Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 21:48:15 EST
Reply-To: JKrevnov@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: My heater stinks / Pointless Anecdote
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In a message dated 11/29/00 8:13:25 PM, firestream@MINDSPRING.COM writes:
<< I remember how happy I was when I switched to my new one, and got the whole
area nice and clean, and healthier. >>
HK,
It has been a few years since the first time I realized that the sweet aroma
coming from the defroster was not a Fudgsicle left behind by the previous
owner's kid. Some say the first is always the best and that first whiff had
an unusual overtone to it; an added dimension. When I tore into the heater
box I found a leaking core, of course, and the nest of a field mouse who, I
had to assume, did not go outside to urinate. Only if I had a
scratch-and-sniff function key would I be able to adequately present the
tangy commingling of those two components.
One day around the onset of winter of the next year, my wife opened the
glovebox, screamed and then watched a field mouse scurry into the depths of
the dashboard. In the glovebox she found a nest with four hairless, pink
baby mice about the size of a newborn babe's thumb. Since I had been through
this drill before, I mentioned it was time to get out the old Hav-a-Hart trap
and I told her not to say anything to the kids! But, oh no, we couldn't trap
the mother; who would take care of the babies?!! I tried to explain that a
mouse running rampant in the van freely gnawing on the wiring could create
the kind of electrical nightmare which I did not want to have in bed with me.
That night, after she showed the baby mice to the kids (Oh! How cute!), I
quietly slipped into the garage, baited the trap with peanut butter and
placed it in the front of the van. The next morning, I found the trap gone
and in its place a dish of food left by the Gerbil Food Fairy.
I tried to explain to my Sweetheart that I intended to reunite the babies
with their loving mother once I had trapped her. Unfortunately, my wife had
seen too many little critters mangled by the Ferris wheel mechanism of the
Hav-a-Hart trap to believe that story. As you probably know, this kind of
tug-of-war with a determined woman can lead to a divorce or worse, so I
backed off. A couple of days later, the nest was gone. My wife was then
able to smugly embrace this as proof that if you leave things alone, they
will take care of themselves. She also thinks that a car can repair itself.
She is happy and so am I because I now have something to ponder whenever the
van is acting weird; like which gnawed upon wire is going to ground and where.
Rich
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