vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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The perils of Baja boating
When I am away from Baja, my outboard motor lives in a locked storage. I always stuff any openings with aluminum foil, and duct tape over anything
that would make a home for a mud dobber wasp.
I brought the motor home for maintenance this trip, and this morning I pulled the lower unit off to R and R the impeller.
Although no damage was done, the picture below clearly shows that I didn't do a good enough job of sealing EVERY opening against the P-nche ratones.
This is only a part of the nest and the date pits that were filling voids in the lower unit. They got in around the shift shaft and sensor tube on
this Honda BF35A.
There were pits in places I'd have sworn you couldn't reach without a 14mm socket!!
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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pangamadness
Nomad
Posts: 378
Registered: 9-22-2003
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Mood: Under H20
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Wow
I never had that problem at the East Cape but my boat is now sitting not far from yours. I better hurry up and return.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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Vagabundo------
----Isn't it incredible where the "critters" can get too for whatever it is they "do". I too seal off my outboards (I think???)
My pet peeve is the mud-dobber wasps that get into almost any type of propane appliance. They seem to love to stuff the orifices of the burners with
their mud nests, thus making the propane appliance appear broken, resulting in very poor "burning", or operation. This happens to camp stoves,
lanterns, heaters, and any other thing that has a "burner" chamber. I cannot tell you how many appliances I have picked up at garage sales for
practically nothing because the owners think they are broken------ when all they need is cleaning.
Spiders can also foul burners up with their white fluffy nests.
[Edited on 2-19-2007 by Barry A.]
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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Barry...before I started sealing the toilet when we left, we arrived once to find that mud daubers has FILLED all the water outlets under the rim of
the toilet bowl. It took a while to get it usable again.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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backninedan
Senior Nomad
Posts: 865
Registered: 3-8-2003
Location: Loreto
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We had similar situation with a sewing machine. When it wouldnt work, I tore it apart and found 3 mice that had made a cozy home.
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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invaders
Yup, it may be an intake, output, downspout, keyhole, garden hose, gas regulator, snorkel, dive booty, radio, TV, VCR, shoe, shirt, drawer, cupboard,
etc., etc, ad infinitum to you, but it's a cozy spot for any number of wee friends.
I've had mud daubers in a gazzilion places. Mice, too, aren't real picky about maternity wards or homes. Scorpions in the shoes and booties are wake
ups. A bee swarm in the mail box can be wrose than the phone bill. Snakes have moved into the front seat springs of two of my cars. A ground squirrel
took up lodging in the rafters of a rental I had in Todos Santos. My golf bag is an off-and-on zoo. There are geckos all over the walls at night.
I once pulled on an unshaken tee shirt and a 2-inch spider, wooly as a Teddy bear came strolling up the side of my face. A friend suited up for a dive
and came out of the water like a missile when he discovered he was sharing booty space with a scorpion, who didn't want him for a roommate just then.
He was evicted with 8 stings among the toes. The water jar used to have all manner of striding, swimming, and drowned stuff in it. The outhouse — wow
— another zoo. Check under the seat first!!
Plug up holes, close openings, shake clothing, take care in dark places.
Get used to it, live with it, enjoy it; you'll miss it when the whole peninsula is paved and striped for parking.
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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I'm right with you Tehag...When the date pits started bouncing off the work bench, I was laughing my butt off!
Like Mike Humfreville said...nothing goes to waste in Baja, including living space. I've killed a scorpion, walked outside to get a broom, and found
it already being moved by ants on their way to dinner when I returned.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
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Mood: good
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Explain please
I kown about the mice and some of that other stuff but please would someone explain date pits?.........what are date pits doing in the
out-board?....This has gone completly over my head,help
BAITCAST
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Any Argentine Fire Ants in Baja?
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ursidae69
Nomad
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: Youngsville, NM
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vgabndo
Although no damage was done, the picture below clearly shows that I didn't do a good enough job of sealing EVERY opening against the P-nche ratones.
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You might want to use some lysol pretty liberally when pulling out rat nests. Hantavirus is spread through airborne particles of dried urine.
Coating it with lysol kills the virus. Deer mice (Peromyscus spp.) are the biggest concern, but other rodents like wood rats (Neotoma spp.) have also
been shown to carry the virus. Just wanted to give you a heads up. These damn rodents make nests is the strangest places.
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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Baitcast...I have some real questions about mice and date pits. I realize that they are not going to "take out the trash" after having eaten the date
meat, but I find them in places that make absolutely no sense as a place where the dates were eaten. Two years ago, for instance, when the
"Cafetera", the cotton cone coffee filter on the wire ring, was taken down from where it was hanging over the range from the pot rack, it was full of
date pits.
It would have been ridiculous for a mouse to have gone to all the trouble to haul a pound of dates up the wall, across the rack, down the twisted
handle and then to eat them in the folded cotton cone!!! They must have been stashing pits.
In the outboard, the passages were just too small for a pack rat to have done it.
Maybe the mice eat the pits when times are tough (er)???
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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DanO
Super Nomad
Posts: 1923
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
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My mice like it in the water heater. They pull down a little insulation to nest with. Smells great when you fire up the burner.
\"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.\" -- Frank Zappa
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