ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Scared ****less!!

Well, the day seemed to be going ok - day one of a full rewire in a three up three down semi with cellar.

The cellar hadn't been used for years - in fact the door practically fell to bits when we opened it. The cellar doesn't go under the full 'footprint' of the house; only about half of each house is dug out. Curious arrangement really; and the remainder is just about 12" deep below the floor joists for the rest of the building.

Anyway, we were pulling the old insulation that had been stuffed twixt the floor joists by the previous owner "to stop draughts" ( only had rugs in the downstairs rooms ), and this had been stuffed the full depth of the ledge along the edge the non-cellar bits.

I'm riving away happily (!); pulling this old crap out and handing it back to the boy when...JEEZ... the biggest bloody RAT I have ever seen leapt off the ledge toward my face...

I don't mind saying that I was crapping it! The damn thing latched onto my shirtfront for what seemed like a week . I fell backwards and knocked the halogen tripod over...total darkness....

I don't think I have ever found my way out of a strange building in complete blackout so quickly!! I swear we both made it to the top of the stairs in two steps apiece

It took some time before either of us had the guts to venture down there again - needless to say I was a little more...circumspect about the way I pulled the remaining insul out

I don't think my ticker will stand that sort of assault again!

...edited four speeling...

[This message has been edited by uksparky (edited 07-23-2004).]

Ugh! I'm not sure if having a giant rat run out at you is better or worse than tracing a horrible stench in an attic to the remains of a gigantic electrocuted rat, jaws still wrapped around a cable.

OK, this one we can do..... from BOTH sides of the pond.

About 19 years ago, during a very lean time, a very good friend of mine took on a remodel of a rental house for a business acquaintance. He asked me to fresh up the wiring, after which, finding out I had plumbing skills as well, asked if I would assist in replacing the old piping as well.

This was at the outside edge of a landfill, in a low lying area.

We were crawling under the house in a crawl space about 18", he had told me to "take it REAL slow" as I went ahead of him with copper tubing and a torch. I should add here, for clarity, that both of us were shooting competitively at that time.

I'm crawling on my back, checking out the plumbing in the joists above. He says "George, don't move". We're both wearing coveralls as it's pretty dank and moist under here, and we know each other well enough that when he said "Don't move" I trusted him.

I can see, dimly in the light, that he is reaching inside his coveralls, and retrieves a 9MM pistol.... OK, NOW I'm worried!!!!

He takes aim TOWARDS ME, and I am deafened for several days. I asked him... calmly (and if you believe that...) what he was doing. He pointed behind me, I looked around to see one very large copperhead coiled up... and now deceased.

Knowing these poisonous little ropes are very familial, I decide the plumbing under the house is fine, and needs no further repair.

And having crawled in nearly every hole in the District of Columbia (let's not forget the Pentagon fairly recently) I'm not even gonna START with Rats.

Yikes!

Well at least the only venemous snake indigenous to Britain is the adder. I'm sure our present govt. wouldn't look upon British citizens arming themselves with a gun for a housecall too kindly though. They don't think much of the U.S. 2nd amendment!


Aren't the biggest ones up on Capitol Hill?

Paul,
And may I say that we of the 2nd amendment bend don't think much of your gummints attitude about guns. And increasingly our own for that matter.

You're correct about Capitol Hill, but the 'rats' just REFUSE to eat their poison.

After the "unscheduled landing" at the Pentagon (as my Brit buddy there so eloquently put it) it was kinda 'round the clock'. We would knock off on Saturday night around midnight though.

My normal hours there were usually between 5 am to 2:30 to 3:00 pm. Monday mornings, the rats would have taken back over, and I made sure to make plenty of noise on my way in since I was often the first one there on Monday. We seemed to get along with that arrangment, and neither of us were particularly surprised.

Yeesh... Uhuh, the smell of the dead animal is bad enough out in the open, but in a warm attic...yummy Isn't it amazing how BIG those damn things get!!! We are plagued with mice here...farming country with big old stone walls for them to live in. Every now and again we need to blitz them...with poison. The inevitable result is a house that smells like a butcher's bin for a week or so.

Ha! Amen to that GC! Haven't come across snakes before - but a couple of doozeys of wasps-nests I HATE wasps with a vengeance - if they sting me my joints go like a rusty hinge for a day+. They know this...I know the number of the local exterminator off by heart

Come to think of it Paul, a gun in the toolbox could be handy for the lax payers!!