…except I got all the rest of my vulnerable food up into the loft. Cleared out the powershed of a couple of plastic shelves I needed for the loft (scrubbed much rat piss) moved them into the loft, then stacked cans and sacks. Still haven’t decided if I’m moving the buckets. Not that big an issue, they’re okay where they are so I guess we’ll see.
Having gotten those shelves out of the way and before I can put my other stuff back on the powershed I should have rebuilt the rear part of the floor, which it has needed for a long time. Did the front half of the shed in winter, when I revamped the batteries. But never got around to doing the rear half because who wanted to tear out all that stuff on the shelves? But now the stuff and the shelves are out of the building, and I should have cut to size the sheet of plywood I’ve had for the purpose for nearly a year.
Then I decided to take a bath and take the rest of the day off. Maybe mañana.
The Lair looks so nice … really … so I’m thinking you should start collecting cinder blocks from Craigslist and build a hardened power shed ! No more rats, which are creeping me out 🙂
Sometimes a bath and taking the rest of the day off helps the project get done ‘right’ with less aggravation cause the subconscious-mind has time to work out the problems.
I guess that’s the difference between you and I joel, when I take a day off I take a day off. BTW Joel the job you have done on the your home with the shoe string budget is nothing short of awesome.
I trust you are making the homestead 100% rat proof. Moving what the rats like indoors is just a giant rat magnet. Would there be any advantage to placing rat eliminating devices in yon power shed assuming it is not already locked and loaded ;>)
Oh it cheers me up so much to see all these anti-rat readers. Yeessss!!!!! Listen to them. Eliminate rats. Everywhere. Traps in the loft. A ring of traps around the powershed. Are all the tiny cracks around the Lair sealed? Are your foods all in metal storage containers? because rats chew through plastic.
Rat urine????? You were wearing a face mask and gloves, of course. You were working barefoot so you wouldn’t have to take your shoes off before coming inside? FOMCL and ROTF
ZtZ, please send address — I’ll begin humane catching and the release will be fedex boxes to your rat zoo.
ZtZ@6:19am: “working barefoot so…” But then Joel would have to wash his feet before entering…
Anon@6:47am: ZtZ said “eliminate”, not “collect” 🙂 Last time I handled a rat I made the rookie mistake of picking up the carcass by the tail. It slid out of the tail sheath, of course. EWWEWWEWW!