Of Mice and Linoleum

The mice have multiplied. Oh dear. Opened my oven to see at least 3 little pairs of eyes staring back at me. Starting to smell a little bit too. I figure I may as well wait until I put in new insulation and start to wrap it up before trying to get rid of them. I would assume they would just get into the new insulation and it would be a frustrating cycle.

Mouse living quarters.

Land O' Linoleum

It's just me and my stepdad today. I have a blast ripping up the old linoleum. Kind of like peeling an apple and seeing how much you can get in one long strip. Quite satisfying. My niece comes by and helps me out a little bit. Squatting for two hours while doing this was not the best idea in the world. Seriously had a bit of a challenge walking the next day~ouch! Maybe also would have been a good idea to wear a dust mask. Oh well, next trailer!

My little helper :)

We got the front aluminum panel off ok, but the back was a bit of a, well, a bitch. The two pieces of metal didn't just overlap, but wound around one another. We considered leaving it all one piece with the top (which would have made it difficult and awkward to remove) or cutting it. We finally decided to at least attempt prying it open then lifting up and back and it worked!! I love problem solving :) I kinda felt a little badass, not going to lie. :P

Resident Critters

Found knife and soap...not really a good sign

My beloved red chair

What happens when the windows are broken

No, there wasn't a fire!

Let's get down to the nuts and bolts...and the dry rot

Renters

So today is the day!!! Where to start where to start?  I just jump and down because we are finally going to dive in. I know that we need to peel the skin back, so I guess we should just grab a couple of screwdrivers and have at it. I kind of have a plan of action. Take off the front and back metal panels, then the top. Then replace all the damaged panels and put it back together. Then start on the inside. Sounds simple and easy! :/  The screws have been painted heavily over and don't want to budge. The guys start with the front window and panel. Woohoo!!!! The process has begun! I feel like I should have smashed a bottle of champagne on her or something, but we'll save that for the last day when we officially christen her. So many little spider critters live in my trailer. Little spiky egg sacs that I've learned are brown widows. That's ok. I'm glad they feel welcome. Although they will have to find another home before I move in.

Yay!! First screws are out!

Here we go...

Goofy

Inside door

Window frame~ Ooh, she was turquoise

My friend, Ben, didn't waste any time

It's going to take days to get these screws out!

Ben assessing

I have no idea what I have gotten myself into, but I'm really excited about it!

Made an interesting discovery today. I opened up the oven, peeked inside and then closed it. Took me a second to realize that I had just seen two mice nests in there when there had never been anything there before. Oh yippee! Critters! What a most wonderful way to begin. I felt honored that they wanted to make their home in my trailer. Why is my whole family looking at me like I'm crazy? They should know me by now. I felt so bad that we had been so loud, they must have been so frightened. My stepdad removes one (empty) and tries to remove the other but the mouse runs away so we leave her little bed. Minutes later, I hear screeching and I open a cupboard to find a tiny little grey mouse just screaming his head off, all alone. I freak out and we try to figure out a way to get it back into the nest. A little garden shovel? No! It would chop its feet off. We see a fly swatter and we attach a "My Name is Earl" birthday card that is lying there for support. We prepare the attempt and I really hope this doesn't turn out badly. We turn around for just a second and when we look back, he's gone! Apparently momma used this opportunity to snatch him up. Big sigh of relief. No mice would die today.