I'm here in Datil with Betty and John, who have let me rest and wash up here. Betty insisted on the washing-up.
I went to community breakfast at the Eagle Guest Ranch, and then to the public library, and on to the local craft fair. In the process I met Datil twice, and half of Pie Town.
I cleaned the cabin for a few hours the last two days. Betty made me leave the hantavirus outdoors. I've been looking for the welcome mat left out for the Pack Rat (Sammy, Dean, Frank, Peter, and Joey). Now that I'm showered and jammied, I think it's under the only poop I was too tired to clean.
If I left you lost, horrified, and trembling at hantavirus, here's a fact sheet for you:
Not all rodents carry the virus, and not all rodents who can, do. You can still get Pulmonary Obstructive Offensive Problems (POOP), though, so wear a mask or whatever makes you comfortable while you're sweeping up great heaping piles of it.
Sleep extra tonight.
40 comments:
The cabin is adorable and the view is to die for. But not from mice poop please.
<3
M
I'm reminded of my first camper - a 20 year old VW Westie. The first time I turned on the heater, the vents spewed masses of rodent nest and feces directly into my face (no mask). After surviving that, removing the little 'floater' from the water tank and the mummified remains from the headliner wasn't so hard. All I could think about was OMG - hantavirus!! Fortunately, the living Mickie and Minnie had moved out and I sold the van before the probably chewed wiring gave out.
Fun times
Too cute that place is. And wow what a view. Are you sure you want to travel anywhere with such a "home"?? If you hang around maybe M&M will go on the road.
Yep. Looks like the NM sky!
Wow, those are some skies you have there.
Your cabin is so very cool. I am insanely jealous.
What a great choice you made when you bought that cabin. I would have a hard time leaving it for anything.
Cute little cabin ... sweet location ... miss those sunsets and views to forever ... I can feel it from here. Thank you.
Nice yard!
Beautiful syies! That cabin has soooo much potential! What are the two pull chains from the ceiling to do?
Nan, those chains operate the fan and lights. I keep pulling them to see if there's electricity now.
Thanks, Kim! I xeriscaped it!
Teresa, it's clear to me now how a body would miss New Mexico. I had to get here to know.
Thank you, Jan. You know, these two days of cleaning rat shit (and one dead rat - bonus!) have already gotten me attached to the place. Meeting people here has helped that process.
Thanks, Nancy! I don't think you have to be jealous, though. Will it help if I talk more about poop? :oD
Aren't they, Donna? I thought I would miss those crazy AZ skies, but NM keeps up.
Lin, are you still in NM?
I know what you mean, Sherry. I feel like I'm leaving it too soon. I'm hoping M&M already hit that Big Road, but I do need to find the place that let them bring in pine cones and branches before they shuffled off their mortal coil.
Haha Anne! Floaters - blech. Mice are bad swimmers.
Thanks for the pics of me and the cabin, Maggie!
No death by poop for me, Gaelyn!
I prefer to take a vacuum to mouse poop myself. No way of telling which little furry bugger is carrying that special something. I'll be going back on the warpath (traps) in fairly short order now that it's getting cold again here in the Great White North.
Oh and, we're talking about my shed here. NOT the house or garage/shop. Although there was a time....
I hear ya, Bob. The only possibility I saw for suction was manual, and that wasn't pretty.
Well, I think our cabin cleaner is pooped herself. No sign of her yet this morning. Think we will let her sleep as long as needed. Datil folks are excited about our new neighbor.
The new cabin is super sweet...and the views to die for. The poop, well..not so much. You staying the winter? I really like Datil a lot.
Nina
So nice you have a place to hang your hat....when you want to. Now just store your broom and you are sitting pretty for as long as you like.... nice feeling.
What a FANTASTIC find!! Nice to look at that view every morning.I'm sure you'll get the mousey problem solved? So happy for you Roxi!
Being from California, I thought the sky looked different when visiting NM...
It resembles a yurt. You'll have it like home in no time! Congrats!
Spray and wipe up that rodent poop.....never sweep! Put a little bit of bleach in that spray bottle, fill with water, spray affected (possibly infected) droppings, wipe with rags or paper towels.....the virus can't get airborne that way. Of course if I had taken the time to read your poop sheet I am sure it said same thing. But maybe not, there were instructions at a campground I once stayed at and they got it wrong.
See, they (whoever they are) were right, when one door closes, another opens... and you lovely little cabin is a wonderful door. I'm insanely jealous too.
All that poop reading reminded me of the little place I bought in Lakeside, AZ a few years ago. got some ugly old rash on my legs but when it was done I loved it. To bad they wanted my lungs for rent so I had to sell.
I cant wait to see it all set up. Have fun.
Beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, enchanting NM skies! You're looking pretty pleased with yourself, or your cabin, or both. How can such cute little buggers (mice) be so darn dangerous? I hear small amounts of -- poopies -- aren't reason for worry, but who wants to test THAT theory?
