| ...twice. So there I am, starting to change my oil. Get the drain plug out, oil starts flowing - nice and dark. Go to slide out from underneath when I notice something up by the tensioner pulley for the AC compressor. I'm figuring it's a leaf or something that fell down in there when I opened the hood. I only wish it was a leaf. There, staring me in the face, is the dried (fortunately) remains of some type of grey rodent, all torn up by the belt, ears and f--king big old front teeth sticking out and all. It's a good thing I hadn't eaten dinner yet cause I would have had two things to clean up then. After getting out from underneath the car the fastest I have ever gotten out from underneath a car before, shaking my head and making "eewwuggghhh" noises to myself a few times, I realize that I can't have that damn thing hanging there while I change my oil, let alone drive around with it and bake on further to the AC bracket and flap around in the belt. One pair of rubber gloves, one alcohol-sterilized tire iron, one alcohol-sterilized floor, and a bunch of paper towels later, I'm thinking "okay, kind of gross and freaked me out, but all taken care of now." So, I go back underneath the car to make sure I didn't miss anything and to see how the oil's draining. Just kind of looking around in the area by the front sway bar and the AC line that runs near it and I say to myself, "that's funny, I wouldn't normally leave a zip-tie untrimmed like that." Only it's not a zip-tie - it's a tail. Vomit number two held back and quick exit from under the vehicle. Not quite as bad as the damn thing's face/teeth earlier, but same shock value when I realize it's not what I think it was. Anway, out comes the tire iron again to knock it loose and paper towels to cover it so I don't have to look at it anymore. Of course it had to have a chunk of the rodent's ass still attached to it, which I saw as it hit the ground. Our house is sealed up pretty well, so I'm guessing it either crawled up there at work (company's in a big warehouse and I know the building owner had traps around at one point) or more likely, the poor bastard climbed up in the nice warm engine bay while the car was parked out at the shooting range in the National Forest. Feel free to share your disgusting dead-animal-in-the-Z stories here. I have to go finish changing my oil now.
 "Rome was not built in a day." |
