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Ah, rodents and cars. Many years ago a mouse built a nest in one of the heating vents of my car. He lived there peacefully until I went on a climbing trip with

Ah, rodents and cars. Many years ago a mouse built a nest in one of the heating vents of my car. He lived there peacefully until I went on a climbing trip with friends in the Olympics. We were driving up a steep dirt road to the trailhead, and I turned on the heating to help cool the engine a bit. At some point it got too hot. The mouse jumped out of the vent onto the dashboard of the car to get some fresh air. It's hard to say who was more surprised: the mouse or the humans. We looked at him in stunned silence. He looked back. Nobody moved for what seemed like about a minute, thought it was probably more like a few seconds. Eventually one of my friends had the presence of mind to grab him and gently drop him out of the window into the bushes at the side of the road. Then we all laughed hysterically for about 10 minutes. For the rest of the trip you just had to say "the mouse..." and it started all over again. Live well, little mouse!

celim307 5y ago
Curious about what routes you climbed! I did Olympus but that was more glacier hopping than technical, I figured most of the technical multipitch was in the North cascades around index. Would love some recommendations as I just moved
- hodgesrm 5y ago
  It was a trip up the West Fork of the Dosewallips to Mt Anderson (via Eel Glacier). Class three scrambling and glacier travel. Olympic routes are bushwhacks more than anything else. For real alpinism you want the North Cascades, e.g., Boston Basin/T-Bone Ridge or Mount Washington. Nowadays I mostly do randonee skiing, in which case Rainier, Baker, and Adams are fine destinations with world class descents.
rectang 5y ago
> Ah, rodents and cars. I have a Prius with solar cells on the roof which power a fan keeping the passenger compartment from getting too stifling while parked in the sun. An adventurous mouse exploring the engine went took a fateful fall and got shredded by that fan. Cost me several hundred dollars to get everything taken apart and cleaned, and I'm sure the tech earned that money.
- convolvatron 5y ago
  i worked at a CM-5 facility that had a minor pest problem. i'm pretty sure that like many supercomputers it was cooled by bringing air from underneath the floor and blowing it up through the stack. the _extremely_ well qualified support personnel had to finally say they weren't going to spend any more days washing rat bits off module boards.
  - 238475235243 5y ago
    Hold on. That means you have a lot of stories! What CM-5 things did you do!?
  - yencabulator 5y ago
    So, umm, getting rodent poop particles airborne is the primary transmission vector of hantavirus.. That's why you're never supposed to vacuum rodent poop. Get it slight wet and wipe it off.
blunte 5y ago
Denver International Airport was built in a very questionable area outside of Denver (there's quite a political story behind that). But one of the unexpected outcomes of this location choice was the interaction between wildlife and the remote parking area. Rabbits. Vehicle wiring. Problems. https://denverite.com/2016/11/02/denver-airport-rabbits-eat-cars/ https://denverite.com/2016/11/02/denver-airport-rabbits-eat-... Who would ever imagine that their car won't start because a rabbit tested the edibility of some wiring.
- Archelaos 5y ago
  > Who would ever imagine that their car won't start because a rabbit tested the edibility of some wiring. This is a widespread problem in Germany, not with rabbits, but with martens. It is especially dangerous when they get a taste for the brake hoses.
  - blunte 5y ago
    What are martens? When I google, I only find the UK boots ;) Surely not martins, the birds... But yes, many ground creatures (including human babies) test the edibility of virtually anything by chewing and tasting it :D.
    - hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marten https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marten
      - blunte 5y ago
        Ah ha; it's sort of like a fat ferret. Cute, but devious.
        hodgesrm 5y ago
        Pine Martens are beautiful. I've seen them several times in the US. Squirrels are terrified of them--they are apparently very efficient hunters.
nemo44x 5y ago
A mouse broke into my garage one winter and decided to use my not often used car as a nest for babies. I happened to use the car one day shortly after they were born (I assume) and let’s just say the shop was grossed out cleaning it all out. There was a stench for a few weeks still after replacing all the air filters and having the vents cleaned.
- tessierashpool 5y ago
  that’s actually dangerous. hanta virus is lethal and has no cure.
  - nemo44x 5y ago
    Terrifying - was not aware of that. In this case I think what happened is the nest more or less was incinerated from the heat of the engine. Hopefully that would have killed anything that would have been aerosolized.
    - tessierashpool 5y ago
      you're probably right. the severity of hanta virus is pretty closely tied to exposure, so it's usually only lethal in cases where people were exposed to a large amount of rodent feces. however, mice carry around a lot of other biohazards. if it happens again I would say google the disposal process, and/or check the CDC's reference material for it.

