| You may have read in previous articles about my | | | | it up, I saw the "black twistie" on the floor slither into |
| basement water leak problem that turned into a | | | | the wall. Understand this; I HATE SNAKES. I hate |
| cleanup nightmare after leaving the damage there for | | | | them with a passion and am terrified of them. I |
| about 2 years. I definitely don't recommend doing | | | | immediately dropped the vacuum and went |
| anything so foolish. If you suspect water damage to | | | | screaming up the stairs, called my husband and told |
| your carpet, walls, furniture, anything, then please | | | | him we were moving out of the house TODAY. To |
| attend to it immediately to prevent further disaster. | | | | his credit he came home immediately and spent the |
| Anyway, after waiting far too long to get my 10 | | | | morning snake hunting, filling holes in the foundation |
| year old Berber carpet professionally cleaned, mostly | | | | (both inside and out) and going through every box |
| because I incorrectly assumed it would take too long | | | | and furniture item in the basement to make sure it |
| and be too expensive to manage, we finally got an | | | | was safe for me. It was just a baby garter snake, |
| estimate and found out it would only be $100 to | | | | but I don't care. They have brothers and sisters and |
| remove all the rust and mold stains from the old | | | | a big ugly mommy snake somewhere closeby and |
| water damage in the carpet. The biggest hurdle for | | | | I'm not happy about it. That one is now dying inside |
| us was taking out all the furniture, boxes, knicknacks, | | | | my basement wall, but I don't feel quite safe yet. My |
| books and other items that were filling the room that | | | | safe haven house has been violated by this reptile |
| needed cleaning. That room didn't look so bad, so | | | | and now I'll see it everywhere I go. |
| why was it suddenly such a huge project to clean it | | | | The carpet is being cleaned in a couple of days and |
| out? | | | | I'm anxious to get everything back where it belongs. |
| One thing that needed to be done was a good | | | | We're using this opportunity to throw away things |
| vacuuming because when the room was cleaned out | | | | we don't need, rearrange furniture and add an |
| we found the dust, debris and dead bugs that | | | | exercise area. Then maybe I'll be able to run even |
| needed removing. So one morning I went into the | | | | faster next time I see one. |
| storage room to get the vacuum and when I picked | | | | |