October 28 – “The Critter Search”

Note to readers: The following events actually occurred on Saturday, but the blogs have been running long lately. 

All four of the grandparents stayed at the house with the boys.  I think we were in bed by 9:30.  That meant I was awake by 5:30.  I made the coffee and waded through typing up my blog entry for the day.  Josh left us some money with instructions to either go get some donuts or take the boys with us to the Shipley’s that was not far away.  Grandbob and I made the trip.  Caleb just wanted “donuts without a hole in them.”  Zakary wanted a donut with pink icing and sprinkles. 

The other grandparents took Caleb and Zak to the store to get their Mom a “being in the hospital” gift.  Sensing my opportunity to get a few of the items checked off from last week’s list that went undone, I went out to the car and grabbed the hedge clippers and limb trimmers.  I was determined to at least get the hedges trimmed up so the neighbors would know someone was eventually planning to bring part of the wilderness under control.  I don’t imagine Josh or Christi will notice, but that’s fine with me.  It got done.  Check it off the list.

Chris headed to the hospital to hang out with Christi and Luke, and around ten o’clock Josh and I went on a critter hunt.  He decided to cut into the ceiling since we pretty well narrowed the stink source to one particular area.  We started in the center of the ceiling and worked our way toward the back door.  The first three holes were unfruitful, but we did manage to remove some pretty nasty looking insulation.  Just before we started the next cut, though, Josh got a call from the hospital.  Luke had to be admitted.  His belly rubbin’ was off.  I know that’s not exactly how to spell it, but it sounds the same.  It means he needs to spend some time under the untra-violet lights.  At least that’s what the picture they sent seemed to indicate.  The caption said he was going to be a glowstick for Halloween.  Josh rushed off to be with his family, so I stayed to continue the search alone. 

I finished pulling out one level of that nasty old black insulation with no results other than the smell seemed to be getting stronger.  Which direction to go next?  I stuck my head as far into the crevice as I could get it and … followed my nose.  The next segment of sheetrock was the one right by the back door.  One side done.  Side two done.  I had to work around the stud, so side three was particularly difficult.  Finally side four cut was complete and I eased the piece of sheetrock down.  Setting it on the ground I glanced up to see where to cut next when I saw it.  The back half of a critter.  Furry body.  Long naked tail.  Quickly I texted the family, “Got him.”  Then I took a picture to verify the location.  Hey, I have watched enough CSI.  Pulling my gloves on a little tighter, I reached up and carefully took hold of the tail.  I eased the body backwards toward the opening.  Two inches.  Three.  Four.  Six.  Finally the head appeared and the whole body slipped into my hands.  I placed it on the ground and took another photo to show the entire body.  Unbeknownst to me, the family by this time was thinking I had a opossum for sure.  But I knew better.  This was none other than a good, old-fashioned rat.  As I positioned my phone to take a closeup picture, I noticed more movement.  Not from the ceiling, but from the rat himself.  Would I need to perform CPR?  Rescue breathing?  I knew Galveston Fire and Rescue had been given some animal sized rescue breathing masks, but I was in Waco.  No, he was definitely not still alive, but there was the movement again.  Near his eye socket.  And his nostril.  And out of the eye socket crawled a nice, juicy, plump maggot.  And he was not alone.  Numerous of his friends and relatives followed close behind.  More photos.  More texts.  But success.  I placed one of the mega-deodorizer bags directly on top of where the rat had been.  May as well take it directly to the source.  And then the cleanup began.  Took four of Christi’s perfume-laced garbage bags to hold all the old insulation and the culprit, himself.  I ran the vacuum cleaner several times to get the remnants.  I put the tools away and finally went in to take a much-needed shower. 

By the time I got out it was almost 1:30.  Josh texted to say they were coming to pick me up for a trip to Fuddrucker’s for lunch.  Following that culinary interlude, we returned to the house so the boys could have a rest time.  As we pulled up, there sat our good friends from Arlington, Cary and Kay Lynn Winkle, waiting for us.  It was great to see them again.  We talked for an hour or so, and some of us also dozed a bit.  Finally I rode with the two of them to the hospital with the promise to return soon to pick up Josh and the boys.  Chris joined me for that return trip.  After buckling in all the boys and grabbing a quick pizza to bring with us, we returned to the hospital.  We didn’t stay long that time, though.  The boys were pretty tired, so we piled them and Josh back into the car and got them back home for an earlier bedtime.  Josh stayed at the house so he could get a full night’s sleep before preaching.  Come to think of it, I needed an hour or two of sleep myself.  A rat chaser’s work is hard, stinky, and most assuredly tiring.

Genesis 2:19 says, “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”

Father, thank you for all of those little critters you created, even the ones we aren’t particularly drawn to.  Oh, and thank you for answering our prayer about the location of that smell.  Amen.