Don't we have enough pets already? (4/5/06)

A few weeks ago Dave noticed that a big chunk was missing out of the side of our house. He figured it was wind damage from one of our many high-wind storms that we've had recently.

Last week we had two guys come out to prepare estimates for us for a new roof and new siding or repair of the siding. Both of them thought that the hole was due to animals - not wind.

Fan-fricken-tastic.

We had figured that we would get the roof and siding done in the fall, HOWEVER, one of the guys told us that we needed to do it as soon as possible because the animals are getting to it because the siding is rotting near the roof (it is wood siding) and if we were to get it repaired AND get the new roof it would fix the issue of it rotting where the two meet (make sense?). That guy also stuffed some stuff in the hole to temporarily keep the animals away, but told me to keep an eye on it.

Last night, 2:30am: Brady is barking, barking, barking. Not just a simple "woof" - BARKING, like there is a person or something outside. Then we hear banging - not car door banging, not like something hitting something else, Banging, like thumping. Thump. Thump. Bark, Bark, Bark. The chorus went on for 5 minutes. Dave went downstairs to find out what was going on - he didn't see anything. Sleep. 4:30am: The chorus begins again. Thump. Thump. Bark, bark, bark. 5 minutes, we're back to sleep.

I looked in the attic this afternoon - there wasn't anything there (the guy told me that it was probably squirrels getting into our attic). I went out onto the roof - the hole is bigger and they've started taking insulation out. The hole does NOT go to the attic, but is right on the other side of the Georgia's bedroom wall - the wall where her crib is. I'm sick to my stomach. We don't know if there is anything in the wall or if they're just trying to get in. I also suspect that it is racoons - I don't think squirrels can pull things away from the wall and make the kind of noises we heard last night. So I'm upset and a bit frightened - can they dig through to the other side and get into Georgia's room?

I called the roofer and asked for the quote asap so we could get it taken care of right away. I'm sick of animals - the dog barks non-stop in the afternoon. The fish are dying left and right (just lost another one yesterday), and now we have unwanted racoon guests... No More Please!!!