We are SOOOO moving

Greetings and salutations,

I have just returned from a basement expedition to retrieve a picture frame from one of our storage bins. We have about 12 large, rubbermade bins on a homemade shelf that Chris constructed. The bins hold Chris's contractor supplies, Christmas decorations, camping gear, and our records.

Several months ago, as some of you heard, we placed an enormous tarp over our shelf of bins. While I was very pregnant, I discovered one day that something--of a urine nature--was leaking down over our things, from nowhere other than the first floor. We suspected the first floor dog, the owners dog, was being left for too many hours alone, and was either protesting, or just unable to hold it any longer. After scrubbing all of our bins clean, I went out and got the tarp to insure that our things wouldn't get sprayed again.

This past weekend, our next great basement adventure was the discovery of standing water, pooled underneath the washing machine and the large freezer next to it. I was going to do laundry at the time of the discovery, and hoped that the washing machine was not the source of the water. It turned out that it wasn't. The freezer...that had been completely filled with ice from never being defrosted properly...had been unplugged a month ago when the wall plug overloaded. Keep in mind, it was our landlady who unplugged the freezer and replaced the wall plug for the washing machine and dehumidifier. But this past weekend, she was mystified as to why there was standing water in the basement, and surprised when we reminded her that the freezer had been unplugged. Chris and I spent most of our Friday night using his wet-vac, removing a wet carpet and bleaching the floor where the water had stood, and writing carefully worded emails to our landlady. To little avail...by the next day, the pool of water had returned, and we threw up our hands to have to keep cleaning it.

Okay, so today...I went to look for a picture frame for one of Owen's photos. I leaped over the standing water, peered under the great tarp, and what do I see in the dim shadows beneath the tarp on the shelf at eye level...droppings. If they were mouse droppings, then I am reminded of the Sylvester the Cat cartoon with the "giant mouse". Perhaps we have a baby Kangaroo living in our basement now?? (Send Phoebe down after it, only to see her come back white as a ghost, stammering, "M-m-m-ouse, GIANT M-m-m-mouse!")



As I mentioned above, we are soooooo moving. Will keep you posted, if something large in the basement doesn't eat me first!

(Now that everyone who reads this is thoroughly disgusted, just be very glad we are not going to ask any of you to come move our stuff)