YOU'RE KIDDING--RIGHT???

The oldish fellow in the coveralls was grinning. A grin is something you always like to see on the face of either your doctor or your mechanic. “Got some good news and some bad news.” he said smiling broadly.

Being the optimistic sort, I always want the good news first, totally convinced that it will completely negate any possible bad news.

“The good news is that you don't need a windshield wiper motor.” he said obliging my choice of which news first, but then he started to chuckle. “ But lady, you really do have a case of mice. Those varmints have chewed all your wiper motor wires down to the nub.”

I wrote about my windshield wipers passing away during the night in my boils and sores post. My first thought at the time was that since we were in almost drought conditions, this repair could wait. However this week I was wanting to take a trip to Florida to be with my sister during this painful time for the family and I wasn't keen about a long wiper-less journey.

The good news was that it was a relatively inexpensive fix. How on earth I was going to keep it from happening again was the bad news. Now fortunately, my little house is rat-tight but my tiny pickup sits in the relative open under a car port.

Guess I did too good a job running off my neighbors cat a while back. Now I was paying for my inhospitable nature. She may have scratched my paint but I had no mice problems while she was defacing the pickup's hood on a nightly basis.

“Here kitty kitty.” Oh that's right, some drag racing teens took her ninth life a while back.

Off I went to the trusty Internet. Of course the first remedy was either traps or poison. You all ready know what a softie I am about animals. My main desire was to discourage and make them go elsewhere---not murder.

Odor seems to be the repellent of choice. Appears mice are suspicious of strange smells. Highly touted were threatening odors like coyote urine which can actually be purchased. I can only hope the coyotes volunteer their urine. This is not human friendly however and while it may deter rats , I am pretty sure the heralded stink would wipe me out.

Aroma therapy seemed the least noxious way to go for me. Many on the Internet touted Bounce dryer sheets as a repellent, while others say peppermint works wonders. Both said that after a while, the rats get use to the odor and would come back. My theory is that I will keep changing the odors to keep them off balance.

So, I have tied dryer sheets in each corner of the engine compartment, concentrating on the newly repaired wires location. When that aroma begins to fade, I will sprinkling peppermint essential oils on the dryer sheets , then oil of cloves when the peppermint fades, then back to fresh dryer sheets.

If nothing else, I am going to have one grand smelling engine. I really want to be close by the next time I have my vehicle serviced.

Now I am also concerned about wires lower in the chassis so I have resorted to a small amount of used cat litter mixed in the gravel under the vehicle ( my house cats finally have a function besides being decorative, amusing, and affectionate.)

So far I can't smell the litter over the dryer sheet aroma but then I do have a nasty sinus infection (sadly, the reason for eventually aborting the Florida trip). We will see if I can tolerate the cat litter when the infection clears.

That taps out all I know how to do. If you have any other methods for repelling the furry wire chewers, I'd love to hear them. Also, when you are faced with a good news/bad news situation, which do you go for first ?? Just curious.