Saturday, February 14, 2009

Foggy Morning and pitty pat of little feet

The other morning there was a blanket of fog over the river valley. It looked as though you could walk across the fog. It was quite beautiful.



We have several campers here for Valentine's week-end and most of the rentals are occupied. We would be full, but we had 2 early check-outs due to a slight rodent infestation in the Cliffhouse and one of the Yurts. Now Steve and I checked the Cliffhouse yesterday because we knew we had arrivals and we found a mouse in one trap which Steve disposed of. We had been noticing evidence of them for awhile now and Ande has had the exterminator in several times to put out traps. Last time we cleaned it we noticed that "something" had unrolled almost the whole roll of toilet paper, and some of it was shredded. I assume it was looking for nesting material. The house is in the woods and unfortunately offers many opportunities for small woodland creatures to come and go as they please. Steve put the trap (it was a sticky pad) up in the laundry room in a spot that he thought was "out of the way." Unfortunately he didn't realize that mice are quite acrobatic, so apparently a mouse got stuck on it right before the family checked in and was there to greet them when they arrived!

We had some concerns about this family when they first called to make reservations. First the husband called looking for a cabin for his family which included a young son and a set of 18 month old twins (who were screaming bloody murder the whole time he was on the phone, I heard them because Ande put them on speakerphone.) She explained to him that we had a small cabin and a large one, but that they were not extremely "toddler-friendly."He said he'd "get back with us." Then his wife called to confirm the reservation (with twins screaming in the background during her call also.) In the course of the conversation, she mentioned that they live in a 10,000 sq. ft. house.

Ande suggested they rent the Cliffhouse thinking they would be accustomed to having lots of room. They proceeded to tell Ande they would be arriving late, they weren't sure when and they wanted to pay for with cash, rather than putting it on their credit card. We all had a funny feeling they would be "high maintenance" and they were! The Cliffhouse is unique and it's one of those places people either love or hate. Luckily for Ande, most people love it, but every so often you get some people who just don't quite understand its quirks. (Like rodents, and cobwebs.)

So, they spent one evening and left early this morning. Later in the day, a young couple who were checking into yurt 1 found a dead mouse in one of the sticky traps. Matt had turned the heat on in the yurt but didn't think to check the rodent traps.

Unfortunately, I think we could check on things minutes before people arrive, and still manage to have a rodent running through at some inopportune time. I guess I would be creeped out if I were going to rent a place as a romantic hide away and then have to worry about listening to the pitty pat of mousey feet all night.

And the real bummer s that we will have to clean everything - 3 yurts, 2 cabins and the Cliffhouse! That will keep us busy for the next few days.

1 comment:

dc said...

I don't really have a comment...so I'm just commenting so you know I'm reading and want you to keep the posts coming! I enjoy your writing style :) There, that's a comment.