Well. [cars]
Jul. 28th, 2024 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We think we may have identified the initial problem.
https://flic.kr/p/2q6QUSg
Pack rats!
Also now an action plan. My aunt has a longtime auto mechanic 1 mile from here who opens up at 7:30 am tomorrow. I’d best get this inspected because pack rats chew wires. And while I am there, deal with a couple other things as well (due for an oil change + S was suggesting a brake check).
It is a good time to not be in any kind of hurry. Thankfully, I’m not. I have also now moved the car into the garage and am leaving the hood open, just to be on the safe side!
https://flic.kr/p/2q6QUSg
Pack rats!
Also now an action plan. My aunt has a longtime auto mechanic 1 mile from here who opens up at 7:30 am tomorrow. I’d best get this inspected because pack rats chew wires. And while I am there, deal with a couple other things as well (due for an oil change + S was suggesting a brake check).
It is a good time to not be in any kind of hurry. Thankfully, I’m not. I have also now moved the car into the garage and am leaving the hood open, just to be on the safe side!
no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 06:45 pm (UTC)After seeing this my aunt said she noticed that all the staff at the Sonoran Desert Museum leave their car hoods propped open, so the rats aren’t tempted to build up their little stockpiles.
They are very fast and industrious workers!
no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 06:55 pm (UTC)The closest I come to living in the desert is a total of two weeks in Death Valley. Death Valley may be dry enough to dissuade even packrats.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 08:37 pm (UTC)I didn't realize pack rats are actual rodents :-o
no subject
Date: 2024-07-28 09:09 pm (UTC)https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/White-throated%20woodrat.php
I can't speak for Sonoran packrats, but here in Northern California our packrats often constructing multiple nests. Sometimes a small "village" of nests will show where several packrats live near each other, but they don't share a nest. Rat housekeeping includes obtaining aromatic leaves to line nests with and changing them every few days. Apparently the leaves help keep insects like fleas away. Secondary nests are sometimes used as "guest" houses.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 03:49 am (UTC)I've only seen a pack rat nest once. It was so big! It was at Torrey Pines Beach State Park, up on the top where the trails are. At the time I was clearing out my mother's House of Hoarding and it was somewhere between amusing and disturbing to see it.
Where I live, mice get in the cars in the garage every winter and chew things. This year a mechanic told us to put peppermint oil at various places. He claims it will discourage the mice. I don't know; it might.
I am enjoying all your posts and stories; thank you for that.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-29 05:59 pm (UTC)As I was telling our Aunt T, I always expect to encounter some sort of car problem every time I visit Tucson. The car problems more often than not manage to be very unexpected!
This one is looking like it's going to be quite expensive, arghsigh.