Sunday, June 24, 2018

the ends of things


There is something dead in the kitchen. It is out of sight and out of reach but by way of odor that is where it must be, behind a wood panel in the cabinet that creates an empty space in the corner that is open to dying vermin. We have no recourse but to suffer through its decomposition. I have no idea why the people that built this house did many of the things they did but Rocky and I marvel at it all the time and by marvel I mean shake our heads in mystification.


I planned to empty the cabinet tomorrow and clean it because it smelled funky but by early evening there was no mistaking that odor and so I emptied it looking for the offender to no avail but it was also the source of the smell so I can only surmise that the little stinker is behind that panel.


It’s not the first time we’ve had to live through a decaying mouse or rat. One died in the wall between the kitchen and my studio and more recently somewhere in the little bathroom since it’s been torn out (never did find it or pinpoint it).

I've given up on the garden. We're nearing the end of June and it is just so hot out there and the garden is across the street in the back and what with my guest and the week of rain and the heat things have gone unharvested...tomatoes rotting on the vine, jalapenos turning red, banana peppers turning orange and the bell peppers never did all that well. I went over yesterday and picked all the corn about a week or more too late, husks drying out and kernels wrinkled and turning brown, 


they all went to the neighbor's chickens 


as well as the last bag of stink bug damaged tomatoes in the refrigerator. It was just too much work cutting out the damaged parts to salvage less than half in some cases. The tomatoes are still edible but the enzyme that stink bugs inject makes them taste sour. Also picked two enormous zucchinis, also chicken food. Probably the last ones I'll get as the plants are starting to succumb to the squash vine borers. Pulled up all the onions which barely got as big as a golf ball and only a few at that. 


The only things still going are the green beans that have put on a new round of blooms but when it gets this hot, they don't really develop well, we'll see, and the japanese eggplant which looks like it is putting on new blooms after I finally took the last three fruits that were not getting bigger, only grayer. I should go over there and pull everything out and give the dirt a rest.

Rocky showed up yesterday and together we worked out the placement of the hex tiles and the blue border because I tend to obsess about tiny details and wanted the pattern to be symmetrical up and down, side to side. 


Took us about three hours, arranging them this way or that way, marking and cutting tile. It's a good thing I got two extra sheets. Not perfect but good enough. And omg that bathroom is little and cramped and hard to work in and hot! But even with all that, I did enjoy working with Rocky on the tile. He got the blue border set before he left yesterday and is here now doing the final trimming on the hex tile and getting it set. 

all set

Then it's finish the grouting and all the tile work will be done and then it's back to finishing out the walls and trim and installing the door, setting the sink and toilet, installing the mirrored cabinet which I have and light fixture which I still need to buy.

This bathroom may just get finished yet.





13 comments:

  1. Waiting out a cycle of decomposition can be eternal. Fortunately, they always died behind the kickboard in the kitchen, a fairly easy room not to use.

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  2. We are living parallel lives except that I don't seem to have anything dead behind a wall at the moment but as you well know, it's happened before and will someday happen again.
    My garden is about fifty yards away from my house and I get completely sweaty just walking that far. Not to mention the ants, mosquitoes and yellow flies. And I'm hardly getting anything anyway. I with you- time to give it up. Probably won't be canning this year unless Mr. Moon buys me some okra up in Georgia.
    And Mr. Moon has all of his tile laid and set! Now for the grout. He hired a friend to do the floor of the shower (not sure why but I do know that the friend is a retired carpenter/tiler) and that shower is small too. Glen found his friend laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. He hadn't eaten all day and laid down before he passed out. He's okay though.
    And then the grout and then the fixtures and then the dresser and sink and...maybe ours too will be done some day.
    And the rose you sent me is thriving! As I said before, it's already bloomed and is putting on new growth like crazy. It must like its new home in Florida.

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    Replies
    1. well, that rose was obviously meant for you. and won't we sing and dance when the bathrooms are done!

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  3. When I can not find the rodent that chose some obscure place to decomposed, giving birth to mega flies...I just set out Room Sponges all over the house, The sort used at the 9/11 site to absorb orders. I get them at the hardware store. Then, I find the left overs as the flies lead me to them, a bit of fur and some minuscule bones at the back of a far away place under the stairs...or a cupboard rarely used. ICK. The builder of your house must have been a man...just sayin'

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    1. how the damn thing got in the house, got in that cabinet, and behind that board is a mystery. what the hell did the little vermin think was back there? I'll have to check out Room Sponges.

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  4. Many I hate to see the waste, not eating much here

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  5. The shower tiles look really good.

    As for the dead whatever (must be tiny?) - any flies yet? There's an a mazing amount of maggots that can grow in a minute decomposing mouse. I am speaking from experience - we have these strange gaps behind the skirting boards at the bottom of the walls and just above the floors. Now all filled with silicone but only after a steep learning curve.

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  6. sorry about the odor. We are having little tiny buggers flying around; like mini tropical fruit bugs, but we haven't had any fruit lying around, so we can't find the source. So annoying!

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    1. check your grains, crackers, flours, etc. in your pantry. we got infested with little moths once.

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  7. After ferreting out the decomposing mouse under the large canning shelves in the cat's room, I now have one disintegrating in my car. I am not a fan of rodents at all. I don't care how cute some of them are thought to be. All I can say is, let's hope it's a mouse. They're small. Little stinker, indeed.

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  9. We have cabinets that are similar, with spaces beneath and behind that are difficult or impossible to access. You gotta wonder what those kitchen designers were thinking!

    Too bad the veg didn't work out well. I wouldn't want to eat a tomato after a stink bug injected something into it, even if I could!

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  10. We found where a mouse had been having quite a party in a couple of our kitchen drawers (the ones with our dishcloths/towels in them). Mike put out some stuff which got eaten, but nothing has died in the house. And no sign of the bugger either. It must have had the good grace to die elsewhere. And this whole subject is just depressing!

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.