NaNo Day One and Rats in the Walls
First day finished out well, since I was able to write another 2500 words or so last night after work.
Then, in the wee hours of the morning, my annual unwanted visitor made his or her presence known. Yep, a rat found it's way back into the wall between my bedroom and the adjoining bathroom. I think they've been hauling walnuts from the yard behind me into that space for years and then come in occasionaly to gnaw on them. It's the gnawing that wakes me up. Sounds a lot like a squirrel, but at 3am, it ain't a squirrel. The critter was still at it at 3:30am, so I got up and decided to put the time to good use and wrote another hour on the novel before I normally would have gotten up. So all told, that's 4315 words down. I'm running a bit ahead at the moment.
However, this afternoon, I get to go down into the basement/crawlspace and see if I can find and block whatever access point the little beastie is using to get up into the walls this time. It's an old house, with an amazing number of odd gaps and openings through the floor down there -- pipes, heating ducts, odd gaps where previous renovations created spaces to run ductwork to the second floor (former actic), all of which have to be blocked off with something rodent teeth can't chew through. I've used coarse steel wool, 1/4" hardware cloth and anything else metal that I can scrounge. Sealing the crawlspace itself is impractical without major renovations, given the way the heat pump is installed, so I settle for keeping the critters out of the main part of the house (and the walls). Wish me luck.
And I'd like to get some more writing done on the novel today as well. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, with little writing time in sight Saturday or Sunday.
To Ronn: Thank you for your thoughtful comments yesterday and camera recommendations. I actually have acquired a camera (5 megapixel Canon), which I like, but haven't had time to upload anything here yet.
Then, in the wee hours of the morning, my annual unwanted visitor made his or her presence known. Yep, a rat found it's way back into the wall between my bedroom and the adjoining bathroom. I think they've been hauling walnuts from the yard behind me into that space for years and then come in occasionaly to gnaw on them. It's the gnawing that wakes me up. Sounds a lot like a squirrel, but at 3am, it ain't a squirrel. The critter was still at it at 3:30am, so I got up and decided to put the time to good use and wrote another hour on the novel before I normally would have gotten up. So all told, that's 4315 words down. I'm running a bit ahead at the moment.
However, this afternoon, I get to go down into the basement/crawlspace and see if I can find and block whatever access point the little beastie is using to get up into the walls this time. It's an old house, with an amazing number of odd gaps and openings through the floor down there -- pipes, heating ducts, odd gaps where previous renovations created spaces to run ductwork to the second floor (former actic), all of which have to be blocked off with something rodent teeth can't chew through. I've used coarse steel wool, 1/4" hardware cloth and anything else metal that I can scrounge. Sealing the crawlspace itself is impractical without major renovations, given the way the heat pump is installed, so I settle for keeping the critters out of the main part of the house (and the walls). Wish me luck.
And I'd like to get some more writing done on the novel today as well. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, with little writing time in sight Saturday or Sunday.
To Ronn: Thank you for your thoughtful comments yesterday and camera recommendations. I actually have acquired a camera (5 megapixel Canon), which I like, but haven't had time to upload anything here yet.
posted by Pamela | 9:00 AM
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