Martin is my hero. . .

This morning after being dragged out of bed by Audrey then dragging Isaac out of bed I headed to the car to make my voyage to Isaac's preschool. It was my working day (it's a co-op) so we were out the door by 8:15 to make it there around 8:35. The car wouldn't start. It gave a bit of a sputter then died. Tried it a couple more times then just figured I was out of gas. I frantically ran upstairs to get Martin's assistance. He made a run to the gas station up the street in his truck (we're not using it much now because it needs new brakes) and brought a gallon to give to the car. Alas, no go. I could get it to stay on in a very sputtery angry way with one foot on the brake and one on the gas, but as I was pulling away thinking more gas would fix it, I realized that I knew better. I pulled back into the yard and hung my head low knowing my car was busted. I called the school to let them know I wasn't going to make it in and then headed back to the car to see if there was any obvious rainwater where it shouldn't be.

I noticed a pile of fuzz where it shouldn't be. I looked a bit closer. On top of the fuzz laid some mice poo. Yes, since yesterday afternoon a mouse or a family thereof took up residence on top of my engine. I concluded the nest was covering an air intake valve and simple removal would do the trick. Now, I've spent some time under the hood of a car. I've changed spark plugs more times than most men (bad bad Hyundai) and have fixed a Maverick's transmission with duct tape once or twice, but when it comes to rodents I'm squeamish. I had to bring in the man in to rescue me.

Armed with barbeque tongs and gardening gloves, Martin carefully removed the nest (only after Emily's close inspection). Happily, the little bugger/s had left, probably due to the rukus I was making. Upon completion of removal, we discovered that as a special move-in bonus, our little friends had gnawed through my fuel injection wiring. My initial reaction was that we'd have to replace the entire wire. Martin, a bit more of a sensible and improv type guy decided that splicing was the way to go. He barely had enough slack to pull it off, but he did it. The dear Sable started happily and I was on my way to school.

See why Martin is my hero?

Now we just need to find a way to keep mice out of our cars. Any suggestions?