I bought snow tires for the first time this year, after last year’s roads were so treacherous. So, this season? So far, no snow. And definitely not the bitterly cold spell being experienced in so many places. We’ve been enjoying daytime temps of 7 C or 45 F and not even our usual rain!
Winter in Vancouver: Green Grass under a Cloudless Sky
The rodent population still seems to think it is very cold, though. A couple of weeks ago, the dashboard lights on my car went wacky. And then I found myself going slowly and dangerously through an intersection, not being able to accelerate. The cause? Chewed wires that cost me around $400 in repairs! We could see that the rat (presumably) had brought branches in and was building a nest on top of the warm engine. Did you know that many auto manufacturers are now using soy-based insulating materials for wiring? So, not only is my car a warm haven, but even the meals are provided!
Hope you too have a warm haven and good food in stock!
I'm Feeling This 
Hey, things are looking up here. The temps are supposed to rise now until Tuesday. And after 25 below, zero is going to feel really warm!
We have an issue around here with cats sleeping in the warm parts of cars. I did not know rodents did it. Glad you survived your rodent attack!
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Good to know the temps there will be a bit more manageable. In Vancouver, it’s like 2010 when we hosted the Winter Olympics – no snow. They had to trick the snow in from hours away.
I don’t see many cats roaming around here. Well, my next door neighbour’s cat, but he just keeps trying to come into our house! This is the second time I’ve had rodents chew the wires. The other time was in our previous house a few streets over. I’m now parking farther away from the neighbour’s hedge. Maybe the rodents will run to the closest car, which now won’t be mine!
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Sue I wondered what was the follow up to your cat story from last fall. I’m sure your doggie would not appreciate another tenant in the house. The pic in this post is breathtaking-the expansive tree and cloudless blue sky.. is that a park or part of your neighborhood? I would totally freak out if any rodent made a bed in my engine. I got a great visual from your explanation of the presumable rat dragging in branches to build his winter home in your engine!! I know it was not funny but seemed like an animated movie in a way.. I’m sorry though that it was $400!!
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Yes, this is a one-animal household!
Thanks. The sunshine and clear sky were so beautiful, I just had to snap a shot. It’s near to where I work.
I’ve had enough of rats, now. I’m trying to park far back from the neighbour’s hedge.
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Hahaha I don’t blame you!! And your doggie is a gem! My three are like toddlers constantly wanting treats and eyeballing each other’s
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Once you drive in the snow with winter tires I guarantee you will never go back to the all season.
I park in the 2nd below ground area of a Condo
In Toronto, and my neighbour also had her
Wires nibbled by rodents. They have put some
rat poison near our cars so hopefully they
Will not attack my car. As I am absolutely terrified of most rodents I am very apprehensive to go to my car lately
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So I hear… can’t try them out without snow though! Not that I’m wishing for it.
Looks like there are rodents everywhere. Coyotes too. Coyotes won’t chew wires, but apparently you can buy coyote urine and sprinkle it under the hood and the rodents stay away, thinking there’s a predator. Mothballs are supposed to work too.
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The coyote urine is terribly expensive. A friend used it when critters were living in her attic, and apparently it worked
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I’ll keep it as a back-up plan then!
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oh jeez! that’s pretty scary!
the weather in the UK is pretty chilly, -5.5c last night! bit warmer tonight though threatening us with snow -have a biggish journey to Coventry tomorrow and BF is insisting i put the snow chains in the car just in case
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Can’t hurt to be safe! Take care on the drive.
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thank you! thinking of going slightly off piste about 17miles up the road to a small town called Huncote…
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Cool! Trying to spot RA in his natural habitat?
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sadly not as he’ll be down in Heathrow at Red Dragon Con! but i figure i might as well drive just up the road and have a nose at where he grew up. Though the snow may stop that now!
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Huncote is calling your name Rachel… Pictures please then !!!
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i’ll see how it goes, the weather is better here but i think there’s more snow occuring up that way and its a bit of the beaten track
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We have snow now. it was raining but turning to snow!! And cold!! I need my space heater at work!!
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🙂 Your story is interesting! I like it very much. There are a lot of funny or not anecdotes about the voracity of rodents.
1- The glass wool and stone wool insulation of our 1985 house did not survive the attack of rodents. We were told to move it and put under the roof expanded black cork in bulk.
2- When I visited the “Car Museum” in Le Mans, I understood that the bodywork of the car named “Trabant” was made of cardboard and could be grilled by rodents. But it is not true. Most of its body was made of Duroplast. It is a kind of plastic resembling bakelite or formica. This material is made from two main elements:
– phenol = hydroxybenzene = phenic acid = C6H6O from the distillation of coal and
– cotton or wool fibers worked for old compact weft.
The legends are stubborn:
– rats do not like Duroplast …
– Genetically Modified “Trabant Eating” bacteria, nicknamed “trabicille” has never existed …
– Duroplast granules are not recycled to build eg roads or sidewalks.
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Thanks! Rodents in the house would be a lot worse! Interesting about the Trabant. I hadn’t heard of that. Strange to think of a car built with cotton fibres!
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It’s probably the presence of cotton that created the legend. Recycling ecologists long before, ahead of their time!
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Squirrel I always learn new things when you comment!! Love your observations too
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Thanks to all of you!
The Czech video looks like a mixture creation between Charlie Chaplin’s 1934-1935 “Modern Times” and BBC’s 2004 “North and South” series. I should named it “Earlier East Mill Car Industry”. Did you watched JT and NH brothers at work in it?
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and Bessy sisters too?
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Yikes. Those pesky dirty rats. It’s so warm outside why would they hibernate in your car? Warm and rain today.
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Welcome! I guess it was a bit colder a couple of weeks ago when it happened.
I wonder if I jinxed our weather, posting a picture of the sunshine! That was a lot of rain yesterday. And there may even be snow this week!
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Just for fun or perhaps more frightening!
After watching FD screaming on moon nights, here dear fan you can discover an other specialist creature of such activity:
Thanks to National Geographic Channel !
I sent it to Guylty too.
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