After I got back from my mini vacation this past week (where I did a whole load of nothing - more on that in a future post), I went hog wild with some spring cleaning. One of the items on my list was to clean out my outdoor storage room, a big part of which involved taking my built-up piles of recycling down to the depot. It had been waaay longer than usual since I had done a recycling run, and my bins were filling up. So long, in fact, that the room was getting a little smelly. [Insert embarrassed look here] *
Anyway, Friday morning I woke up at 6am. I'm on holidays for heaven's sake! Why can't I just sleep in??? I had to be up shortly after for my hair appointment, so I figured I'd just get up and get some stuff done. So by 6:30 am I was in my storage room sorting jars and tins and plastic containers into garbage bags. It took way longer than normal because of how quietly I had to do it! I like me neighbours, and they like me. Jars and tin cans clanging around at 6:30 in the morning would not keep that situation stable for long.
When I was about half way through the sort (and had moved enough stuff out of the way to actually SEE the back of the storage room), I made a discovery.
It wasn't the recycling that was starting to smell.
Way back in the shadowy corner of my storage room was a rectangular piece of wood. Underneath the wood was a furry lifeless lump with a looooong skinny tail. A RAT!!! It had been caught in a trap I didn't even know was there and had been there for I-don't-know-how-long. Long enough to start to stink.
Aieeeeeeeeeee!
Utterly grossed out, I raced out into the fresh air, gulping it in in a desperate attempt to remove rotting rat stink from my nostrils. It was right about then that I began cursing my high school chemistry teacher for teaching us that odours are actually little particles of the real thing that we breathe in.
But, the show must go on, right? I tried to go back in and finish the job. Mind over matter, right? Well it was gag reflex over mind for me. I wretched every time I tried to walk back in the door. It wasn't bad when I thought it was mildly stinky recycling I was smelling, but as soon as I knew I had rotting rat chunks flying up my nose, I just couldn't handle it.
I ended up taking a scarf and wrapping it around my nose and mouth about four times then holding my breath while I sssllloooowwwllllyyyy lowered items into the bags. It's a good thing I was doing this so early, cause if anyone saw me, they would have thought I was a lunatic.
I wrote a note for my landlords right away, which they didn't see till Saturday morning (I wasn't about to call them that early in the morning, and I was out all day after that). They gave me the number of the exterminator, who I promptly called. He told me it would be Wednesday before they could come out, only after swearing at me, asking why I didn't call sooner cause they just had a guy out in my area earlier that day. What the??? No way was I going to wait four days to have this rotting carcass removed. Blech! I told them as much and so supposedly they'll come Monday to come get it. **
But now? It's Sunday night and I just got home and the rotting rat stink is starting to creep into my suite. Just barely, and I only caught a slight whiff when I walked in the door, but still! I think I"m gonna cry. Those guys had BETTER be here tomorrow!
SHUDDER
* Yes, we have home pickup here, but the official bins are kept in my landlord's part of the house and only come out the evening before or day of pickup. I'm never organized enough to know what day it is or to get my stuff out there. The depot is close by, so I don't mind doing it that way.
** I could just grab a bag and take it way, yes, but it's GROSS, and my landlords have paid the company for a one year contract, so they may as well do it.
Anyway, Friday morning I woke up at 6am. I'm on holidays for heaven's sake! Why can't I just sleep in??? I had to be up shortly after for my hair appointment, so I figured I'd just get up and get some stuff done. So by 6:30 am I was in my storage room sorting jars and tins and plastic containers into garbage bags. It took way longer than normal because of how quietly I had to do it! I like me neighbours, and they like me. Jars and tin cans clanging around at 6:30 in the morning would not keep that situation stable for long.
When I was about half way through the sort (and had moved enough stuff out of the way to actually SEE the back of the storage room), I made a discovery.
It wasn't the recycling that was starting to smell.
Way back in the shadowy corner of my storage room was a rectangular piece of wood. Underneath the wood was a furry lifeless lump with a looooong skinny tail. A RAT!!! It had been caught in a trap I didn't even know was there and had been there for I-don't-know-how-long. Long enough to start to stink.
Aieeeeeeeeeee!
Utterly grossed out, I raced out into the fresh air, gulping it in in a desperate attempt to remove rotting rat stink from my nostrils. It was right about then that I began cursing my high school chemistry teacher for teaching us that odours are actually little particles of the real thing that we breathe in.
But, the show must go on, right? I tried to go back in and finish the job. Mind over matter, right? Well it was gag reflex over mind for me. I wretched every time I tried to walk back in the door. It wasn't bad when I thought it was mildly stinky recycling I was smelling, but as soon as I knew I had rotting rat chunks flying up my nose, I just couldn't handle it.
I ended up taking a scarf and wrapping it around my nose and mouth about four times then holding my breath while I sssllloooowwwllllyyyy lowered items into the bags. It's a good thing I was doing this so early, cause if anyone saw me, they would have thought I was a lunatic.
I wrote a note for my landlords right away, which they didn't see till Saturday morning (I wasn't about to call them that early in the morning, and I was out all day after that). They gave me the number of the exterminator, who I promptly called. He told me it would be Wednesday before they could come out, only after swearing at me, asking why I didn't call sooner cause they just had a guy out in my area earlier that day. What the??? No way was I going to wait four days to have this rotting carcass removed. Blech! I told them as much and so supposedly they'll come Monday to come get it. **
But now? It's Sunday night and I just got home and the rotting rat stink is starting to creep into my suite. Just barely, and I only caught a slight whiff when I walked in the door, but still! I think I"m gonna cry. Those guys had BETTER be here tomorrow!
SHUDDER
* Yes, we have home pickup here, but the official bins are kept in my landlord's part of the house and only come out the evening before or day of pickup. I'm never organized enough to know what day it is or to get my stuff out there. The depot is close by, so I don't mind doing it that way.
** I could just grab a bag and take it way, yes, but it's GROSS, and my landlords have paid the company for a one year contract, so they may as well do it.
2 comments:
Well, did they come on Monday?
you can't get a pair of tongs and remove the rat yourself?
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