Happy Holidays

Our holiday card is a little different this year...

This was not the way we anticipated doing it, but this group has made it as painless as possible. They were under the house tearing out all the old  ductwork and replacing it with metal ducts. They were in the attic taking out the old heater and installing the new heat pump. And it is raining. 

Although originally we thought they would have to do the rodent abatement and clean up first, it seems an agreement was reached to go ahead with the heat pump and ductwork and do the clean up afterwards, resulting in horrible working conditions made even worse by having to wear full hazmat suits and respirators. They were a cheerful lot, considering....

Ian, the pest control guy, came and explained what his company would do to clean up the space under the house. We thought the rats were gone from the attic but he went up and checked and said there was 'evidence' that they has been up there in the last two weeks also.We have had one pest control service or another almost as long as we have lived here, and have concluded that most of them are useless. Ian said that most of them have been purchased by a single company . This whole debacle occurred under the watch of one such service which has now been summarily fired. I commented that I couldn't believe I hadn't heard them and Ian said that they are living in the lap of luxury in a bed of blown in cellulose (think chopped up old t-shirts) and we wouldn't be likely to hear them.

In the immortal words of every pest control guy we've ever spoken to, and we've dealt with a lot...'rats are everywhere'. I think we may finally have found a company that stands by their promise to make sure they don't get into the house again, but of course it doesn't come cheap.

The installation crew will be back tomorrow to finish the job. That was a surprise too, since we thought it would take them at least three days. They vacuumed and swept, picked up all their tarps and floor mats  I almost burst into tears when a nice young man came to tell me they were leaving for today  and left three electric space heaters since there is no heat tonight.

Hard to believe that just two days ago I noticed some fluffy stuff...fiberglas duct insulation as it turns out...coming out of the furnace grate....

Maybe tomorrow I can get back to worrying about Christmas ....