Life in the Country

[begreen]

Last night we had a rural reminder a bit different than the normal raccoons, deer, etc.. Around 10:30pm it was raining heavily when suddenly we heard a banging outside. At first I thought it was large hail on the lower deck so I opened the porch door to check it out. Nope, no hail. Now I could hear it better. It sounded like someone banging with a mallet on a garbage can lid. I wondered what the heck were my neighbors up to? Then I noted it was coming from the west side of the house. Oh oh - heat pump. I quickly turned it off at the thermostat and sure enough the banging stopped. With a sinking feeling my mind went through the possibilities. I was hoping the compressor didn’t throw a rod.

Preparing for the night I went out to the garage and got an electric heater. Then I got a flashlight and went to check on the heat pump compressor. All looked fine except for a worm on the top grille. How did that get there? I swept the light around and all looked fine up top where the big cooling fan is. But what is that, tiny hairs? I pointed the light down to the base of the unit and there was the explanation. A rat had somehow crawled between the 5/8” gap grille and was promptly banged, sliced and diced by the fan. That worm? It was guts.

Turned the heat pump back on. All is well, except for one very unhappy rat.

 

[woodgeek]

I guess you got the self-de-ratting package. Wonder if it works on squirrels?

 

[begreen]

Lucky me. First rat in almost 10 yrs running. I'm actually glad it was running and the rat didn't get a chance to start gnawing on stuff.

 

[jatoxico]

That's a darn shame.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Rodents....I hate rodents....

 

[firefighterjake]

Only rat I've seen around my home are muskrats.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Any story that ends with not spending tons of money and/or time, is a good story.

Compressor 1
Rat 0

 

[johneh]

If you have 1 rat you have more !

 

[begreen]

Without a doubt correct. I'm glad that we also have a good owl and eagle population. That's why we trap and don't poison them.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Had a big Barred owl in the yard early this summer, rodents were nearly non existent. Haven't seen the owl lately, chipmunks and squirrels are running the place.
Just did my yearly turn over of lawn equipment, oil changes for all, clean the mouse nests out of the snow blower and leaf blower, park the mower for them to move into. (worth mentioning that the Honda generator is designed nearly mouse proof, never had an issue)
I hate rodents.

 

[jatoxico]

Without a doubt correct. I'm glad that we also have a good owl and eagle population.

But now you have one less . Owls were hooting up a storm last night. Apparently around this time of year they are starting to stake out territory. Hope they managed to work up an appetite.

 

[Jags]

Heat pump by RonCo....It slices, it dices...

 

[begreen]

LOL Guess we got the Rat-o-matic model.

 

[gzecc]

We need to figure out why that poor rat committed suicide. Maybe the predators are over populated and causing over due stress on the rodents. Need PITA involved.

 

[Whitepine2]

We need to figure out why that poor rat committed suicide. Maybe the predators are over populated and causing over due stress on the rodents. Need PITA involved.

We just had this going on with car heater fan vs mouse. $136 later all set except for slight smell, man working at
Toyoda place nearly lost lunch but did a fine job cleaning and deodorizing.I also hate rodents!

 

[semipro]

I saw a mouse commit hara-kiri once.
I started our car with the intent of checking the trans fluid. As I got out of the running vehicle and opened the hood I noticed a mouse crawling around on top of the engine. As I jumped about nervously trying to figure what to do the little fella stepped out onto one of the rapidly turning belts and was instantly disassembled.
Unfortunately, I was standing directly in the line of fire and ended up with a stripe of mouse guts up the front of me from belly to forehead.