Moving into the little house that was on the property when we started up the ranch, was supposed to be temporary. We intended to get the horse barn up and then move onto the building of a house. Without going into all of the still unresolved issues with the construction of the barn (still in litigation), the process delayed any other progress indeterminately. We had three bedroom and four people with Donald working from a home office. We put the little girls together in one room, another was the office, and a master bedroom. The little girls grew and we separated them using the office for a bedroom, and put in an office trailer on the northeast side of the property. As the girls have grown, the house and its deficiencies have been a trial, but its "cozy."
You see we are in the middle of the desert and with the desert there are special little creatures that survive by adaptation and instinct. Bear the ranch dog is one of them, and he has contributed to several home repairs as a result of his desert survival instincts. One summer he found the ductwork under the house. Apparently, a little varmit (most likely a rabbit) found the coolness refreshing and slid under the ductwork. Bear in his enthusiasm for flushing out the critter, ripped and shredded the flexible ductwork allowing for a fuller flow to blast forth under the house. In the meantime, the little house was growing warmer and warmer, with the AC fan running non-stop. Bear was rarely coming out from under the house, and why should he? He had an air conditioned cave to enjoy. Unfortunately, Donald had to crawl under the crawl space to investigate and eventually do the repair. Did I mention scorpions and rattlesnakes like to rest in cool dark places during the day? Yes, it is on Donald's list of top ten things to avoid.
The other enticement under this little house is the water. And because we are one of the only consistent sources of water, creatures usually find us. That includes bugs and rodents. The rodents come is a variety of sizes and colors. But when they die under your house wedged somewhere between the insulation and wiring, they all smell pretty much the same. One summer, Donald had to go under the house over six times to cut out sections of plastic water lines that the mice/rats/gophers had chewed pin-sized holes in to get to the drink. The spray would be heard in the wee hours of the morning hitting the floor boards of the house alerting us to yet another repair that would need to be done. Donald would stagger out, half asleep, to the valve to shut the water off till we could get to it. One of these holes was directed away from the floor, so that it was undetected for some time. But as the floor in front of the kitchen sink was beginning to swell, we figured we had better check it out.
The insulation in this house is placed between the floor joists under the house and has a plastic liner that is stapled to the wood itself. The effect is a sealed plastic cover over the insulation that is flush with the bottom of the joists. But when the mouse snipped into the water line under the kitchen sink, it continued to spray, filling the compartment between the joists, absorbing into the insulation, being sealed in with the plastic, until it could hold no more and began to drip onto the earth below the house. It is important to note that the electrical wires are also run between the joists with the water lines. Another note; mice apparently have no discrimination in chewing plastic wire insulation or plastic water lines. It is all the same to them.
The other wonderful survival skill that these particular little rodents have is stock piling goodies for the winter or snacking during the daytime. Nest are particularly cozy when made in the insulation as well. So when Donald did his comanche crawl under the house, he saw the bulging plastic for the insulation with the water dripping from it and realized he would have to slice it open to get to the repair. There was no way to avoid being soaked, but what he hadn't planned on was the rodent's collection of food and extras washing down around him as well.
Most of you are not aware of this, but mice/rats/gophers find dried dog poop especially appealing. I suppose there are a lot of nutrients that go through the dog that the mice find valuable. This rodent had collected a huge quantity of this and it had been rehydrated in the water leak for quite some time. Donald found himself surrounded by this mess, along with half of our compost pile from the garden. As he cleared the way to the leak, he discovered exposed electrical wires and immediately yelled for me to shut down the electric, as he was lying in a large puddle of water and dog poop.
We have taken measures to try to seal up the underside of the house, but we still get mice under there from time to time. We have found some rather large, dead rats that the big white dogs have caught and killed, so we are aware that they are still prowling around.
Another malfunction that occurred with the heater in the house, allowed two of the heating elements to cross and arc so that the heat would not turn off. Fortunately, I was home and aware of the build up of heat around the heater and when the thermostat was unable to shut the elements off, I shut the electric off to the house until we could get it repaired. The potential disaster is unthinkable.
So the other morning when Donald and I both sat bolt upright in bed at 5:00 am to a horrible burning odor, we both dashed to the heater thinking the problem had occurred again. But the elements were fine. The smell was throughout the house, not just at the heater. It was putrid. Donald noticed the blob of grease from greasing bearings in the fan compartment of the heater, but realized there were no bearings to grease in this particular fan. Suddenly he realized that it was not grease, but flesh. Upon further investigation, hair, bones, a tail and feet were discovered within the motor. During the night while the fan was not running this smart little mouse found a warm little compartment to crawl into for a nap. But when the thermostat registered to switch the motor on to run the fan, the little devil was sliced and diced and then.....roasted. The smell of roasted mouse filled the house. Donald disassembled the unit to take outside to wash with the hose. But the freezing temperatures had frozen the pump for the well and we were without water and of course with out heat.
We ended up having to replace the motor on the heater and eventually the remains were cleaned from the rest of the unit. Unfortunately, the mouse didn't live to tell his tale and spread the word to stay out from under our house. It is likely some other critter will find the underside of our house and try to move in and we will just have to continue to deal with the trespassers.
I'm not sure many can say they have been awakened to the smell of roasted mouse. I am not sure that I really want to be able to say so, but I can. This house offers a variety of challenges; cabin fever, bickering teen-agers, storage stacked in corners, doors that can be opened seasonally, electric bills to awe the reader, critters and their destruction. Maybe some day we will get back to a new house plan on the list, but we will just perservere for now.