Renee
Renee, I'm pretty pleased with life in those pictures. Those crazy mice! I don't know how there could be any mice with all the packrat activity that has gone on. You asked me where I am earlier - email me and I'll tell you.
Jo, you had invaders? Or, is that what they called you? Sorry that park priced you out of your home. :(
I guess it's true, Swankie. There is more than one way to be happy.
I'm listening, Inspector! Poop abatement went on a lot like my DIY asbestos abatement in my last house: saturate and bag-itate.
Thanks, Cyn! It is yurtagonal.
I think so, too, Roberta, although my California experience is even more limited than my NM time.
Thanks, Anon. Once I find out what gaping hole lets the rats bring in pine cones I'll be on my way.
Karen, I'm surprised at how good it feels to imagine a home base. Probably because I already know people there (and like them). And, I can always jump back on my broom when I get restless.
Nina, I don't have heat yet, so I won't be spending long periods of time there this winter. It should be an easy fix, though.
Betty, I'm STILL pooped.
I live next to a corn/bean field. Mice are not my friends. I mean, on some level they are cute and all but they are so destructive.
They can and will chew through everything. They chewed my insulated furnace duct and got in the registers, They tore paper off the drywall in the garage and boldly made a nest right next to the entry into the house! There was a time when they would hide in the flowers next to the garage door and run in when I opened it!!
I think I finally thwarted the little suckers with traps, steel wool, expanding spray foam and fox urine. *no fox was harmed in this experiment, at least not by me, but I guess someone, somewhere, had to squeeze a fox. I don't know. I didn't ask*.
Finally I think I have them under control but I had to declare war. The fox urine may have been over the top but the steel wool and especially the foam spray did the trick, they have not attempted to chew through that....yet. Good luck fortifying your fort!! :-)
HAHAHA! ...squeeze a fox. I suppose they could have told him jokes until he lost continence from laughing so hard. That's pretty (tiny) ballsy of them to make a dash for your door.
Maybe I should squeeze a fox - does that scare packrats, too? I could amuse a fox inside Spud, too.
Wait, what? I get busy on my house and suddenly you're a cabin owner??? RV systems can get you just about all the comfort a body could want in any season in that. It is very Jeffersonian (octagonal and all). Very cute. And remote.
I hate mices to pieces! They are so destructive. In your search for the holes (dime sized is all they need); get steel wool to stuff into them. They can't chew thru that. A few cats would help a lot, but then what would you do with them in the Spud?
I'm stealthy like that, Mary. Yeah, I'm hoping that basic comforts will be pretty easy to have.
I really think these are pack rats, judging by the size of their poop, the size of their carcass, and the things they bring in (midden materials). But, I'd LOVE to find the hole big enough for pine cones! The cat dilemma is real. I'd love to have cats there.
If you had a real RV/van with a roof vent and insulation, then the cats could come along and be safe. Just saying... They are quite happy and safe in my van. Hunt mices at home.
Yep, that's true.
What wonderful views - so nice to see more than your face- you look happy, I'm happy you are happy. The cabinyurt looks like its a nice retreat - enjoy til your next escapade!
Thank you for the outdoor shots! I love it! Congratulations. :)
Sorry about the mice/pack rat business, but I must say reading all this commentary (particularly Nancy's) has been great for a couple of laughs. I do NOT deal well with mice, dead or alive. They give me the willies. Anything big enough to drag in pinecones? Can you say baseball bat?
That said, I'd give up a lot to see those views and those sunsets in person! Such a beautiful spot you have there.
Pack rats are the nastiest things ever!! I've evicted a few in my time here in the old tool shed behind the old stack of paint cans was this mysterious black hole where things disappeared!! Everything I misplaced was in there!! OMG it was horrid. I did trap the varmint and she was relocated about 5 miles away near an old barn with a pond and cattle to live with! Others I saw the chute going under the foundation to the house! So I set the trap right outside the chute and baited it with deer corn on the cob, what PR could resit that? Caught him too...hre now lives over by the old hut cabins where the fat men meet up once a yr! Over the years of living in a forest that keeps trying to reclaim its self...I've relocated 4 pack rats and close to 100 squirrels that will also live in the attic if they find a way in, and many black snakes, lizards, stray dogs and cats and ONE HUSBAND!, although he went willingly and didn't have to be trapped!
Sondra, there's a midden near the cabin, and I can't decide if disrupting it would disperse the clan, or drive them into the cabin. Live and let live (outside)?
Karen, in my first-sweep cleaning of the cabin, I found an actual ex-packrat. No sign of any since I steel-wooled, but mice, yes. I re-read Nancy's comment and got another chuckle out of it, too.
Cranberry, you're welcome.
Robin, I'd like to inform you that I'm much slimmer now than in that picture. That's what I'd like to tell you, but I just looked down.
Pine cones. When they are wet they close up small, lots smaller than when they are dry. It is easier for the little furry four legged collectors to drag around smaller wet closed up pine cones and get them through small holes and places. Then the cones dry out and "fluff" back up. Instant pine cones where there weren't any before.
Aunt Selene
Like a ship in a bottle! Sorta.
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