All God's Creatures Great and Small...

Last Wednesday, Leroy went down into our mostly unfinished basement to find it filled with steam. Steam??? you ask?? Yes. WE had a major hot water leak. Leroy got the water turned off, only to discover a second leak in another area of the basement, this one was the main water line. After many attempts to contact our builder, he finally called us back. No one could get ahold of the plumber - so we just lived without water till 9 am the next morning.

Can you believe that when the plumber found the leaks, they were caused by some rodent who knawed through our pipes. AAAHHH!!! We found a major hole in our foundation that had never been sealed that is an obvious entry point for the animal. When we saw the droppings that this lovely creature left, it was surely not some little field mouse. The water resotation guy said it was either a squirrel or a large rat. I prefer thought of the former... ICK!!! Unless it is an escapee from the Secret of Nimh...

Since our builder has never finished our house - the holes in the foundation were on a punch list from before we moved in - it is on his nickel. Good thing, since Leroy and my dad tore down a whole bunch of sheetrock over the weekend and it is likely they will take out more. But maybe this is how we finally get the sheetrockers back here to fix the other holes that were never repaired.

We have not talked about the rodent issue in front of the kids - Overhearing one conversation right after it all happened caused Erica to jump into my lap with any little noise...

Oh yeah - when we talked to the exterminator - Leroy told him to just get rid of the thing. The guy said "oh, that's nice to hear". Leroy looked at him wondering what he meant - and the guy said so many people ask him what he is going to do with the animal once he catches it... EWWWW! I guess we live in the 'greener' state - but if this animal can knaw through water pipes and cause thousands of $$ of damage - I don't care what is done with it!!!