Archives for May 2011

Happy to say that only a few of the cupboards showed signs of infestation, so I spent the day emptying those out, washing pots and pans and relining the shelves with clean liners. The laundry I’ve been doing all week is still stacked up in the laundry room, so sorting through that’s still a job to be done. Making progress, though!

Managed to get all the furniture moved in the bedroom today, though not without finding yet another dead mouse body. Vacuumed, sprayed, disinfected, powdered the carpet, you name it, I did it to get the germs and smell out. My prediction panned out, though, the bedroom looked MUCH better, and much bigger with the new layout. I had planned on doing this rearranging when we got new flooring in, but since that’s not going to happen anytime soon, I just had to do something. Even Hubby, who I think wasn’t thrilled about the extra work when we started, is happy with the result. Refilled the waterbed with warm water, and we were able to spend the night in the house for the first time since we got home. Now, on to the kitchen!

More hard work cleaning up. Found numerous more dead mouse bodies, and made several calls regarding getting a pest control service to take care of the place after we leave next time. I do not want to have to go through this every time we come home! Managed to get a lot done today, though again, it’s exhausting work. Also managed to get another work contract set up, which entails a day in Nashville, which I’ve conveniently timed so that we can spend the night up there and go to Hubby’s doctor’s appointments the following day before heading back home. It also means a trip to Houston next month, and possibly NYC as well, depending on what the client wants to do. Hoping to finish up the bedroom tomorrow.

With the kitchen in the house also showing some signs of mouse infestations (though nothing like the bedroom), we had breakfast in the RV before heading into town to do shopping, getting groceries and running errands. House still smells, but getting better! Still sleeping and eating breakfast in the RV though!

Spent the day cleaning up the house and yard, barely scratching the surface but making progress. I had decided to rearrange the master bedroom, a Herculean task because of the king sized waterbed that hadn’t moved in twenty years, but I was determined that it would look better if I changed it around. I emptied all the drawers under the bed and in the dresser and started the task of laundering everything. A lot of the drawers had signs of mouse infestation, so nothing was going to be left unwashed. I drained the bed and vacuumed everything in sight, while Hubby spent most of the day in the yard doing cleanup out there. Exhausted, we spent the evening watching TV in the house before retiring to the RV to sleep.

Well, as usual, things happened to change our plan. We ended up getting out early enough that we reached our intended stop way too early in the day, so we decided to just drive the extra two and a half hours home, thus avoiding the rain that is schedule to come tomorrow. We still managed to arrive by around 5:00, which was several hours before sunset, plus we gained an hour changing into Central Time, so we got here in plenty of time. We even had time to stop at the post office to pick up our last six weeks of mail, though she had officially closed, she opened up again to give me the huge pile, of mostly junk mail. The dogs were thrilled to be home (I think by now they thought we’d never come back here), but I got the impression the horses weren’t as happy, probably afraid things would go back to the way they were before, one boring day in the pasture after another, but they needn’t worry, we’re only going to stay here for the minimum amount of time. Though there were several hawthorne bushes growing up in the middle of the driveway, we managed to push through those, and after moving a couple of downed tree limbs, managed to clear out the area where the RV is usually parked. The house, not surprisingly, smelled of mouse turds and dead bodies, and we found several dead mice scattered around. We opened everything up to get some fresh air in, but it was still pretty chilly here. We ended up spending the night in the RV, ready to begin the arduous chores of getting things straightened out before we leave again. It promises to be a busy and exhausting time for the next several weeks!

Got an email from our friend Dee, with the horse-friendly B&B in Virginia, that her husband Paul passed away a few days ago, sad news. He was very nice to us when we met him a few years ago, but last year they found a tumor, they had to take an eye out, and he eventually succumbed to some sort of very aggressive cancer. Our best wishes go out to her, she’s a strong lady who I know will find herself a new passion to follow when the time is right. Meanwhile, Hubby and I had decided that instead of waiting until tomorrow to have a long ride, that we would take two short rides today and tomorrow, so after sleeping late (the cooler nights make for perfect sleeping weather), we finally saddled up and got out just before 1:00, and rode for about two hours. Once again it was very enjoyable, though at one point, Hubby took another tumble. Seems his horse saw a sharp turn in the trail before he did, and we were galloping at the time, so he didn’t quite have time to gather himself before she made the turn. Fortunately, he landed in a pile of soft sand and came out of it unscathed. I trust the experience will teach him to keep an eye on the road ahead of him in future : -). The horses enjoyed themselves again, they seem quite content to be back to our old routine, so much so they didn’t even mind being ridden two days in a row. They also seem to be loving the cantoring and galloping we’ve been doing lately, it seems they appreciate the opportunity to stretch their legs. Looking forward to another ride tomorrow. Was out about two and a half hours today, just right for a short ride.