When life hands you lemons...

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When life hands you lemons sometimes there isn't enough sugar on Earth to make a good lemonade.  Sometimes you just need to toss the lemons and grab yourself a refreshing apple cider.  And so we begin packing boxes as we ready to move... again.  I know, I know... we just moved!  We have only been in our Cherryland cottage for less than 6 months.  We knew when we moved in that it had "character".  That was part of the charm... but also why it was so affordable.  We didn't mind the little projects to make it our own.  We prefer unique to cookie-cutter.  But some things are just too big to handle.

We have rats.  Or rather we have done our best to create a rat barrier around our cottage to avoid having rats.  There are 2 other buildings on this same property.  Separated by fences, but all owned and rented by the same landlord.  The other 2 properties have long term tenants that are both hoarders.  We have had very limited experience in the past with hoarders - so we really didn't expect that their hoards would impact our lives.  Yeah, it's gross to look towards the house on the front of the lot and see old newspapers and rags stuffed in the windows... but the hoard is contained within the house - so not really our problem, right?  Sure it's strange to look out our bedroom window and see piles of bicycle parts, lawn mowers, old tools, etc at the other cottage next door - but we keep those curtains closed anyway and LOL when we make Sanford & Son jokes.  So no big deal, right?

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We were so wrong.  What we didn't know when we moved in was their hoard extends beyond their property.  Apparently both roof rats and Norway rats love hoards.  And apparently hoarders don't mind rats all that much either.  So after months of battling with the rats, the landlord, and the neighbors it comes down to this - a quote from our landlord, "It's easier to get rid of rats than people."  In other words, he's not going to try to resolve what is causing the rats - the hoarders - but rather give a half-hearted attempt at fighting the rats at our cottage.

This isn't good enough for us.  We are clean and neat people.  We can tolerate a lot.  We have dealt with all of the "quirks" at this cheap little bungalow, but we cannot deal with rats.  So...  the packing begins again.  We have found a lovely, 1 bedroom house about a mile away.  It's a little smaller in some places (bedroom, office), but a little bigger in others (bathroom, kitchen).  It has hardwood floors - which we love.  It has a nice little yard, so we can still have bar-b-ques and campfires.  And it even has a cute, little front porch - which I look forward to adding my bohemian touch to.  We have already met some of the neighbors and they are delightful.

We appreciate the sour experience we have had here at Cherryland cottage and have learned some valuable lessons that I believe will help us in the future with home buying.  But we look forward to our first night in our new home without critters in the ceiling and walls.  It will be the first good night's sleep we've both had in far too long.

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I know we all have crazy rental stories - what sort of problems have you experienced?  How did you resolve it?  Tell me!  Misery loves company.  ;-)