Birds in the Attic
Mar. 16th, 2010 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Okay, so there's definitely something in the crawl space, and it's either birds or rats. I suppose, could be both. Maybe they've got a time share going on. Anyway, so I've been hearing the scratching/scurrying noises in the morning as usual (sometimes I stand on my bed and pound on my ceiling, which stops it for awhile). However, the other day I actually ventured out into the backyard, and all over the ground were pieces of insulation. The fuckers have been tearing out my insulation to nest!! Arrgh. When I bought the house the inspector had warned me that the ventilation holes (located right below the roof) had been pecked at by birds, and that I would probably need to watch for that and replace them eventually. Today I noted that 3 of those holes have indeed been pecked out.
Two of my coworkers think it sounds like rats, as it's similar to what he experienced at their old house (the early morning noises, the scurrying). My cousin's husband and two other coworkers think it's birds. I was thinking the latter, too, because I could imagine them flying out of the little ventilation holes with the insulation and dropping it on the ground ... but why would rats make the effort to drop it out of the holes? If they were tearing it up to nest, wouldn't they just fling it aside in the crawl space, not actually tidy? But then maybe it's just that I'd rather it be birds than rats. Tomorrow a handyman is going to come check it out and give me an estimate for how much it's going to cost to repair the damage. I guess I'm also hoping it's birds because they'd be easier to vacate than rats... for the latter I'd also have to call on pest control.
I've been in a really bad place emotionally the last few days. It is really amazing how insensitive and hurtful people can be. Even more amazing considering they're doing it to people they claim to care about. I was raised the Chinese way. I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, and to eat my own bitterness. (from the Joy Luck Club) I guess I wasn't raised the Chinese way, because I'm TRYING to desire nothing and swallow my own bitterness so that it doesn't spew on everyone else, but it's not really working.
I'm hoping my fairly fun/busy schedule the next few weeks will help me reach a place of zen calm. This weekend is fun withcorianderstem on Sat (and a repeat trip to Senor Moose, woot!) and the DG girls on Sun. On Thurs my cousin arrives for his PhD program interviews and I'll see him again the following Sun. Then that Friday I am flying down to LA. On Sunday my mom, aunt, and I will be driving to Esalen for our week of relaxation and posture/back classes (and meeting my cousin and her family there). I have put down my deposit so hopefully these plans will not fall through. Then I leave the following Monday back to Seattle. Hopefully as I'll have a couple of days free I'll get to see ropo and jade_okelani while I'm down there.
I tried out the New Yorker for a bit, but 4 issues later, I've canceled. It's just not very relevant to me nor fit what I was looking for. I wanted something newsy that wasn't pure, dry news, and with little to no celebrity fluff. It didn't quite hit the level of news I wanted, but was fine about the second. However, the fact that it comes every week is just too often for me, and I end up skipping the first half of it due to the same movie summaries that are in every issue, play summaries, and other NY-specific things that I don't care about. I mean, given the title of the magazine I'd expected that to a certain extent, but thought it might be tolerable. It's not, considering that there's really just 1 or 2 articles per issue, and sometimes they don't even strike any interest in me.
Two of my coworkers think it sounds like rats, as it's similar to what he experienced at their old house (the early morning noises, the scurrying). My cousin's husband and two other coworkers think it's birds. I was thinking the latter, too, because I could imagine them flying out of the little ventilation holes with the insulation and dropping it on the ground ... but why would rats make the effort to drop it out of the holes? If they were tearing it up to nest, wouldn't they just fling it aside in the crawl space, not actually tidy? But then maybe it's just that I'd rather it be birds than rats. Tomorrow a handyman is going to come check it out and give me an estimate for how much it's going to cost to repair the damage. I guess I'm also hoping it's birds because they'd be easier to vacate than rats... for the latter I'd also have to call on pest control.
I've been in a really bad place emotionally the last few days. It is really amazing how insensitive and hurtful people can be. Even more amazing considering they're doing it to people they claim to care about. I was raised the Chinese way. I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, and to eat my own bitterness. (from the Joy Luck Club) I guess I wasn't raised the Chinese way, because I'm TRYING to desire nothing and swallow my own bitterness so that it doesn't spew on everyone else, but it's not really working.
I'm hoping my fairly fun/busy schedule the next few weeks will help me reach a place of zen calm. This weekend is fun with
corianderstem on Sat (and a repeat trip to Senor Moose, woot!) and the DG girls on Sun. On Thurs my cousin arrives for his PhD program interviews and I'll see him again the following Sun. Then that Friday I am flying down to LA. On Sunday my mom, aunt, and I will be driving to Esalen for our week of relaxation and posture/back classes (and meeting my cousin and her family there). I have put down my deposit so hopefully these plans will not fall through. Then I leave the following Monday back to Seattle. Hopefully as I'll have a couple of days free I'll get to see ropo and jade_okelani while I'm down there.I tried out the New Yorker for a bit, but 4 issues later, I've canceled. It's just not very relevant to me nor fit what I was looking for. I wanted something newsy that wasn't pure, dry news, and with little to no celebrity fluff. It didn't quite hit the level of news I wanted, but was fine about the second. However, the fact that it comes every week is just too often for me, and I end up skipping the first half of it due to the same movie summaries that are in every issue, play summaries, and other NY-specific things that I don't care about. I mean, given the title of the magazine I'd expected that to a certain extent, but thought it might be tolerable. It's not, considering that there's really just 1 or 2 articles per issue, and sometimes they don't even strike any interest in me.
