mobile home, burned brownies, tackyness on a whole new level

So here is a brief attempt at an update. We're still in the process of moving. We acquired an old 1969 mobile home for only $300 and we just got it moved over to our new land last Thurs. With the help of our neighbor Dean, Billy and I got it leveled and up on block on Sat. morning, and all afternoon until it was too dark to see inside, we worked. We tore out a mountain of rat poo and dust laden ugly brown 70s carpet and uncovered a mostly solid plywood floor and some old vinyl floor that was still in okay shape. A lot of the ceilings need to be replaced and the roof needs to be patched at least and as soon as we can do it, replaced. After getting the carpet out, which was in every room, even the bathroom, and even on the floors inside all of the cabinets, we've started the bleaching and scrubbing the hell out of everything task. I spent all day Sun. scrubbing the living room and hallway top to bottom. The living room may be ready to paint in a few days. After the living room, we're going to focus on the kitchen, which still need a lot of deep cleaning and some cabinet removal or repair, and a new stove/oven, which we may be getting from our neighbor's appliance salvage yard. Now we just need to round up an affordable and functional propane fridge.

We're having lots of fun deciding on paint colors and room lay outs and stuff. Imagining the end product is what is sustaining me on these long stinky days of scrubbing, and there are sure to be many long days to come. Today we're taking a day off of the new house to let ourselves recover. My throat is feeling pretty rough. We used face masks for all of the obvious tasks, but you still breath in a lot of shit, and the smell and taste of rodent shit, dust, mold, old wood and simple green lingers long after.

Here's a list of all the fun things we've found in the trailer so far:

empty natural light case and cheap cheap liquor bottles,

dog food and rat bait crammed into a cup like light fixture, which has inspired a new flavor of trail mix,

bright bubblegum pink carpet in the bathroom... whoa,

a complete fondue set still in the box in plastic,

taped up brass knuckles hidden on top of the built in bookshelves near the ceiling, now that's something you don't find everyday,

an entire dead mouse family resting atop a bed of burned brownies, or so Billy described in between gagging and puking noises,

the wood paneled support beams across the ceiling in the living room are not actually support beams, they're decoratively nailed to the inside walls over the lovely cheap motel room floral wallpaper trim hmmm...,

multiple shades of pink brand new mini blinds to match the modeled brown shag carpet,

and solid wood in many places we expected to find particle board.

Pictures coming soon.