OMGosh, Not Again!!!!

OMGosh, Not Again!!!!

So Candy, Heather and I decided to go out and get some breakfast. After our meal, we drove over to Beall's (a clothing  stores) to look for some cruise related items.  En route, the dash again went into Star Wars mode.  Sigh!  Here we go again...We arrived at the store, popped the hood, and confirmed the worst.  The evil pain in the a$$ squirrel had chewed through the new pantyhose, dropping the bags of mothballs from the cross members (I had tied them to inside the engine compartment), and used the pantyhose as part of its nest.  This nest was in a new location, this time it was on the right side of the motor, and right on top of the injectors.

Off Heather and I went back to the mechanic for some more fun. This time the insulation on the firewall had been damaged again. I no longer cared to repair that.  I told them to just fix the chewed up wires, please.  My concern was that the air conditioning system was in the area.

The little furry rat seems to be driven to chew up every wire in there at some point.

We just got the truck back again.  This time it was over $260.00 for the repairs.

But wait, this adventure isn't over.  The night after we dropped off the truck for repairs Heather drove down to Walmart.  It was cold so she turned on the heat and instantly smelled a nasty burning smell. She turned it off and checked the engine and low and behold Candy's Toyota Yaris had been attacked by the RAT.  She cleared out all the scraps of insulation and went ahead and drove it home, knowing she could call AAA if she had to pull over.  Once she got home I checked the engine and there was a nest, no chewed wired.  We got a break there that’s for sure!

Needless to say...Heather and I spent a lot of time clearing out the garage.  It was full of stuff we planned to sell for the move.  Now we have room for both vehicles inside.

I really wanted to get a pellet rifle and dispatch the $%^&#'s!!!  But cooler heads prevailed.   Plus, Heather and Candy love most all critters.

My last question is what kind of crazy person plants 5 acorn trees right next to the driveway? IT'S NUTS!!!!

I HATE those furry little.....

On December 9th, Heather had planned to use her truck (I gave it to her when we got married as a wedding gift) to go to Disney, she started the truck while I stood beside her.  I just had to give her a few kisses goodbye. The motor ran however it sounded really rough.  The dash had every light on...In the 10 years that I have had the truck I have never seen it light up like something out of a Star Wars movie.  Scary stuff!

I yelled "Turn it off and pop the hood!" as I walked up to the front of her Chevy Silverado.  My worst fears were founded...Acorns, Acorns, and Tons and tons of Acorns scattered all over the motor. The insulation from the hood and firewall had been ripped off and made into a nest.  Next to the nest on the drivers side firewall was a bundle of wires that had been chewed on, some were even eaten all the way through.  We were shocked...the truck had only sat for 5 days.

I called our insurance company... then I found a local mechanic.  

As all of this was going on Heather had taken her mom's car to Disney for the day/night with Amanda her sister.  The entire time Heather was gone I thought of the costs involved with the repair.

Let's keep one other fact in mind, while all of this is going on we already know that we have to sell the truck before we move to Ecuador.  Of all the things that could happen, the timing of this was not at all welcome. We want to be able to save all the money we can for the big move in April.

Let's fast forward about a week and a half.  It's now December 22nd at 12 noon. The mechanic finally called and said the truck can be picked up at any time, the insurance check had arrived.

During the week, I had a few conversations with the mechanic about all the work that was being done and the parts being ordered.

The damage from the squirrel:

• Replace the hood and firewall insulation inside the engine bay
• Repair and reloom/insulate the frayed and broken wires
• Reset the computer to insure all codes were clear and that no further damage was missed
• Blow off the motor compartment with compressed air (I tried to remove most of the acorns with a water hose with some luck, Heather took a photo of what fell onto the driveway)

The mechanic also noticed some other work was needed.

So we did:

• Oil change
• Replaced both the serpentine belt and the a/c belt as both were really bad and they had never been replaced before. (110k)
• Replaced the wiper blades

The mechanic was fair!   More than fair, he managed to do the job in less hours than the pay out estimate from the insurance company.  So our deductible was covered (big relief.)  In the end, we had to pay the mechanic $63.43!!! That's it!

Well now Heather has pantyhose filled with mothballs on both sides of the engine compartment to insure that the squirrels don't have a chance to try to make a new home, again.

I HATE those furry rats at this point.