Thursday, May 14, 2009

Squatter!

Went to the camper today to get the bedding out of it to wash. We took it to my BIL's for the winter cuz it's too hard to get in and out of our yard, and we switched campgrounds this year, so we had to bring it home. Anyhoo, the bedding was just balled up on our bed and on the bunk beds. I went to grab it off our bed, and I saw some little black things. I'm like, "What the heck?" Poop! Yes, poop. Poop all over the place. We have a Squatter.

I'm not sure what it is, but it's most likely a squirrel. Possibly a rat, but I'd lean more towards a squirrel. Luckily I never met anything face to face to find out. (Not that I'm scared of them or anything, but meeting like that face to face with little room to move around if it gets startled and pounces on me wouldn't be a pretty site. Especially if it was a Mama with babies to protect.) Our camper had two slides, and where it is positioned at BIL's I can't open them, just a bit. I hooked the truck to the plug for the tow kit and opened the back slide enough that I could get in the kids' room. From the looks of it, the Squatter preferred our room and the kitchen drawers.
So I carefully got the bedding off our bed, just in case the Squatter was inside somewhere, and threw it out on the ground. He chewed a good old hole in the comforter.

So that's garbage. The rest of the bedding and pillows were unharmed, as was the mattress. The Oldest One was with me, so we proceeded to check all of the drawers and cupboards. The Squatter seemed to like the middle drawer of the three in the kitchen. He chewed up one of my hand knit dishcloths and had quite a poopfest in that drawer. He also chewed up a rose petal scented candle. Hope he got a tummy ache. In our room there are two drawers, one on each side of the head of the bed. We took those right out, and on my side I found and nice, fluffy nest of what appears to be camper insulation from somewhere.

And again, quite a poopfest. I got an extension cord from SIL and vacuumed it all up, figuring there'd be a hole in there somewhere, but no. I could find no sign of entry anywhere, but alas the slides weren't fully opened, and I wasn't about to crawl under the camper in all that tall grass and get any wood ticks. When Hubs comes home tomorrow night he's going to take the camper to my parents' place and open up the slides and take a look. They have a paved driveway, so he can crawl under the camper and take a look for holes. The tanks and plumbing lines are filled with antifreeze, so I can't see anything coming through there without croaking. There are two vents for the furnace that weren't covered (Naughty Hubs! I worked the day they brought the camper home). Maybe there will be a hole in the floor when he moves the slides out or a hole in the slide rubber. I sure hope the Squatter isn't inside the walls and pops out when we're camping. The dogs will tear that place apart to catch it, that's for sure.

So that was my excitement for the day. It's always something, so it seems.

You'd think Pumba would learn that there's never any money in my purse.

He tried it before to no avail.

The yarn order arrived at the store -- the new shades of Bernat Baby Jacquards are here, as well Cottontots and Handicrafter.

Happy knitting!

5 Comments:

Blogger Donna M said...

Yeeewh! Foreign animals in your trailer! Ick!
Hope they have moved on to greener pastures!

9:25 PM  
Blogger Wanderingcatstudio said...

You'd be surprised at how small a hole those tricksters can slip through.

My cats get into my purse too, and the keep trying to chew the button off.

10:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We have a squatter in our kitchen!
Not only do we have two cats, but we found one of them playing with the little mouse a few times at night over the past week! The dumb cat must think it is only a toy!

THe mouse gets into one of my drawers. I have no idea how. He likes to chew on the boxes of foil, plastic wrap etc. I have no idea how he even gets "UP" into the drawers.

6:29 AM  
Blogger Charity said...

Oh, I hate having squatters! I remember once I picked up a jean jacket that had been sitting on the floor by our front door for a couple of weeks, and dog food went flying everywhere! That was a big, fat, mouse, and was he ever annoyed with me! :o)

6:04 PM  
Blogger Heddy said...

ick ... I hope you are clear of the critters. Rodents give me the willies (even the domesticated one -- hamsters, gerbils, tame mice -- eeeewwww!)

Camping season is here, eh? Officially! It is Victoria Day weekend! and the blackflies are out already - another eeewww! My BIL and his family are at the campground, and have been in their trailer there for at least 2 weeks -- I figured you'd be on your way soon.

9:34 AM  

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