Unknowingly Harboring a Fugitive
And it's been happening under my nose. Literally.
I made an appointment to get regular maintenance on my car. After arriving at the shop, I was cleaning up some loose papers, mostly receipts that were around in the car and there was a folded newspaper. As I pulled the newspaper out from between the seats, a newspaper that hadn't been there more than a week, a fluttering of newspaper bits went all over the floor. Hmm. Weird. So I unfold the newspaper and that's when I see the first knock-me-on-the-head-I'm-an-oblivious-bastard clue that something is terribly wrong - not with my car, but with it's inhabitants.
A few months ago, I spilled some coffee on the little in-between the seats console. I grabbed some napkins out of the glove box and in the midst of sopping up the spill, I notice that the napkins are all frayed on the edge. I figure they got caught in the latch.
A few weeks after that, I was on the street outside my house, where SB usually parks and noticed this little thing in the road right where something might fall out when he exited the vehicle. I got a closer look and figure out pretty quick that we have ourselves a mouse carcass.
Not long after that, SB notices his truck is becoming fragrant, and not in the good way. He checks it out, sniffs around and finds a dead mouse - my memory is hazy on this one as I'm not sure where in the cab he found it, but it was in the cab of the truck. He removes the carcass and wonders What The Fuck.
All throughout this time, every napkin I pull out of the glove box is all frayed up.
SB and I start noticing this funky smell inside my car. I've had these two big blankets in the back seat for about a month, just waiting for me to remember to stop by the dry cleaners to drop them off. It's not like I drive right by one every single day and twice on Saturdays. But the comforters are kinda stinky with dog smell (Cassabean has some serious skin issues. He's old.) so I chalk the only slightly annoying smell up to the blankets. And buy some car freshener.
Cue today. I unfold the newspaper. I see mouse turdsfecesexcrementshitcrap inside the folded newspaper that was INSIDE. MY. CAR. So when I go into the shop to drop off the keys, etc, I tell the guy, hey, I think there might be a mouse cavorting in my car. Check it out, but don't fix anything without calling first. I give them SB's cell phone number and leave.
Two hours later SB calls me and says the shop has summoned him to witness the devastation. They want him to see with his own eyes what this soulless little creature has done to my car. Oh how I wish he had our camera.
$800 later and I have a new oxygen sensor (chewed through the wire), a new air filter (gnawed it up), they had to spray some foam crap into the blower motor to clean out the piss, and de-smellify the air ducts. It actually says on the receipt "Tech removed blower motor housing to remove mouse nest". SB said he saw acorns from the oak tree in the front yard and bits of bark inside the blower motor. That little fucker took up house in my car!
Oddly, this is not the first encounter I've had with mice taking up residence in places that are dear to me. When I was little, I had a dollhouse that my grandpa built for me. It was in my bedroom. I had no idea that my little dollhouse family had taken up with a mouse. A mouse they let chew up the wallpaper and poo wherever it pleased. Dirty little dollhouse family. Anyway, I re-wallpapered and the dollhouse is in my basement right now. And there's little bits of wallpaper on the floor - I just checked. Damn the mice! Damn them all to hell!
I made an appointment to get regular maintenance on my car. After arriving at the shop, I was cleaning up some loose papers, mostly receipts that were around in the car and there was a folded newspaper. As I pulled the newspaper out from between the seats, a newspaper that hadn't been there more than a week, a fluttering of newspaper bits went all over the floor. Hmm. Weird. So I unfold the newspaper and that's when I see the first knock-me-on-the-head-I'm-an-oblivious-bastard clue that something is terribly wrong - not with my car, but with it's inhabitants.
A few months ago, I spilled some coffee on the little in-between the seats console. I grabbed some napkins out of the glove box and in the midst of sopping up the spill, I notice that the napkins are all frayed on the edge. I figure they got caught in the latch.
A few weeks after that, I was on the street outside my house, where SB usually parks and noticed this little thing in the road right where something might fall out when he exited the vehicle. I got a closer look and figure out pretty quick that we have ourselves a mouse carcass.
Not long after that, SB notices his truck is becoming fragrant, and not in the good way. He checks it out, sniffs around and finds a dead mouse - my memory is hazy on this one as I'm not sure where in the cab he found it, but it was in the cab of the truck. He removes the carcass and wonders What The Fuck.
All throughout this time, every napkin I pull out of the glove box is all frayed up.
SB and I start noticing this funky smell inside my car. I've had these two big blankets in the back seat for about a month, just waiting for me to remember to stop by the dry cleaners to drop them off. It's not like I drive right by one every single day and twice on Saturdays. But the comforters are kinda stinky with dog smell (Cassabean has some serious skin issues. He's old.) so I chalk the only slightly annoying smell up to the blankets. And buy some car freshener.
Cue today. I unfold the newspaper. I see mouse turdsfecesexcrementshitcrap inside the folded newspaper that was INSIDE. MY. CAR. So when I go into the shop to drop off the keys, etc, I tell the guy, hey, I think there might be a mouse cavorting in my car. Check it out, but don't fix anything without calling first. I give them SB's cell phone number and leave.
Two hours later SB calls me and says the shop has summoned him to witness the devastation. They want him to see with his own eyes what this soulless little creature has done to my car. Oh how I wish he had our camera.
$800 later and I have a new oxygen sensor (chewed through the wire), a new air filter (gnawed it up), they had to spray some foam crap into the blower motor to clean out the piss, and de-smellify the air ducts. It actually says on the receipt "Tech removed blower motor housing to remove mouse nest". SB said he saw acorns from the oak tree in the front yard and bits of bark inside the blower motor. That little fucker took up house in my car!
Oddly, this is not the first encounter I've had with mice taking up residence in places that are dear to me. When I was little, I had a dollhouse that my grandpa built for me. It was in my bedroom. I had no idea that my little dollhouse family had taken up with a mouse. A mouse they let chew up the wallpaper and poo wherever it pleased. Dirty little dollhouse family. Anyway, I re-wallpapered and the dollhouse is in my basement right now. And there's little bits of wallpaper on the floor - I just checked. Damn the mice! Damn them all to hell!
Comments
Just an idea.
And no, its not just a coincidence that I didn't mention I would be willing to do it. I'm waiting to gauge reaction first.