Thursday 21 May 2009

Are You Squeamish?

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek



My garden has been taken over by scaffolding. Most of you know that we have had renovations here on our kitchen roof.
This is the point that I put a warning on this post. If you are squeamish do not go any further.



This is the roof that has held a terrible secret for six years. The roof that has caused me so much misery, often to the point of making me despair. The cause of all the noises, the smells and the frustration of not being able to get to the source of the problem because a pitched roof was built over a flat one, making it impossible to investigate let alone do anything. The cause of rows between Harry and me. The roof that has been the reason for my feeling trapped and not even having the option of moving away from the problem. The roof that has made me feel like running away. The roof that I have blamed for ruining my life over and over again.



And this is the start of the discovery of just what it was that was making my life such a misery. This is the hole that was revealed once the fascia board was taken off the side of the roof, on my neighbour's side. There was no sign of the hole until that moment. This is only one of the holes that was found.
This is my last warning for the squeamish not to look any further.




The men had decided to cleanse the roof from the outside in and took off the tiles and felt and also the flat roof, leaving the kitchen ceiling directly under the scene above. This is what met our eyes..... rat runs. You can see the way that they have chewed up the insulation and they had also started on the wiring and had stripped several wires of their plastic outer casing. Fortunately, the wires were not touching. I hate to think what might have happened if they had been.



This was number one body that was found amongst the chewed up insulation that had obviously been used as bedding. There were five of the pesky rodent bodies hidden away at various points in the roof. No need to show them all, as after you have seen one, they all look the same!





Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek where you will find some great entries.

43 comments:

Robyn said...

Ew. Little terrors rats are. It is amazing what they will eat. Hopefully they are gone now.

Marian Dean said...

Well! thank goodness all has been revealed. No doubts now as to the culprits. Now you know the truth of the noises. Maybe you will now get some peace.
Viva la Ratty-catcher!!!

Love Granny

Cecily R said...

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! That is straight up nasty! I'm glad you are rid of those little devils!

Thumbelina said...

Ugh! As I said before, the upside of this is that you know now that you were not going mad. There is a reason you heard all those noises - and now you can make it stop.
Not to mention the safety (wire chewing) and hygiene aspect. Glad you have got it sorted at last.

It wasn't that bad, the photo. :)

Rosaria Williams said...

Got to clear the whole lot of them; and then be alert and close all possible entries.

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

UGH! So glad that you are finally getting to the rat of the problem!

Emily said...

Ewwwwwwwwww! I can't say you didn't warn me though! Yuck!

Wendy said...

Ewwwwww!! No wonder they died. Eating all that insulation and wire coverings. Ewwwwww! Let's just hope this is the end of it. No more roof problems!

Izzy, Emmy 'N Alexander said...

Wow, Those are some pretty big rats! So glad that you have gotten it all figured out and on your way to a happy, quiet kitchen.

Happy Friday!

Chris said...

Ahhh! I am squeamish -- and I looked!

Michelle said...

Egads! That would have freaked me out!!!

Hilary said...

Ms Maggie May, you have nerves of steel. I'm not sure I could stand knowing that was living above me for so long. You'll have some peace now. Soon. Thank goodness those wires never touched.

Shellie said...

EWWWWW! Nasty! Glad you are getting rid of that mess!

Mickle in NZ said...

At last our Maggie's getting a rat free kitchen ceiling!

In the NZ building trade it is traditional to have a "roof shout" when the roof goes on a building (owner provides drinks for the builders).

I think the May family deserve a huge great party!

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Well I am a bit squeamish Maggie so I held my breath until you revealed all! Thank goodness you have found the cause of your problem. I am so relieved for you. Now you can get straight again and hopefully you have seen the last of them. Yuk! A x

Lindsay said...

Good to get to the bottom of it - so to speak - well done! I came face to face at eye level with an enormous dead rat after the "rat man" treated our garage some years ago - I yelled in horror! I hope you now get some peace and quiet.

SMS said...

Can you begin to work out how you feel about it all now?

A Crafty Mom said...

OMG, I should have looked away b/c you warned us, but I didn't!! YUCK!! That's awful, I'm not good around rats. You poor thing . . . AND you got it on camera too, lol!

Mean Mom said...

Well I am squeamish, but I had to look! What a relief that you've finally got to the root of the problem. I hope that everything is back to normal soom.

Leah said...

ah ha. yuck. glad you're getting that taken care of!

Alex the Girl said...

Fried Critters. They'll be back.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

When you spoke about the smell I just knew it was rats, Horrid creatures. Well at least now you are rid of them.