celim307 5y ago

Curious about what routes you climbed! I did Olympus but that was more glacier hopping than technical, I figured most of the technical multipitch was in the North cascades around index. Would love some recommendations as I just moved

hodgesrm 5y ago
It was a trip up the West Fork of the Dosewallips to Mt Anderson (via Eel Glacier). Class three scrambling and glacier travel. Olympic routes are bushwhacks more than anything else. For real alpinism you want the North Cascades, e.g., Boston Basin/T-Bone Ridge or Mount Washington. Nowadays I mostly do randonee skiing, in which case Rainier, Baker, and Adams are fine destinations with world class descents.

rectang 5y ago

> Ah, rodents and cars. I have a Prius with solar cells on the roof which power a fan keeping the passenger compartment from getting too stifling while parked in the sun. An adventurous mouse exploring the engine went took a fateful fall and got shredded by that fan. Cost me several hundred dollars to get everything taken apart and cleaned, and I'm sure the tech earned that money.

convolvatron 5y ago
i worked at a CM-5 facility that had a minor pest problem. i'm pretty sure that like many supercomputers it was cooled by bringing air from underneath the floor and blowing it up through the stack. the _extremely_ well qualified support personnel had to finally say they weren't going to spend any more days washing rat bits off module boards.
- 238475235243 5y ago
  Hold on. That means you have a lot of stories! What CM-5 things did you do!?
- yencabulator 5y ago
  So, umm, getting rodent poop particles airborne is the primary transmission vector of hantavirus.. That's why you're never supposed to vacuum rodent poop. Get it slight wet and wipe it off.

blunte 5y ago

Denver International Airport was built in a very questionable area outside of Denver (there's quite a political story behind that). But one of the unexpected outcomes of this location choice was the interaction between wildlife and the remote parking area. Rabbits. Vehicle wiring. Problems. https://denverite.com/2016/11/02/denver-airport-rabbits-eat-cars/ https://denverite.com/2016/11/02/denver-airport-rabbits-eat-... Who would ever imagine that their car won't start because a rabbit tested the edibility of some wiring.

Archelaos 5y ago
> Who would ever imagine that their car won't start because a rabbit tested the edibility of some wiring. This is a widespread problem in Germany, not with rabbits, but with martens. It is especially dangerous when they get a taste for the brake hoses.
- blunte 5y ago
  What are martens? When I google, I only find the UK boots ;) Surely not martins, the birds... But yes, many ground creatures (including human babies) test the edibility of virtually anything by chewing and tasting it :D.
  - hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marten https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marten
    - blunte 5y ago
      Ah ha; it's sort of like a fat ferret. Cute, but devious.
      - hodgesrm 5y ago
        Pine Martens are beautiful. I've seen them several times in the US. Squirrels are terrified of them--they are apparently very efficient hunters.

nemo44x 5y ago

A mouse broke into my garage one winter and decided to use my not often used car as a nest for babies. I happened to use the car one day shortly after they were born (I assume) and let’s just say the shop was grossed out cleaning it all out. There was a stench for a few weeks still after replacing all the air filters and having the vents cleaned.

tessierashpool 5y ago
that’s actually dangerous. hanta virus is lethal and has no cure.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  Terrifying - was not aware of that. In this case I think what happened is the nest more or less was incinerated from the heat of the engine. Hopefully that would have killed anything that would have been aerosolized.
  - tessierashpool 5y ago
    you're probably right. the severity of hanta virus is pretty closely tied to exposure, so it's usually only lethal in cases where people were exposed to a large amount of rodent feces. however, mice carry around a lot of other biohazards. if it happens again I would say google the disposal process, and/or check the CDC's reference material for it.