Making Progress..

Phew..I'm not sure who is gonna win this battle, me or the trailer! I am making progress though, and it's smelling lots better after today.

Last weekend, I worked on carrying out all the debris, pulling the carpet and pulling out some of the old wood from the 'bed'. I also removed about a ton of foam cushion that someone had used for insulation around the pipes and wheel wells. You can imagine how that smelled after the mice infestation. Tuesday I took a vacation day to go and do some Christmas shopping (something I do every year on the first Tuesday of December..) and I bought a shop vac. I could not think how in the world I was going to get all the bits and pieces of mice nests and poop out of the cracks and crevices of the trailer, without something like the shop vac. I'm so glad I did. Sometimes I just don't take the 'easy' route for various reasons, and regret it later. This time I did and I'm so thankful for that miraculous machine.

Yesterday I vacuumed for a couple of hours. Every inch of the trailer that I could reach got vacuumed. In case you missed it the trailer was infested with mice at some point, so that is what all the fuss is about. The smell was pretty rank, but it's getting much much better. Today, I worked on starting to do the 'real cleaning'. Lots of scrubbing and disinfecting. I got sidetracked a little when I discovered I could take out another part of a cabinet and get behind it. I'm sure glad I did, as it was probably the worst spot I've found for mouse debris. Now, I'm pretty sure there aren't any more places that I haven't exposed for vacuuming and cleaning.

I got several really bad spots that are hard to reach done today, and hope to spend a little more time on it tomorrow afternoon. Once I get the heavy duty scrubbing done, then it'll get easier with just washing down the walls and floor. I was hoping to make more progress today, but it just takes awhile when so much grime is built up. The kitchen area was a real mess. I'm listening to Steven Havill's Posadas County Mysteries books on tape while I work, which helps it not be such a drudge.

After it's cleaned, then I'm going to get some plywood to box up some areas I don't want the kitties to go into, and then it'll be ready to move them in. I'm hoping maybe next weekend. Right now it doesn't have to be pretty, just clean, safe and functional.

The weather has been bitter cold here, quite a shock after a mild start to winter. The highs have been 40s with low 20s at night. In between working on the trailer there are other chores that have to be done, like carrying in wood for the hungry stove and water to the thirsty sheep. It's just been a shock that winter arrived so cold and harsh!

I managed to get Jeff to let me get his shield off so I'm glad that is done. Now if he will just behave...we shall see. I had to put tarps along one section of the ewe's fence, as he had a direct line of sight to them and it seemed like a good idea to nip that in the bud.

I had quite a shock coming home from work yesterday. I usually come home the back roads on Friday since I get off at noon. As I came down off the ridge and around the corner to where the river is, I saw a truck parked on the bridge. Then I saw a man walking along the gravel bar next to the bridge...then I saw.. Boone.. walking with him.

I totally freaked and came to an almost complete stop as I looked at this dog, thinking someone had stolen Boone, while at the same time telling myself it couldn't be Boone. Honestly the more I looked the less sure I became it wasn't Boone--it even limped on the same foot Boone does when he gets stove up. The dog was wearing a choke chain and seemed pretty unsure about running around on a gravel bar. Then it came trotting back and went right in front of my truck and at that point I realized it wasn't Boone, because it had all it's boy parts still intact. I'm sure the two guys with the dog thought I'd probably never seen a dog like that, due to my gawking face. What they didn't know was I see that dog every day!

And while I knew it wasn't Boone, it was still with great relief that I saw him and Ashley at the yard fence as I pulled in the driveway.

Hope you have a great weekend!