Date(s) of Loss: July 19th and August 18th

It was the week the kids were going to vacation bible school when I was getting frustrated with my car. Adam had ordered the factory manuals and was planning on doing a very large overhaul of several "engine-y" things that were strongly suggested per the Honda Pilot scheduled maintenance plan. On top of that, it had been making a myriad of clunky noises in the wheels/bearings/brakes...really, the issue was a mystery. The issue was getting worse and more noticeable with each day and I wanted to just park it and drive the truck until Adam had a chance to give it a good look. To that suggestion he replied..."just drive it!" So, the day I had suggested to "park" it I drove it to drop off and pick up the kids from VBS and got home sometime around 9PM.

The next morning (July 19th) I had some errands in town so we all packed in the car only to find that it wouldn't start. REALLY?! I was irate. I knew it wasn't something I could fix (battery) because it was actually trying to start. So, I just left the car, hopped in the truck, and shed a few ticked-off tears. I had been "giving my car to God" for a few weeks already because I was allowing the issues to continually chip away at my sanity. This time I said an even bigger prayer.
That evening when Adam came home from work he got in the car to try and start it (duh...it didn't start). He opened the hood and started snooping around for problems. After about 1/2 a minute Synnove pipes up and says "I hear a squeak!" The hairs on my arms stood straight up as I began to realize it was a RAT! Not even two months before, my friend had a rat get into her truck that did some damage and another friend had told me a story about a rat that had gotten into the walls of her Explorer and die. I had suggested to Adam that maybe we needed another cat for the shop since Charlie seemed to do a pretty good job in the garage. In fact, I had JUST cleaned the garage the week before and found zero rat/mouse droppings.

This rat was the biggest rat I had ever seen in person that wasn't a pet. AND, it was a momma! It probably had 8-10 fresh babies she was protecting from our reaching hands and tongs. Long story short, we ended up pushing the car out of the garage to try to hose the thing out. We never caught it, but by the next day we were sure it was gone.

Momma Rat

Baby Rats

Because of the contents of the rats nest, I was sure that the rat had only been there since the night before. And, from what was visible, it looked like she had done quite a bit of damage to several wires. Not thinking of the insurance option, Adam thought he would need to rewire everything himself. It seemed daunting, especially with all of the other work he needed to do. It took us a couple of days to get our heads screwed on straight and go the insurance route. We were sooooo happy to discover that "varmint damage" was covered under our comprehensive policy less a small deductible. I didn't get to drive my car for roughly 10 days. The total bill including towing, parts, and labor was about $1800!

A month later (August 18th) I ventured downstairs to go on the computer. During the summer, we spend very little time downstairs and I hadn't really been down there much at all. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs I smelled something rather foul. It wasn't overwhelming, but it smelled like dirty garbage. I started going around the basement sniffing for moldy sandwiches left by the kids. I couldn't find the source until I stepped over to the play area. The carpet was thoroughly soaked. Grrrreeeaaat. It seemed like it was a drain leak, but I wasn't sure if it was that or the outside hose. I had a lot going on that day and couldn't really deal with it. I pried off the panel that exposes the kitchen sink plumbing. The pipes weren't wet but there was a bunch wet sand everywhere complete with earthworms...gross! I pulled up the carpet, set up fans and left the house. I didn't even check Synnove's room for water (too scatterbrained I guess) but I was positive water had gotten underneath her new laminate floor.

Again, like with the car, I wasn't thinking of insurance. It wasn't until later in the afternoon when I was at my sister's coffee shop that I was convinced by my mom to call insurance asap. After a crazy series of phone calls the water was cleaned up and the claim was started. That evening Adam tested the drain and it seemed to be working. I took that as a go ahead to do some dishes the next day...but I shouldn't have. I found lots more water an hour later. I cleaned it up with my little carpet cleaner and ripped out even more pad. Because of some miscommunication, a plumber wasn't called until 2 days after I first found the water. The plumber was from Knappa, so he stopped at my house after work on Friday to inspect. He was sure it was a cracked drain pipe under the slab and he couldn't fix it till Monday. I was OK with that. He gave me a write-up to send to the insurance company to get things moving.

Bright and early Monday morning, the plumber showed up and fixed the crack within 2 hours. I was so happy because I was hoping that the smell of garbage that was now permeating throughout the house would finally subside. Unfortunately, he deduced from the look and smell of the surrounding sand that the crack had been there for several months and was allowing water to pass through for a while until it got too clogged. Insurance doesn't cover old cracks. So, my dream of having new carpet in my basement literally went down the drain.

What the playroom looked like when the plumber was there

The cracked pipe removed...

UPDATE on the car: Adam spent all of last week (he took a week off) doing the scheduled maintenance. He did a great job and I'm very impressed with his skills! However, most, if not all, the creaks and clunks are still there. The issue is still a mystery.

UPDATE on the basement: There is still a smelly hole that needs to be cemented. I'm hoping Adam will be able to fix that before I host Bible Study next Tuesday. Unfortunately, he's leaving for a 3-day bachelor party tomorrow.

Adam is just ONE man...and he can't do it all! Poor guy :( If only we could hire these things done!