Good deed begets a world of misery.

It was cold a week ago Saturday--the day before the baby shower--so I made the effort to pull my car into the garage, clean out the hospice supplies and make room for all that was needed to throw a successful social event. I locked the gate and the garage door knowing all of our hard work would be safe during the night.

I never park in the garage. First, it's a pain to even get up the narrow drive with my wider Ford Escape and even harder to back out without hitting the house. Second, I am a person of modest means so I have no electronic gate like they do in Beverly Hills and opening and closing the gate is a hassle. Third, I have a dog who would love to lord it over all of the other neighborhood dogs, so the gate must always stay closed. And locked. Overall, it's easier to park in the drive.

Now you have the makings of this domino effect that landed my vehicle in the emergency room at the local Ford dealer. No worries I thought...the vehicle is still covered under warranty. If it's not, I had the common sense to buy an extended warranty when I purchased this little truck.

While I slumbered this morning, my husband had the vehicle towed (it died after the dealer had closed on Friday) and as I was just waking up, I could hear him on the phone, "chewed through wires?" "What do you think it was? A rat?"

Our town has a rodent (rat) problem, which I'd heard about before we moved here, but I've never seen one. Everyone is good about keeping their yards picked up and their trash contained. Well, everyone except the lunatic behind me. She'd be the one who allows the dog excrement to accumulate over winter and misses each opportunity to remove it when it's frozen (easiest way to pick up poo). She has two dogs so it's extra nasty. The only rodent type creature I've seen--besides the squirrels-- is a possum. Leo likes to corner him in the yard and when he does, the stalking begins, Leo's hair stands up on end and he snarls and growls. That bold little rat-like bastard stands up on his hind legs and hisses like crazy. I think they're hideous myself. Leo likes the game.

I think I know where that nasty little creature has been staying at night. And I think I know what he's been eating.

All told...about $600 worth of damage not covered by warranty. A big chunk of that money is coming out of my paycheck. The one with all of the mandatory overtime from last week. The money I'd dreamed of spending on two sweater's worth of yarn.

From spending one night in the garage? Talk about an indiscretion one lives to regret!

If it all weren't so ridiculous, I'd cry.

Photo: Wiki Commons