2021-05-31
A Million Pieces

A MILLION PIECES
(OF FECES)

Today we focused on some serious rat abatement.

Past efforts were amateurish, compared to what we accomplished today.

In the past, I had relied primarily on the snap traps, but since we had to move in all our worldly possessions to our warehouse, it was time to get serious.

That meant placing rocks and dirt all around the perimeter of the 2,000 square foot shed, in order to close off all access points. That took an hour of shoveling, and that - was the easiest part.

Next, I took a broom and swept under the 18 panels of insulation. But, I later discovered that wasn’t enough, because if you pulled the 8 foot panel up things started to fall out: rat’s nests, dozens of carcasses of poisoned vermin and probably a million pieces of rat shit.

Ugh.

Thus, therefore, then and there I realized I just had to do it - I had to get this over with and finish this task once and for all.

So, with a N-95 mask, long sleeves and a positive attitude- I started all over again. This time, instead of just using the broom, I bent down and pulled each piece up with one hand and rattled the dead rats out and their excrement out with the other and the broom. It was easier now that I realized there was no evidence of anything actually alive in the garage, as nothing had nibbled at the 20 traps we had set for the last 48 hours.

My only real concern was a real concern: the life-threatening Hantavirus.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a serious respiratory disease transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva. According to the CDC, the deadly disease can be contracted by simply breathing in dust that is contaminated with rodent urine or droppings. Let me tell you, there was a lot of dust...

Anyway, a morning later, I’m feeling good and have little concern. I’m happy that we went the extra mile to mitigate a bigger problem.