This past weekend my family and I had a new type of DIY experience! We started smelling a VERY bad smell in our kitchen, which continued to worsen as the days passed. I was checking the trash cans, garbage disposal, everything I could think of in order to track down the smell that was beginning to make our family steer clear of the kitchen when at all possible! When we got close to the oven and even opened the cabinets, we wanted to gag! So on Saturday, we went DIY! We headed to the hardware store for a sheet rock knife, rubber gloves, odor removal block, plaster mix and sheet rock tape. My husband and I removed the oven from the wall and the dog showed us where to cut.
Here’s what we saw once the hole was cut and the cause of the smell was found.
It is very hard to see because of the sheet rock dust that fell inside the hole while we were cutting, but he is in there! Can you guess how big he is?
After seeing the picture, we knew we’d found the culprit, but we had NO idea what we were going to pull out of that hole! My husband started fishing around with his hand when he felt his fingers go inside its’ mouth! He immediately pulled out of there and found its’ head and then realized that whatever was in there was much bigger than we had thought! The opossum was stuck inside the wall and my husband was really hoping that we had caught it soon enough for the whole body to come out with all the tugging that was needed to get him out of the wall. Then, out he came and I threw down my Wal-Mart sized bags and was yelling to get him out of the house! The opossum was bleeding on my kitchen floor and he was WAY too big to put inside a Wal-Mart sack!
Can you believe this was inside my kitchen wall?
Now the hole is patched up, the mess is cleaned up and the oven is back in place. A faint smell is still lingering, but at least no one is gagging and the opossum has been removed DIY style. Have you ever had anything die inside your walls? If so, how did you get it out and what was it?
holy guacamole girl! your life is nothing if not interesting! i don’t know who i feel sorrier for…the poor thing that died in your wall or ya’ll for having to provide the funeral! wow!
The opossum funeral was one that will definitely not be forgotten!
Oh, Bobbie Ann, you know that I can relate to the possum story. I just can’t post about it on my blog because of Gracie! She would have us moving and that is NO joke. I pray that my possum made his way out the way it came in. I did exactly what ACE hardware told me to do. I haven’t smelled anything yet, but you never know. I still stop and think before I open the pantry door, half expecting to see that opossum. Ick!
If you’ve patched up the hole already and haven’t smelled anything that your opossum didn’t get trapped inside 🙂
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