Saturday, November 14, 2015

Fall Cleaning and Relocations

Usually spring is the cleaning season, but we picked fall for our storage shed on shore because it was time to put away our summer things.

Before everything was a mess and hard to reach.
The shed is suspended just about the high water mark next to the stairs leading to the upper cliff. Here we store things that can't be harmed by small critters like squirrels, mice, and woodrats (packrats). The shed has become quite full with things we no longer need or want, so one sunny fall day Wayne and I tackled this messy chore.

We hauled everything out and created two piles, trash and save. Fortunately the trash pile was larger than the save one.

Now everything is organized on shelves and in barrels.

Everything that comes up the lake has to stay, or go back down the lake to the dump. We bagged everything from old carpet remnants from when John built our cabin in 1999 to deflated water toys from summers gone by. Made me wonder who the packrats really are.

The empty shed got a good sweeping high and low. Over the years woodrats have used our shed to store their winter food supplies, and the hidden piles of foliage and scattered droppings left a huge mess on shelves and in back corners.


We purchased a small table at Canadian Tire to give us more storage space and easy access. The results were amazing, neat, tidy and clean. We vowed to keep it that way from now on.

Woodrat's cedar nest.
We started noticing that the cedar tree on our deck had branches missing. On the way down the hill, Wayne stopped in at the shed. This is what he discovered. Ms. Woodrat had moved back into her now clean home and used our beautiful tree (and many others) to made a sweet smelling cedar nest.

Ms. Woodrat ready for her boat ride to a new home.

So, it was time to catch Ms. Woodrat and take her on a boat trip across the lake. We want to save our beautiful cedar tree and other deck plants, and we want to keep our clean shed neat and rodent free. The only problem, where there's one woodrat there can be many. It may be a long fall of cleaning and relocating until winter finally arrives. -- Margy

20 comments:

  1. A goo job completed. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a cute critter. I can understand you want the shed to be critter free. I hope you win the battle. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your post. Have a happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It happens every year and seems to be a never ending battle. Fortunately it lasts for a month or so in the spring and then once again in the fall. During summer and winter they go somewhere else. - Margy

      Delete
  3. I hope you enjoy life on the other side of the water, Mrs. Woodrat! (And stay there, content!)
    ~

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adios Ms Woodrat, hope you or your relatives don't find the way back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've taken a lot over to the Sandy Beach about a klick away. We swear they start hiking immediately and make it back to our cabin withing 24 hours. Either that or there's a huge colony nearby that fills the gap almost immediately. - Margy

      Delete
  5. Great project - we - the "royal we" - since I just watched and gave advice - cleaned our shed this summer - funny how things get cluttered so easily - all is tidy now - and fortunately - so far - we don't have any pack rats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I said, we may be the worst packrats of all. They say teachers are the worst for that particular activity. - Margy

      Delete
  6. Did that with Cgipmunks here one year - they decided they could live inside the house!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a packrat in the house one night, but I left the door open and he/she fortunately left before dawn. - Margy

      Delete
  7. Hope you don't have anymore woodrats. Great job in tidying up the shed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are a hoot! "Made me wonder who the packrats really are."
    Indeed. I know I need to move some stuff! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I said to JoAnn, I've heard that teachers are the worst. - Margy

      Delete
  9. I love this post! Your lifestyle is so different and I love reading about what you have to do to accomplish things most others take for granted! Loved seeing Mrs. Woodrat! Glad she's being moved to a new home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Marie - It was a huge change of lifestyle for us, but one for the better. - Margy

      Delete
  10. seems a lot of work.... a gratefull one too.

    Wishing you all the best.

    Have a nice ABC-day/-week
    ♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ <abc-w-team)

    ReplyDelete
  11. We had packrats that would winter in the back shed portion of the cabin. Every year we waged a battle trying to keep them out and every year they won! As soon as we removed one another would move in - good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've read that they are very territorial, only sharing space between mother and daughters. I know what you mean about removing one and another moving right in. What's even worse than their piles of vegetation is the smell of their urine. I can always tell by opening the door if someone has recently moved in. - Margy

      Delete
  12. Thanks everyone for visiting my critter post this week. It's hard to hate such a cute little guy that's squirrel-like. I just wish they would eat the forest food and not my garden goodies. - Margy

    ReplyDelete

We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy