I [Might] Only Have 3 Weeks To Live

I might only have 3 weeks to live.  I know, I'm devastated too. 

Last weekend, like we do every Labor Day, my parents and I hiked up to our favorite remote cabin in the mountains. And I mean remote.  No electricity.  No water.  No cars.  No human contact since our visit last Labor Day. 

Normally, our weekends at the cabin are peaceful and relaxing.  Not so much this year.  

The cabin was infested with mice.  There were droppings on every foot of the floor, in every receptacle from the floor to the ceiling.  

And then we heard them.  The mice had converted the mattresses inside the cabin into their apartment complex - complete with nests, communal seed collections and very large bathroom facilities.  And we spent half the day cleaning it up. 

So here's where the health scare comes into play.  Mice carry diseases, especially rural mice.  We had inadvertently walked into laughably ideal conditions for hantavirus.  Hantavirus is dangerous.  Of the 8 people who caught hantavirus in Yosemite this summer, 3 have died.  

Did you just call me a hypochondriac?  Fine.  I will let you decide. 

1. Hantavirus is carried by deer mice.  We had plenty of deer mice.  

 2. "It is believed that humans can get sick with this virus if they come in contact with contaminated dust from mice nests or droppings."  Oh, we had mega nests. 

3. "You may come in contact with such dust when cleaning homes, sheds, or other enclosed areas that have been empty for a long time."  Like, perhaps, cleaning remote cabins left alone for a year?

That night while we slept, the mice came back.  Went into our bags and chewed up our food.  And we got the opportunity to bleach everything again!

We probably will be just fine, but if not, symptoms should show up in about 3 weeks.  Don't worry, it's not contagious.  But I'm thinking it might be time for some skydiving, right Tim McGraw?