Rat in the house!!!

Tuesday morning we woke up to a nasty smell! At first we weren't sure what it was, but we had a pretty good idea. The rest of the day the smell grew worse and worse. It was awful! The smell was coming from above our ceiling in our bedroom, near our AC. We wondered if an animal had somehow gotten into our AC, so we called the AC company and they weren't going to be able to come for two days. We were pretty disappointed, because the smell wasn't going to go away. Well, at the youth center Luke talked to a couple kids about it and persuaded them that they should come over and help him look for "whatever" was up there. They seemed excited about the opportunity, but Luke wasn't for sure if they were serious or not. We were at a friend's for dinner on Wednesday night, and Luke had to run home to get the desert and there were the four boys ringing our door bell, with flashlight, gloves, and a paper sack, ready to find whatever was up there. So, they hauled the ladder up the stairs, started in our bathroom, and popped open the ceiling, and the search was on. The first boy went up, but he was too short, he couldn't see over the wall into the other room where the smell was coming from. So his older brother went up, but he didn't really want to find whatever was up there. This whole time the smell continued to become stronger and stronger. Finally, Luke went up the ladder and looked around, and come to find out there was insulation above our bedroom ceiling. The first piece of insulation was all messed up, giving away the animals hiding spot. When Luke pulled the insulation back he found the cause of the smell. Needless to say, it was a dead rat! Luke put on one of the gloves, grabbed the tail, and very carefully lifted it up and slid it into the paper sack one of the boys was holding under the ladder. It was awesome! We found it, and the boys loved it! We were very excited to get rid of the animal. The smell is still lingering a bit today, but we sprayed some stuff up there, and we continue to burn candles, hoping it will be gone soon. The stinking hot weather sure doesn't help remove smells like that, actually it kind of helps the smell sink into everything. Sorry, maybe that was too revealing! Anyway, Mr. Rat is gone, and we are very happy about that! Remember, if you think it smells like a dead animal, then it probably is, especially if the smell is consistent for a couple of days! Later. I'm sure some of you have similar stories, go ahead and share if you want, we would love to read about them.