Critters and Cold Front

I wrote a few weeks ago about the possibility of squirrels in our house. I thought I'd heard them in our attic (a useless space with terrible access and way too hot for storing anything that long term extreme heat will harm). Hubby p-shawed me, probably just wishing it were an anomaly, and not the sound of resident critters. Unfortunately, this past weekend I heard scratching right above me. I was pretty freaked about it as it was midnight. I had a hard time sleeping, kept imagining the critter gnawing right through the drywall and falling on top of us as we slept. I was brave and did not disturb Hubby's sleep (well, I did try to wake him, but when he slept on after me nudging him and calling his name, I figured he really needed his sleep). But the next morning I told him we HAD to call someone to come investigate. After doing some research on the web (which advised that ridding a house of critters and sealing possible entrance points can easily cost over $1000) we picked a company that was given an "A" rating by the BBB. The fellow who came out to our house yesterday (no one could come sooner as they were working on a house with serious squirrel infestation) was very pleasant. He climbed in our attic and said "Yep, you've got some critters, but not squirrels..."

Roof rats! Yek!
After 'walking' the roof and then around our house he found 6 possible entry points. Swell. So he set some traps and returns today to close up the entry points and check the traps. And while it's not costing us $1000, it certainly is coming close. Oh the joys of home-ownership.
I'm sure this story has my older sister remembering the rat issue we dealt with when I lived with her in South Tampa 20+ years ago. We thought she had mice. An empty lot next door was being developed and we were certain some field mice where simply re-locating. So we set mouse traps. The first night we heard the trap snap and then heard the darn rat dragging the trap around for a while. We called a male friend to dispose of the thing. Incidentally, she was trying to sell her house at the time. A few days later I heard another trap snap in the laundry room. I wasn't going to do anything with that thing. But a few minutes later the real estate agent called saying she was bringing a couple by to see the house. Now what was I to do? I called our friend who was unavailable to come to my rescue. At 21 years old, I couldn't bring myself to going too near that thing (especially since it was still moving) so I put a shoe box over the whole contraption in the laundry room and prayed it didn't move while the people were at the house. It was a harrowing experience. One I don't want to relive. I'm not real keen on sharing my house with wildlife.

Yesterday morning was our first taste of fall temperatures. It went down to 68 degrees Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The Imp claimed she was freezing as she left the house yesterday morning. We hadn't seen 60's since last May. The air was dry and the day absolutely beautiful. I went out and transplanted my cukes, beans and lettuce into my garden. It was great. Today promises to be more of the same. THIS is why I live in Florida. I saw lots of convertible tops down yesterday. It is days like these that make me wish I had one. Highs are still in the upper 80's so life is very good.