Tuesday, May 5, 2009

an acorn mystery

a while ago, we started having trouble with the blower on our heat/ac in my van. when you turned it past the medium speed it made this horrible clunking and grinding sound. so our remedy for the problem...don't it turn it up past medium, of course!

well, one day there was a terrible clunk, and then, voila! fixed! ...so we thought.

recently, the noise came back and now, we don't get any air out of the vents at all. so with the prospect of a family road trip in the near future, mark decided we needed a new blower motor and took the van in. the shop called. we don't need a new motor, all we need to do is remove the 100 acorns that are stuffed in the blower! acorns?! it seems some critter thought that space inside our engine was a good pantry.

now here is the mystery? whodunnit??? the logical explanation is a mouse in the garage. the problem with that is we have no oak trees anywhere near the house. it seems unlikely that a mouse would trek across five acres to deposit 100 acorns in our vehicle!

mark thinks it is the thirteen lined ground squirrel that we are always taking pictures of and watching pop in and out of his little holes. mark is ready to eliminate the little villain. but i maintain that he is innocent until proven guilty. besides, they store their stash in their tunnels and hibernate all winter. and again, we have no oak trees!

i have another theory. in august of 2007 we took a camping trip to yellowstone. if i remember correctly, the first clunking noises occurred on our way home. i remember thinking, "what if we break down in the middle of nowhere!" i think our culprit is a yellowstone chipmunk!

in case anyone is wondering. acorn removal costs about $76.22.

2 comments:

Amy said...

I think you should sell those acorns...Genuine Yellowstone Oak Trees!!! Think of the profit! You could easily offset the $76.22 and put aside a little extra for the Save the Squirrel Campaign.

stacy said...

i could list them on ebay! i'm sure that would bring a park ranger to my doorstep with a warrant for my arrest, removing something natural from a national park!!

i think it is a conspiracy of the chipmunks to sabatage the vehicles of all those annoying campers!