A guy is never too old to learn it seems, and more often than I care to admit sometimes find myself in a situation that I could of handled a whole lot smarter like. Take that episode a few weeks back for instance, when I wandered out to the shop one morning before light as I usually do to make tea and read the Internet news. I turned on the lights out there and plugged the kettle in, and heading over to light the stove I happen to spot a small puddle of liquid underneath a motorcycle.
This got my curiosity up as there's nothing I hate worse than something leaking on the shop floor.
This got my curiosity up as there's nothing I hate worse than something leaking on the shop floor.
Funny I didn't smell gas, and anyways, I knew the bike had no fuel in it, and being an air-cooled engine it wasn't coolant. Brake fluid, it had to be brake fluid, but it didn't make sense why it would leak there. A leaky roof? It hadn't rained since before winter, and anyways, how the hell would the roof leak under a motorcycle. I got down on my knees for a closer inspection of the offending pool of fluid, sticking a finger in there to see if it was oil or water.
It didn't feel like either, really, which only deepened the mystery.
Like I mentioned, it was early, and I'm not so sure all the brain cells were fully operational quite yet but those that were, were fully engrossed in the variables of the puddle mystery. Pretty soon the other part of my brain, the three-quarters of it that is not quite up to speed yet decides to get involved, it takes control of my arm and dips a couple fingers in the mystery puddle, then brings a sample up close to my nose and I took a few sniffs.
It wasn't gasoline, it wasn't anti-freeze, it wasn't brake-fluid and it wasn't quite water. What the hell was it? I watched my fingers go back for another dip, then up to my lips, hesitating for a moment before wiping them on an eagerly outstretched tongue to better identify the small pool of mystery liquid.
Well, it tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before that's for sure.
So I'm standing there at 6 in the morning swishing this around in my mouth and contemplating the bouquet when it suddenly dawns on me what it was, and you guessed right, it was cat urine. I made a run for the sink and held my mouth under the tap until I nearly choked on it.
A good lesson learned, and you can bet I will be more careful when licking things off the shop floor around here in the future from now on.
I knew what you were about to get into before I finished even reading.
ReplyDeleteTell me did you detect delicate hint of ammonia your new found hobby of being a feline sommelier?
At our wet Lab at UBC we have a huge sign that reads.
" If It's Wet, Sticky And Not Yours... Don't Touch It!!!"
Now you tell me...
DeleteThe taste test is a valid point of contention between new and old school mechanics. I have not tasted cat piss, however most engine fluids have a distinct taste...I know.
ReplyDeleteHi Robin that is the funniest story I read today i was thinking perhaps you were going to say spilled water or maybe juice lol thank you. I miss the Hot Springs have a great day
ReplyDelete