the clue--a shrew

I asked what the pest guy is doing coming by early January.  He found a reason.  Apparently one pest was moving about.  An adolescent rat?  He thinks it's a shrew.  A shrew?  Thought that was a renaissance rodent Shakespeare wrote about.  No, I'm told.  This is related to the vole, an insect-, berry-, and nut-eating critter. There was no struggle this zero-degree day.  That rat trap (bigger than it looks) could severely hurt your finger.

dirt cellar woes

Here's a photo from about 1960 of our place. The original stone house was built after 1825. We know that because it never had a fireplace. The Franklin stove, which made the fireplace unnecessary, arrived in the Monterey area after 1825. So I like to think our 18 inch think stone walls were there since 1835.

It was probably built as a retirement house for the Eby family farm behind it. The addition to the house is a late 19th century wooden structure, circa 1890. The barn was built by my father in 1954, with a little help from me. Much of its timber frame was taken from the previous barn.

The house was also built over a spring. It has been dry since at least 1951 when my parents bought the property, the the hole was always there and serves as a french drain (a plain hole in the ground).

All this to say, that having a 19th century dirt floor in your cellar is very "green," but comes with a bit of a cost. This year we've been aware of two.

1. Is borderline level of radon in the house coming from the earth?

2. If we laid concrete would that solve our rodent problem in the cellar?

Details later.