Thread Drift

[Tuckervill]

My dining room wall is covered in photos I took in Newburyport, MA. Some in Portland, ME and some on that island with the ferry by Portland that I can't remember the name of (the island, not the ferry).

Karen

[OakLeaf]

Mice ate my car. Again. This is the third vehicle they've rendered inoperable, second one we've had to have towed in.

Anybody got any suggestions for keeping them out? This is REALLY a PITA.

[Tuckervill]

What? Mice? Do you park in a field?

Hire a falconer to patrol your yard? Borrow some barn cats?

I did hear this problem on Click & Clack once. I don't remember the details, tho.

Karen

[Pax]

Mice ate my car. Again. This is the third vehicle they've rendered inoperable, second one we've had to have towed in.

Anybody got any suggestions for keeping them out? This is REALLY a PITA.

I have squirrels eating my car, although they steer clear of the electronics and satisfy their chewing urges with my fenders and bumper...filthy tree rats.

[Biciclista]

Mice ate my car. Again. This is the third vehicle they've rendered inoperable, second one we've had to have towed in.

Anybody got any suggestions for keeping them out? This is REALLY a PITA.

I want to know too. Where do you park this car? in what geographic area?
Is it in a garage?
All I can think of right now is Cat Piss and i'm not sure you want THAT smell in your car.

[TsPoet]

Mice ate my car. Again. This is the third vehicle they've rendered inoperable, second one we've had to have towed in.

Anybody got any suggestions for keeping them out? This is REALLY a PITA.

Get a terrier. Border terriers in particular are great vermin hunters. Too bad you don't live near me, I could loan you one for a day, your mice would be gone.
Of course you wouldn't want to watch.

[Crankin]

Tuckervill, do you mean Peak's Island?
Portland, Maine is another place I love, but rarely get to anymore. We almost moved there, but it was 10-15 degrees colder than Boston and coming from AZ, we thought it might make us crazy.
My son used to do a bike race in Saco and we would go into Portland every night during the weekend. Fun.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Old fashioned mouse traps works well for us, in our basement and garage (where the cats don't have access).

Over the winter in our little barn where the rider mower is stored, we put a cloth bag full of mothballs inside the mower engine- mice hate the smell thus will not nest inside the mower engine during the winter and eat the wiring.

[Tuckervill]

Tuckervill, do you mean Peak's Island?
Portland, Maine is another place I love, but rarely get to anymore. We almost moved there, but it was 10-15 degrees colder than Boston and coming from AZ, we thought it might make us crazy.
My son used to do a bike race in Saco and we would go into Portland every night during the weekend. Fun.

Yeah, that's it! Peak's Island!

My best friend's mother grew up in Saco, and I hunted down her old house for her and talked to the old man who lived there and took a picture of the house. That was the trip I thought was 5 miles away, so I took my mountain bike, and ended up doing 25 miles because I took a wrong turn.

I love that area, though.
Karen

[OakLeaf]

I might try mothballs, but I'd be a little afraid of the fumes getting into the passenger compartment. I'm thinking more along the lines of hosing the whole thing down with hot pepper spray, or Bitter Apple, or something.

We'd have to hit EVERYTHING - wheel sensors, I assume there are sensors on the exhaust system? and all the wiring in the engine compartment, which is really packed tight, we'd have to spray from above and below.

It isn't garaged, but the garage is actually worse. We did learn, with the motorcycles, it's a matter of denying the mice shelter. If we take the seats off as soon as we park, mice won't nest. I'm not sure there's an equivalent with a car - DH thinks parking with the hood open would just invite more critters in, and obviously it wouldn't have any effect on them eating the wheel sensors.

I don't think we could trap all the mice in the county. I'm just happy when we can keep them out of the house. When we leave for the winter, all the kitchenware, linens and clothes go into plastic tubs (we learned that the hard way, too ).

Our experience from our last house - where the neighbors had outdoor cats - is that cats just drive the mice deeper into places where the cats can't go. Not good.

One of my riding buddies offered me one of the big blacksnakes that lives in his shed. I'd take him up on it, but not sure how I'd keep the snake confined to the mouse-accessible areas of the car.

Maybe you should feed them something besides your car

Honestly, I was thinking about getting a few hundred feet of wire, putting it in a nice cozy box, and letting them have at it.

[crazycanuck]

I guess TE'll be quiet for a few days because of the US memorial day long weekend.

Many Many Many moons ago I remember asking if anyone in the DC area if they've seen the "Rolling Thunder" procession. Do people in the area avoid the area like the plague on long weekends like this? Just wondering

THE SUNSHINE IS BACK!!!!! wweeeeeee... The trails will be great & hopefully the hills will be debris free

I'm sitting here doing the last bits of editing on my paper that's due Tuesday. After all the panic over it a few weeks ago, I was able to settle myself down and get it done. My panic/fear was that I'd not written a uni paper in 10yrs and wanted to get it right.

[Biciclista]

yes, you're right, except people were still posting, just not on this thread.

I was in the middle of a 68 mile ride on Saturday. We had come down a hill, about 25-35 mph on the tandem and slowed so that we could turn left.
There was a lady waiting to cross our street (in a car) on the street that we were turning left on. She waited for us to turn in front of us, and as I waved, this 60 year old woman took her fingers to her head and made the "you're crazy" gesture. It really took the wind out of my sails for a bit.
there wasn't a lot of traffic, we were trying to be safe, and it was a lovely day. We were in South King county. Maybe that was the problem?

[Tuckervill]

Oh, maybe she was being facetious. Or maybe she's a horrible curmudgeon. Either way, her opinion is worthless!

Karen

[NbyNW]

. . . this 60 year old woman took her fingers to her head and made the "you're crazy" gesture. It really took the wind out of my sails for a bit.

Don't let her get to you, Mimi! Thankfully, you will probably never see her again.

At least she's not a co-worker . . . or your boss!

[Zen]

as I waved, this 60 year old woman took her fingers to her head and made the "you're crazy" gesture.

How did you know her age?

CC, Many people in the DC area see the Rolling thunder cyclists as a PITA. I think only a small percentage of them have any connection to the Vietnam War and most use it as an excuse to party