Dear reader:  At the risk of me causing you feelings of general icky-ness, I’ll let you know now – if you continue to read today’s post you will shortly see pictures of a few dead animals.

but not here

I’m not talking anything overly gross or graphic – just a few critters that made our attic their final resting place.  If you follow us on Facebook, you’ve already seen the picture of a starling that met it’s maker in our roof – so it’s nothing worse than that.

It certainly not unexpected, either.  We bought our previous house directly from the builder and I can’t begin to tell you how many mice and voles we caught in the ten years we lived there.  Even the brand new, shiny, modern construction practices and materials were no match for those determined rodents – so obviously over the past 100-plus years, a few varmints would find their way into our old island home.

not here, either

So with that being said, we’ve obviously gotten through the layers of drywall, plaster and lath and are now exposing the insulation and framing.  That’s when we uncover this….

“I’m not putting my hand in there! YOU put your hand in there!”

and this….

A-maze-ing. Get it?

There are innumerable tunnels, burrows and nests in the insulation.   What more could a little critter want than to be cozily nestled in a pocket of warm insulation?

We found birds.  Lots of birds.  Big ones, little ones, whole ones and partial ones – but they were all old, dry and dusty.   Each kind of like a little avian Tutankhamen – if you can imagine our insulation was the desert sand and our attic a pyramid.

Here. Here they are.

Then there was the squirrel.   Yep.  Vanessa didn’t know exactly what she was holding in her hand.  A big clump of “hair.”  A wad of chewed up newspaper.  And then the revelation: teeth, nose, eyes….OHMYGAW-

sorry you had to see that

I almost felt sorry for the little guy.  Almost.  Then I saw this.

What a dirty….

And this.

little….

And this.

RAT!

That little bugger could have destroyed the house before we even got to buy it.  Wires stripped of their casing all over the attic.  Not a big problem in the broader scope of our repairs – we were going to rewire the majority – if not all – of the house anyhow.

But I digress.  So, demolition continues.  Soon, we’ll have the majority of the second level exposed and ready for repairs.  I’m so looking forward to getting to build something rather than tear down.  But there’s still quite a ways to go.

As soon as the weather warms a bit and the ground thaws, we start on the foundation.  Really, it’s the first thing we need to do in the reconstruction of the house.  After we raise the house and jack the floors level again, we can start the framing and drywall repairs.  And I can have something else to write about.

I hope you can bear with us through the demolition.  Perhaps not the most exciting or interesting stage of a renovation, but just as necessary as any other step.  I’m already planning the next few posts and I’ve got a few interesting things in mind.

In the meantime, I just finished setting up our Facebook page.  Please look for Our Old Island Home on Facebook and “Like” it.

“Like” it

I’ll be using our Facebook page to fill in some of the gaps between these blog posts – daily updates, photos and some of my favorite renovation ideas we find around the interweb.  We’ll also be having an occasional contest or giveaway – so remember:

Facebook – Our Old Island Home – “Like” it…..or else, ol’ mister bird-mummy will haunt your dreams!

“Don’t close your eyes”