Wednesday, October 01, 2008

You are invited to a cookout...

So our day was super. We ran a ton of errands and got so many great deals at various stores. I checked on my consignment account and made $32 later redeemed some gift certificates. Melanie had gymnastics- she doesn't even need me there anymore. Natalie is starting to enjoy the commotion of gymnastics and wants to be on the ground to wallow around. We headed to Target to replace all bath toys. Now that Natalie is in the bath with Melanie I was much more conscience of the toys in the bath b/c Natalie puts them in her mouth. Well, the toys were pretty gross and needed to be replaced. So, I took my consignment money and bought the girls all new bath toys and came home and threw away all of the old ones. Melanie and I made Halloween cupcakes complete with spiders on the top. We invited Chris and Aileen over for dinner and dessert and then headed for the tub where Melanie was super excited to play with all of her new things. So, you're thinking great, why is she posting...well the day DID NOT end average!

We have been searching for a creature in our backyard. The other day Clint and I noticed a large (about one foot by one foot and about 6 inches tall) mound of dirt on the other side of our fence. We were like what in the world? Who threw a mound of dirt in our yard. Then we started thinking is this from a creature? We have some pavers that our grill sits on right on the other side of the fence. So we got pretty nervous and went and got Chris and began to move and lift up the pavers. I was providing the scary music in the background and Melanie was hiding under her slide. So the boys got the pavers up and realized yes, something dug under our fence, under the pavers and under our back porch/slab. There was a nice little burrow. So, we couldn't figure out what it was so Clint put a brick to block the hole and re-set up our backyard area. Then a couple of days later we re-enacted the whole scene and the little twerp of a critter just went around the brick and was continuing to hide under our house. So Clint took lots of gravel/dirt and filled in it's hole and re-set up the porch area. THEN, LAST NIGHT IT GOT CREEPY! We let Shelby out to go to the bathroom around 10:00. She was circling and whining about the paver/grill area. I told Clint the creature is back and it is there now! So, being funny we were like, "Shelby was it? Go get it." Well, with permission Shelby jumped on the idea. She started circling, crying, scratching, she new the thing was in there. Then she became mighty fixated on the grill, not the pavers/ground. I was thinking, no way, the creature is in the grill!!! So we brought Shelby in, got a flashlight, called Chris so I could give him a play by play on the phone and Clint dramatically lifted off the grill cover and you could hear the creature thrashing around in the grill. It was SO GROSS! I was standing up on the couch armrest inside looking out knowing for sure a bear was going to jump out of the grill and eat me and Clint. Then Clint has the guts to open the grill and the thing got kind of quiet so Clint shined a flashlight in the grill and under the grates was a creature!!!! SO GROSS!!!!! It was HUGE (or at least seemed huge!). It was 6-8 inches long with a LONG tail and beady eyes and little ears. We assume it is a RAT- DISGUSTING!!!! So, I am freaking out (I so don't do creatures) and we are talking on the phone inside trying to figure out what to do when the nasty little creature jumps out and on the edge of the grill and runs in the backyard. I freak out and run to the computer to research what it looks like and I think most probably it is a rat and I read about them and they are full of disease and ticks and fleas and grossness. Clint just wants to set a trap. I want to call in a professional. So I submit a request to our termite people on line b/c they do "wildlife removal." Not to mention the fact that during all of this Clint was attacked by killer ants straight from the rain forest and we have black widows all around that area. So what the heck? I live in creature infestation land. I told Clint I will stop shopping for a month if a professional can rid us of all of our nuisances. All night I felt as if a nasty rat were crawling over me and under my sheets. So, that was the end to our average day...anyone in the mood to come grill out at our house? :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

ruth says: Holy Moly - I can totally picture this all going down!

Unknown said...

Ewww! So THAT'S what Melanie was talking about last weekend...She took me around the yard to see the mound of dirt...now it all makes sense. Gross!!

Anonymous said...

How in God's name did it get in the grill, much less under the grate? And was it going UNDER your house? I hope it doesn't have a nest under there. Lord I thought those giant roaches around here were bad...but the only rodents we have are chipmunks and voles.

Take care. MA

Unknown said...

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I would have been FREAKING out!!!!! And we would have gone to get a new grill the next day....let's hope there aren't babies somewhere...

Elizabeth said...

So when is the next cookout at the Gilbreath Grill? I may have to pass on that hamburger :-)