My very first visitor!!!

Its true, I had my very first visitor last week.

But..... its probably NOT who you would think!

A mischievous type of visitor in fact. I walk down my new hallway into my empty extra room only to find.... "It smells like urine in here!!!!" Excessively. I turn and look at the dog. Who looks at me as if saying, "my pee doesn't smell this bad biped mom."

I walk outside and look about my yard surrounding my house. Well, look at that- something has been digging under my foundation! I feel like goldilocks has been present. In fact there are many 6"- 1' gaps all around. Tunnels. It had dug and sprayed and ripped out insullation under my floor!!

Whatever is visiting me this week is NOT welcome!! So here I go off to collect some rocks!! I block off the gaps as best as I can.

Then, a couple hundred bucks later I'm shoveling bucket fulls of gravel between the cracks of the rocks. No way in or out now, looking good! Now I just hope whatever critter visited isn't stuck under there!!

My coworker identified some poo, turns out it was a (cute) pesky mink. No goldilocks at all. On a side note I am 200 feet above sea level, but, it is not uncommon for mink to travel far and wide in their territory(especially if there is a food source). The neighbor has poultry, and though I did warn her of the one had recently been around, she happily reported no unusual activity.

I must admit I did resort to putting a trap under my crawl space, but of course didnt want to cause it harm so I was happy to find I caught nothing after a few days ;)

Update: critter has not revisited, at least if it has, it didnt stick around= success!!!

 

Now onto hosting my next "real" visitors! Ones that are welcome!!!

Living big in a small space

So as only some of you know, I have recently traded up my cozy little trailer for a moderately bigger (by comparison) house!

(Note, this is NOT a picture of real trailer)

Well, I was running out of bookshelf space anyhow.....Thats right, no more organizing by arranging items like a real life puzzle piece. Cramming dishware behind applicances in the cabinets that is out of reach when you actually need it, fighting over limited counter space when you have a friend over to "cook dinner". And living out of totes that were stored under my specially designed bedframe for added storage space.

The tiny bathroom that you could literally reach everything from standing (or sitting)in one spot. Where you could only stock 4 rolls of toilet paper at a time. Where you had to step up into the tub and hunker down to the catch the stream of water while showering. That you had to keep your towels out in the hall closet with kitchen appliances, just out of reach if you needed a fresh one.

Low ceilings and doorways where when my dad and brother come to visit had to duck their way in less they knock their noggins upon entry. The smaller than average door that you couldnt get a couch or fridge through if your life depended on it. Which that reminds me, when I first moved in 10 years ago,(Yes I lived here for over 10 years!) nowhere- even online, could I find a toilet seat replacement to fit the trailer size model that I considered "quaint". But was just my size at the time!

   

I really was living big in a small space.

 Sigh. Im going to miss that cozy little place. My first ever "home" on my own.

But, times change and I have quite happily moved up in the world. I bought a house!! A 63 year old 3 bed(room) "cottage in the trees" is what the flyer said when I went to look at the house. Thats totally what got me. The trees and the land the house sat on. Images of gardening and bonfires danced crazily through my mind as I also quickly thought about how much work a 1950's home was going to take.

 Good thing I have good friends and family ;)

And a bunch of fun ideas!!

Stay tuned!