Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Wall-to-wall car pets

So many things to think and do today but I keep getting distracted by the knowledge that I have mice in my car.

Let me repeat that: I have MICE. In my CAR.

That's just wrong.

The good news is that they're probably not living in the car. They're unlikely to find food and water in there, although they've been quite successful at tearing up tissues and distributing them (and their droppings) all over the back seat and under the front seats and in the way-back and even in the spare tire compartment.

I never noticed any problems until last week after I took the car in for new rear shocks and also got the air conditioning fixed. My wonderful mechanic cleared a bunch of leaves and things out of the fan housing, so now I can run the AC without hearing what sounds like a bike with playing cards in the spokes.

On Friday I noticed a few bits of tissues on the back seat but didn't think anything of it, but I left a jacket back there and this morning it was covered with mouse droppings.

On the drive to campus this morning I kept thinking about all the damage mice can do: wreck upholstery, chew wires, clog vents.

They could come out for a visit while I'm driving and startle me into swerving into the path of a semi.

Or they could die.

Dead mice in the AC system: there's a scenario I don't want to think about, especially since I may need to drive this car to Florida on a moment's notice. (Because my dad had a stroke last week and has surgery today, which is one of the things I ought to be thinking about instead of devoting so many brain cells to the fact that I have MICE in my CAR.)

Who wants to drive around in summer heat with a dead mouse in the fan housing?

My sweet hubby put some mouse poison in the tissue box the mice seem to find so attractive. It's the sort of poison that will make them thirsty and drive them out of the car to find water, so he assures me that I shouldn't end up with dead mice in the vents. (But if you're riding with me, take my advice: stay away from the tissues.)

Mice in my car.

The poison might drive them out of my car, but how can I prevent them from scurrying around all day in my brain?

3 comments:

Bardiac said...

EEP! I hear they get into the insulation and wiring. Grrr.

I hope the stuff does it's work!

LOL, my capcha is "sqeou"!

Andrea said...

So sorry to hear about your dad and am hoping for the best.

Yes, the mice must go.

That is how I felt about the scorpion in our 1962 V-Bug. It was pink and translucent (the scorpion, not the Bug), and it climbed on to the gear stick, unannounced, as I travelled down 17-92 over Lake Estelle. When I downshifted, the scorpion then stingingly proclaimed its existence. Mightily afraid and yet somehow alert (as when I crush a palmetto bug that has entered my personal space), I flung the predatory arthropod (thank you, Wikipedia) to the passenger side of the car and sped home (Michigan Avenue at that time). Next step: Setting off a bug/Bug bomb, windows rolled up. It was quite a sight...a Volkswagian death nebula, trapped and churning in miasmic fury. It was glorious and deadly, and I felt no remorse.

Bev said...

I remember that Bug! (And the scorpion too.)