I wish I had it on film.

Allen and Shawn under the house. (If you're squeamish, you may want to skip this post).

One of our furry "friends" decided to die under the house again--this time under the living room. Allen was brave enough to go under the house on his own to try and find the rat. The entrance to the crawl space is in the back yard (on the other side of the house), so he had a lot to go through to get to the living room. He took his "spider stick" which he uses when he goes into the shed to clear the spider webs. He described under the house as one big mess of spiderweb with huge dead spiders all over. Ugh. That right there is the main reason I will NEVER venture under ANY house. He got to the middle of the house (halfway to his destination) when he heard scurrying right above his head and saw one of our housemates. (Thankfully they're not actually inside the house, though. I wouldn't be able to handle that). He jumped and started swinging his spider stick--That's when I heard the banging. A couple minutes later Allen was back inside the house saying he was going to call the expert--his brother Shawn. (Shawn goes under houses all the time for his job).

A few hours later Shawn and Allen started their expedition. It was about 1 1/2 hours of entertainment for me and the boys. We were in the house and could hear Allen and Shawn as they discussed, screamed, laughed, screeched, and finally found the dead rat, which resulted in a whole lot of yelling and gagging. They ventured ALL over the house--not sure why they didn't stay in the area I told them the dead rat was in, I guess because they couldn't find it right away.

(There is plastic under the floor of the house, and I guess there was a big hole that the rats chewed into it, and made all kinds of nests between the plastic and the floor above. Nice huh? Not really).

Here is one conversation that made me laugh out loud:

Shawn: "Put your head in the hole and look that way."
Allen: "Haha. That's funny, for a second I thought you said put MY head in there."
(Shawn puts his head in the hole).
Shawn: "UGH!!! OH!!! Ahh!! There's like a breeze, and it STINKS!!"
(The boys then put their head in "the hole" a few more times, followed by lots of yelling and gagging, and me laughing.)

There were many episodes of screaming and yelling during that hour-and-a-half, but I knew when they finally found the dead rat because that's when I heard the most yelling.

I really wish I would have had them take a video camera. It would have been fun to see. I'm really greatful to Allen and Shawn for taking care of the problem and giving us a bit of comic relief in the process. Thanks guys!

So, now that I've told this story I'm sure that anyone who comes to our house will only be able to think of the rats scurrying below them. Sorry guys.