Renegade Hampster at Large

[PineRidge]

When I was a young man working HVAC I had a service call one cold evening not far from our office. I had a broken toe at the time and they had taped two of my toes together as a brace. I was also wearing an open toed sandal on one foot.

I knocked on the door, identified myself, and a nice lady pointed me toward the basement. She said there were several pull chain lights at various locations within the basement.

I headed down the steps toward a rather otherwise dimly lit basement. I tried a couple of the pull chains but the majority of the bulbs were burned out and since the original bulb was lit and I had a pretty good flashlight i headed for the furnace.

This was an old style up-flow Moncrief furnace. I used to call them "more grief" anyway the furnace had two doors, one on the top covering the control area, and the one on the bottom covering the blower compartment. The furnace was facing an inner wall within the house and it was no more than 24 inches from the wall which was going to cause me some problem in itself.

I put my opened toolbox down on the floor next to the furnace and removed both furnace doors so I could get a better look at what was going on. I had to kinda get down twisting while putting my weight on the sandal that I was wearing. As I was looking in at the controls I felt something crawling on my exposed toes. I instinctively let out a yelp while shooting straight up and hitting my head on the overhead ductwork. crap

I got just a glimpse of the rat hightailing it back into the blower compartment for safety. As I got my composure I reached down and grabbed my hammer out of the toolbox. Do you all know where this is headed?

Anyway I stood there crouched in the dimly lit basement with that claw hammer in one hand and my trusty flashlight in the other and at that instant the furry little creature decided to make a break for freedom. I missed on the 1st swing and hit him dead center on the second killing him instantly.

Just at the moment when I was holding him up by his tail for closer examination the lady came around the corner wanting to know why I screamed. As I held up the rat I proudly said, "LOOK, I just killed a rat." She took one look at the rodent and said, "Rat, that's no rat that's my kids pet hamster that's been missing for 2 days!"

I never want to see another hamster in this life-time.

 

[shvl73]

The traps are commonly sold at typical feed stores and some hardware stores. A TSC or similar will have them.

 

[MossRoad]

..... As I held up the rat I proudly said, "LOOK, I just killed a rat." She took one look at the rodent and said, "Rat, that's no rat that's my kids pet hamster that's been missing for 2 days!"

I never want to see another hamster in this life-time.

 

[EddieWalker]

...and at that instant the furry little creature decided to make a break for freedom. I missed on the 1st swing and hit him dead center on the second killing him instantly.

Pineridge,

While reading your story, I wasn't sure if you were gonna kill the family pet or smack your toes with the hammer. Either way would have been a good story though!!

You reminded me of a similar experience when I was stationed at the US Embassy in Younde Cameroon. Another Marine and I were down in the basement watching the cleaning crew when a very large rat came out from behind the garbage cans. The cleaning crew had scared it and my buddy was in the way. We saw it coming and pulled our side handle battons figuring to kill it with a well aimed swing.

Suprisingly the rat ran up my buddies leg and stop right at his crotch. I was at full swing, but of course couldn't do anything. He just froze with the most perfect look of terror I'd ever seen on a guys face. He wanted me to get it off, but the location of where the rat had stoped was causing us both some issues.

It only stayed there a few moments, but it seemed like minutes to both of us. Then it ran down his leg again and squeezed under a door that we thought would have been impossible.

We had a good laugh about it afterwards, but it sure is scary having a rat run right at you. I'm just glad it chose him to visit with over me!!

Eddie

 

[Bird]

My 1st grade teacher was Mom's 1st grade teacher.

Chris, my 5th grade teacher was Mother's 5th grade teacher.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Just at the moment when I was holding him up by his tail for closer examination the lady came around the corner wanting to know why I screamed. As I held up the rat I proudly said, "LOOK, I just killed a rat." She took one look at the rodent and said, "Rat, that's no rat that's my kids pet hamster that's been missing for 2 days!"

I never want to see another hamster in this life-time.

Pineridge,

That reminds me a joke:

This contracter is installing vinyl flooring in a house and when he is finished he can not find his pack of cigarrettes. He looks around and in the middle of the floor he just finished is this small bump. Well, he does not feel like tearing everything out again - so he takes his BF hammer and hammers the bump flat.

Than the house lady comes along, hands him the pack of cigarettes and says:

Here, you left it in the kitchen. And, by any chance, did you see our hampster anywhere?

 

[PineRidge]

Good story Eddie, I would have given anything for a picture of his face while the rat was on his leg.


Prokop your story was a real hoot too. Thanks for the laugh.


BTW: As a follow up to my story I really never figured out how that darn hamster made its way in the furnace to begin with. It may have fallen down one of the warm air registers or even a cold air return since it was an older home and still had the old style gravity registers that never got changed out when they put the forced air furnace in.

The hamster chewed through one of the low voltage wires hence the "no heat" call. But I'll still never figure out why that nice lady never said a thing about the hamster to me before I even got to the basement. It would have saved us both a lot of grief. Communication sometimes is a good thing.

 

[bugstruck]

The traps are commonly sold at typical feed stores and some hardware stores. A TSC or similar will have them.

Roger that. I pass TSC on the way home and will stop in. Found those traps on the internet last night. Thanks for the recommendation.

I'll set one tonight if they have them. If I catch it I'll have to track the former Tenant's down and give them a dressing down (like they'll really care) along with a gift. I could take another route but it's not in my reasonably well mannered nature. Hopefully my better half will be back in town with the digital camera by the time I catch this thing. If it's not already gone of course as was mentioned in an earlier post. Tough house for this thing to get out of though. Sealed it up rather tight when I built it. Time will tell if it's escaped. I'll post the final results on this melee to find the wayward rodent.

 

[BamaRob]

Chris, my 5th grade teacher was Mother's 5th grade teacher.

My parents, me, and my kids all attend(ed) the same k-12 school. I had many of the same teachers that my parents had, and my kids have many of the same teachers that I had. My oldest son had 7th grade math under the same teacher that I and my parent's had! All of my parents' teachers have retired, and most of the ones that I had have retired.

I guess that's not that unusual in rural America. Plus the fact that my parents had me when they were really young (17-18) and my wife and I had our first son when we were just babies (18-19).

By the way today is our 18th wedding anniversary. My oldest son turns 17 next month and our youngest son turned 11 back in April. Life is good!

BR

 

[Bird]

My parents, me, and my kids all attend(ed) the same k-12 school.

That may not have been that uncommon a long time ago before our society became so mobile. But in more recent times, folks move around so much . . .. I changed schools 12 times in 12 years (no kindergarten back then). It was only 9 schools, though, since 3 of them were schools I attended, we moved away, then moved back later.

My parents had 5 kids in 6 years so our ages were close to the same, but my wife's parents has 7 kids spread over more than 14 years, so my wife's oldest brother was once her school teacher.