Birds and rodents and flies...oh my

Apparently we are not the only ones interested in moving in to the house. Last month we were mystified by an odor on the 3rd floor that would not go away. We thought it might be the new carpet and pad, but when we got down on the floor, we didn't smell the odor in the carpet. We tried leaving windows open which helped, but at night we had to close them and in the morning the smell was back. Finally, Lee and I went into the mechanical room to see if the smell was in there. No smell, but I heard birds chirping. But I couldn't see any birds. We gave up for the moment and went off to do other things. Later, Lee came to tell me, in his very low-key way, "you have birds in the house". Great. They found a couple of holes way up in the eaves. Bill found one nest with a single bird in it, and then another nest with babies. Bill managed to remove the babies in their nest and placed them outside where the mother did find them and I'm sure there was a happy ending. The other bird was also evicted. Holes were filled and eventually the smell went away.

When Emily and David and family were here to visit we all stayed in the house, along with Sarah and Jon and Joshua. It was fun - we had bedrooms and bathrooms and TV's and not much more. Except of course the mouse (or was it a rat?) I first saw it in the basement Friday night jumping out of a trash bag. I really just saw a longish, gray streak and it did seem a little too furry too long to be a mouse. On Saturday, Peter, Joshua and I went to visit friends and when we came back, Sarah and Jon said they saw a mouse (or was it a rat?)run across the kitchen floor and under the stove. On Monday I called the exterminator who left glue traps and bait, but we never saw the little rodent again. At least I didn't. It was Bill's job to check the traps every morning - he gets all the fun stuff - and after the first day, I chose not to ask questions.

Last Sunday, after being in Montreal for several days, Peter and I went to the house where we were greeted in the basement by ALOT of flies. Some were dead, some were just lounging around and some were lazily flying. We looked for a dead body but couldn't see or smell one. On Monday the flies were upstairs in the family room. Bill thought they probably were just coming in out of the cold. I called my friends the exterminator who corroborated what Bill diagnosed. They seem to be gone now - just 6 dead ones in the indoor outdoor room by the door.

Could someone please remind me why I want to leave my birdless, rodentless, flyless apartment in Boston????

Maybe this is why. The following posts have a few photos that don't really do justice to the fabulous job the team has done(That is if I can figure out how to do this - or else I'll post the photos tonight when I am home on my own computer)