OTTERLY RIDICULOUS

You may have heard me talk about Chico. This is/was our brother’s house. When he passed we kept it as a family gathering place and share it as a place to stay. One day in January my sister was there and smelled a very bad smell.

We went through the obvious checklist.
Was there a dry p-trap?
Did a sewer line break?
Is something amiss with the septic tank?

Yeah. It was that bad.

I was already down south by this point so further investigation would land in my sister’s lap. The next step was pest control. And here’s where things get crazy.

After a crawl space inspection and scat app research it was supposed that we had otters living under the house.
”No way” we said. “It’s got to be raccoons or opossums. CAN’T be OTTERS!”

But then we saw the security camera footage.
Turns out it wasn’t just a couple otters. It was six!

So for the last couple months we—the pest control guys, the crawl space cleaners and my sister—have been contending with some smelly room mates (otters eat fish and shellfish so you can probably imagine). Pest control installed a one-way door and the crawl space cleaners have shown up more than once only to find that there is still….yet…another few otters under the house.

Two weeks ago we witnessed a mass exodus on the security camera. My sister alerted us to watch the recording. She was excited yet cautiously optimistic because we could really only count four otters leaving the house. Now, I need to add here that at this point my sister has lost all tolerance for these weasels. They smell bad. They made the house smell bad. And they won’t leave—not to mention that every time she makes an appointment to get the crawl space cleaned they can’t because yes—you guessed it—more otters are still under the house.

Back to today.
The crawl space cleaners came down once again to sanitize the basement apartment and what did the find? Yep. An otter. An otter under the house. But this time there’s a twist. This time the otter is having pups! Normally, this would be a very exciting zoological experience if we haven’t been trying to evict these guys for three months now…

So the story is yet to be finished and the smell is yet to be disappeared. This has all been “otterly” ridiculous and unbelievable. Every week is another new and exciting update in the saga. And I imagine my sister at Bill-Murray-Caddyshack-level at this point.

Yes, they are smelly and murdery—but!
After all of this, I have to admit that I really want to see some baby otters. Ssssshhh!
( Don’t tell my sister I said that ).