehow I gather my bravery to look down and assess the situation. As I get closer, the trap starts to move. The mouse now has it's head out the front and is dragging the entire trap behind it - with it's tail still tightly snapped in. 

For some reason I get really emotional. It's like that innocent 7 year old inside me came back and once again saw this little dirty mouse as one of God's creatures. Cameron was yelling for me to stop, but I just couldn't... I couldn't watch this little life suffer with a big black box holding it's little tail any longer. So what do I do? I start crying - and jumping - and yelling back at Cameron. I was actually yelling back to him "It learned it's lesson! It won't ever come back again!" If our neighbor's had any doubt before - they now have evidence that I am in fact - crazy.


All that hatred for mice/rats somehow left for the 5 seconds I took to release the trap. (All while ensuring there was NO way this thing could bite me.) Cameron, now very irritated that I let this thing go - smashed it with a rock. He at least waited till I got inside. 


Why am I so irrational when it comes to animals? Why do I carry on this love-hate relationship with rodents? Maybe I should have spent more time processing all of this in my 2 years of counselor training. 

After the "situation" was all said and done - Cameron and I had a good laugh about it. Now I would like to blame the mouse trap company. If the trap would have done it's job in the first place and killed the thing properly - it would have saved me an afternoon of emotional turmoil. For some reason it's okay for the trap to kill it - as long as I don't have to :)


 

The Rat Story Part 1

Last summer I had the privilege of participating in the Oklahoma Writing Project. We were required to write a personal narrative which I copied and pasted below. It is important to know this story as a precurser to Rat Story Part 2 (soon to come). 

 The following is a true story. Unfortunately none of the names were created to protect the identity of the victim. I've been told some of the details are a little off -  so, Mom, feel free to correct...

As a child, I had a strong desire to change the world.  So innocent, I saw the good in everything – excluding bedtime. My passion for animals was a driving force behind my passion for world deliverance.  At this time in my life we had a cat cleverly named B.G. by yours truly.  I didn’t know how to distinguish the sex of the cat, so as not to embarrass myself I gave it this sensible name short for Boy-Girl.  B.G. was the traveling neighborhood cat.  He belonged to two other families on the street prior to coming to our household.  Distinguished by his bulky size, slick white and black spotted coat and street wise demeanor, B.G. was the nomad of cats.  He would stay with one family until he got bored, then moved in with someone else.  B.G. made his stay with my family the most memorable on the block.  

 It was Mother’s day 1989.  Tired from a long day of festivities, mom laid down to take a rest on the couch.  Dad went ahead to church for the Sunday evening devotional.  To avoid an hour of boredom, I convinced dad that I should stay at home to take care of mom; after all, it was Mother’s day.  As soon as the garage door shut and mom’s head hit the couch pillow, I darted outside to look for activity. 

I noticed B.G. across the street in the neighbor’s yard intently focusing on one spot.  Curious, I skipped across the street, probably forgetting to look both ways.  As I approached the scene, I noticed B.G. tampering with a small animal.  Upon a closer look, I see that this poor helpless being was in dire danger.  This small innocent life looked up at me with its small watery eyes looking to be rescued.  B.G. was torturing one of God’s little creatures!  I couldn’t let this happen.  With my “change the world mentality” I screamed at B.G. for hurting this creature and reached down to pick up the limp patient.  As my fingers approached the wet grass, what I thought to be a feeble animal in need turned into a lethal beast ready for revenge.  The monster jumped what seemed to be a foot in the air and sliced my finger. “How dare you!” I thought to myself.  “I was just trying to help!”  The grey wire haired beast didn’t move far after the bite.  My platform for loving all animals quickly turned into a realization that all God’s creatures were not created equal. 

With tears streaming down my face, I raced back to the house.  My bloody finger left evidence on the front door knob.  My mom’s relaxing mother’s day nap quickly came to a halt as I entered the house sobbing hysterically.  I tried my best to explain what happened between snotty breaths.  “It bit me!” I shrieked.  I couldn’t really explain what had bit me other than the size and color of the creature.  Beginning to turn green from the possibilities, mom called the church building looking for dad.  Cell phones would have been a nice invention at this point in our lives.  Luckily, someone was passing by the phone and graciously searched the pews for dad.  As he came to the phone, mom briefly explained the urgent need for him to come home immediately. 

Dad came quickly while mom called the emergency room looking for guidance with the few details I had given.  The nurse explained that it would best to collect the specimen and bring me in for a rabies shot.  Looking for evidence, dad found the culprit struggling to stay alive in the neighbor’s yard.  B.G. had played a little too hard with the animal and left it lingering for life.  Dad slipped the perpetrator into a wire cage and brought it back over to the house.  “It’s a rat,” he bluntly informed us.  Mom looked as though she would lose her mother’s day cake at any moment.  Dad gestured for mom to hold the cage while he headed towards the drivers side.  Mom, with her hatred for rodents beaming, strongly suggested he hold the rat while she drove. 