Anonymous said...

This roof business seems to me [and to you I should imagine] to have been going on forever.

Thank heaven the cause of all your misery has been found and can be made good.

Sandi McBride said...

OMG...I knew I was going to regret it, but I threw caution to the winds and ignored your warnings...ahhhhhh...shriek!!! Where was the cat when you needed one???????
Sandi

Kitty said...

Oh.

My.

God.

I bet you're so pleased they are OUT of there!

x

aims said...

OMG!

I bet you feel like saying - I Told You So!

I'm imagining peace and quiet in the future and pleasant smells.

Jeni said...

WOW! Glad you finally got the root of the evil possessing your house though. If they were eating/gnawing on the insulation, maybe they gave themselves that type of cancer that comes from exposure to insulation? Whatever, just glad you were able to find the problem and now, you can get it corrected and be living in a noise-free, smell-free home.

Jinksy said...

Bet there was a fragrant perfume in the air! Eek...

MarmiteToasty said...

Jebus........ praise the lord is all over......

Me neighbour two along saw a rat, and tried to blame my Janet for it LOL as you know my chickens are the cleanest pets ever.... the rat man came out and investigated the gardens within 4 each side of the neighbour that saw the rat.... my chickens had nowt to do with it LOL.... he put a bait box down and came back and the rat had eaten... he put a new one down and came back and nuffin..... the rat must of snuffed it.... the rat man was free from the local council..... twas nowt to do with me chickens but much to do with the neighbour that keeps 'dirty' avery birds....

Love the photo with the little dead rat in the dustpan LOL.... I bet you didnt think to save me the skull? :)

x

SandyCarlson said...

Justice prevails. Wow. What a discovery. Glad you are on the way to a better situation.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh. I'm so glad you decided to clean up. Giving me the heebeegeebies.

Anonymous said...

Rats are the peskiest things! I am sure that was not fun to find. Glad you got it taken care of.

Expat mum said...

I am SO glad that you've finally (hopefully) solved the problem. We are dealing with a possible mold situation here and it's driving me nuts. And I've lived with a rat in the kitchen (as I believe I've mentioned) and know that they can slowly sap you of your mental health!

Irene said...

I hope you get to the source of the problem, Maggie, where they are getting in. That's when your problems really will be over. I'm glad the dead ones are gone now with all their smelliness. You hang in there, girl. It will soon be all over.

XOX
Irene

Maternal Tales said...

Oh yuck. Just yuck. You poor thing. But at least you've got it sorted now. I hate to think what's lurking in our roof...

Snowbrush said...

Hey, when you show pics like that, you need to warn the squeamish!

Oh, you did?

Well, I guess that if you could stand living with the stink all these years, I can stand looking at the picture for 3 seconds. Too, I DID used to be a funeral director.

Eddie Bluelights said...

Gosh Maggie! It looks like Fred and Rosemary West's house of horrors in Gloucester - only rats! I was brave and saw it all!
So did they come from your neighbour's house?
So glad you had the roof off - there will be nowhere for them to go now, we hope! and it looks as though you can seal them out!
Let's hope that's the end of it and you can have a peaceful life ~ Eddie

Mignon said...

What a huge relief for you, I'm sure. Enjoy life now that it's gone. Great pictures!

Fragrant Liar said...

Ick. Not a whole lot to say after that, but poor little things. Guess they were doomed. I hope you get the roof you want now, and that you'll be happy again. ;)

meggie said...

Oh Maggie, You have my utmost sympathy! Having lived with the stench of dying or dead rats, every now & then, I know how awful it truly can be. I partially fixed the problem, but we still had a fairly recent one, when the fern tree grew up to the roof of the house.
Then of course, my latest brush with Gom, dancing nude, with a rat carcass!

Irene said...

Dancing nude with a rat carcass?

Lisa said...

OH! MY GOSH!!

OH! MY GOSH!!

I hope everything goes smooth form now on..........BACK TO the Water Wednesday! which is Beautiful!! by the way.

UUgGGGG!! creepy!! sorry hard to shake!! Yes! I must be squeamish but I had to look!

I followed you here from Robynn's Ravings...

shiver!!!!

Robynn's Ravings said...

Oh Maggie......YUCK!!!! The last picture is a clincher! You were BRAVE to post that one. I'm laughing my head off!

You put me in mind of a recent post I wrote about our (former) snake and a REALLY disgusting thing he did to me concerning rats. The post is entitled: Something Wicked this Way Comes and is followed by Something Wicked that Way Went. I'm thinkin' - from your post - you might get a kick out of this one. :)