I didn’t have to wait long in the E.R.  The nurse gave me a rabies shot and bandaged my finger while the villain was taken away to the lab.  Fortunately to satisfy my desire for retribution, the rat died.  Unfortunately for those looking after my medical well being, the rat died.  Apparently a dead animal could not be tested for rabies in their local labs and would have to be sent away for a costly examination elsewhere. 

The following day, struggling to get in contact with my dad, the animal control officer came to the school building where he taught math.  The officer came to the classroom door in uniform and pulled my dad out of his lecture to inform him of the current situation.  Meanwhile his students’ eyes were glued to the door expecting dad to be taken away in handcuffs at any moment. 

“The rat died,” he solemnly stated.  Baffled, my dad looked at the officer wondering how this news justified pulling him out of class.  As he further explained the situation and the cost involved with shipping the rat off for testing, he also explained that there has never been a case of a rat with rabies in the history of Oklahoma.  “They’re just too low on the food chain,” the officer explained.  The two agreed that the likelihood of me contracting rabies from this incident was extremely unlikely and that testing would not be necessary.

I went to school the next day beaming with delight.  Boy did I have a story for show and tell!  By the way, I’ve never been officially tested for rabies, but if you see me frothing at the mouth - you’ll know why. 

One Step Closer...

What better way to blow off some football frustration than to do some housework? Cameron and I KICKED TAIL this weekend around the house. He has been working hard to finish up the woodworking in the bathroom. He finished on Monday so we were determined to get it done this weekend. And we did! Well, as far as we can right now :) Our house still lacks cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathroom, but it makes putting dishes away super easy!
Friday night we started the prep-work in the bathroom by filling nail holes and taping. I was not much help - I was so exhausted from the work week. Saturday we slept in a little then experienced emotional turmoil for 4 hours, then came home to get to work. We started back to work about 4-5ish and worked till 4am!!! We got our second wind around midnight and kicked it into high gear.
Today we had planned to take a well deserved nap, but instead rented a carpet cleaner and spent the day moving furniture around. Now our house doesn't smell like dog urine! Yes!
I'm so darn proud of Cameron. He has turned this house from rags to riches as far as I'm concerned. I went through pictures of what the house looked like when we started and I can't believe what we've accomplished here. Crazy, crazy.

I'll post pictures of the whole house remodel sometime soon, but here are pics from the bathroom - beginning to end.

Here is what we started with!

The sink used to be underneath the window. There was a Washer/Dryer on the left, and a shower where the drain pipe is sticking up. We tore out EVERYTHING from the room and started over!

Yes, that is dirt. The floors were so moldy they had to go! We took out the closet door and made it an open storage.

A little more destruction, the drywall was bad too.

New homes for all the plumbing - the toilet is now where the sink was, the tub is where the toliet was, and the sink is where the shower was. Whew! When we were first married, the tub was our only running water in the house (besides the toilet). For a week or so, we did dishes and brushed our teeth in the tub :)

Fresh, new drywall everywhere and our makeshift vanity.

Now we're talkin'! Cameron built all that by the way...

New window frame.

Stained and painted!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that tub was in a storage shed in the backyard when we moved in!

It feels good to be one step closer to finished!

Oldies but Goodies

Cameron and I recently started Financial Peace University with our church. At first it was more like "Financial Stress" but things are looking up now that we have a plan. We are trying the cash system for the first time this month. It was so scary at first, but now I feel good knowing where all our money is going every month. It also really helps that Cameron and I are on the same page with our finances so we can keep eachother accountable.

Well, coming to reality with our credit cards was interesting! We are on our way towards getting them completely paid off. We started looking around the house for things we could sell. Anyone need a drumset? Seriously, I do have Cam's permission on that one :)

We decided to go through our mess of CDs that have been stashed in the corner of the office for 3 years and find some we could sell. Oh did I find some treasures! Here's just a taste:

• Britney Spears
• Cristina Aguilera
• Deana Carter - from my country days in HS
• Marian Carey - with tear drop stains from middle school broken hearts
• Boys II Men - "Cooleyhighharmoney" was a personal favorite find
• MTV Party to go - 2 of those!!
• Natalie Merchant - from the dark years

Cameron also revealed several from a "secret stash" that he has been hiding from me for almost 3 years.

• SWV - I remember their videos like it was only yesterday
• Skee-Lo - I always wishes I was a little bit taller so I related to that guy
• Coolio - Gangta's Paradise!

He really did hide them from me because he knew I would play them ALL in the car LOUDLY but sing louder! So as punishment for keeping secrets, those CDs were FIRST to be added to the hard drive (from our stack of 80 others) and will soon be added to my ipod!