Fixing a Car with Floss

Nope, the title is not a metaphor.  I really did "fix" a car with floss.  Driving from Utah to Arizona after Christmas, my friend found herself in a tricky situation.  Hit the solid object ahead in our lane, hit the truck in the lane next to us, or run into the shredded tire on our other side.  She slowed down as much as she could and we braced for impact with the solid object which turned out to be a fully-packed carry-on suitcase.  It did a number on her car's low-profile bumper, but nothing else seemed to be wrong, so we threw the blasted suitcase to the side and put the pieces of her bumper in the trunk.  As our speed picked up, we heard loud clicking in the wheel well.  I got out in the sub-freezing weather in the middle of nowhere to check.  I couldn't see anything.  We tried again.  Same thing.  I checked again but still couldn't find anything.  After several repeats of this, I climbed further under the car to realize a connector that held three pieces of overlapping plastic together was gone.  When the car started moving, the plastic would move into the wheel well.  I needed a way to stabilize the plastic.  We didn't have duct tape or any kind of tape.  Then I thought of floss.  If I used several strands and threaded them through the hole in each of the pieces, I could tie them together.  As I was working, a cop came up to see what was going on.  I asked if he had any medical tape.  He said no. He asked if we had brought the suitcase.  I said no.  He left to go get the suitcase.  Huge help.  I finished tying off the floss, and we started driving.  No noise!  We stopped at the next gas station where I bought duct tape to wrap around the floss.  This fix held up for over a year until she was able to get her car fixed.  I think Macgyver would have been proud.

Hamster Home

I bought a hamster.  A cute, tiny Roborovski hamster the size of a golf ball.  Because she is so small, I thought the cage from the pet store was plenty big.  After doing some research, I found out these little critters have so much energy that they need a bigger space to run and play.  No pet store sold a cage that fit the bill, so I found ideas online for how to build my own out of a clear, plastic storage box.  Some people use glass aquariums, but they are heavy and expensive.  The box was about $15 at the home improvement store.

I cut out the middle of the lid, drilled holes every 1.5 inches around the edge, then used zip ties to attach metal wire mesh.  I covered the edges with duct tape (white to be fancy) to avoid cuts on the sharp edges.  I also drilled a hole in a side wall to attach the water bottle.  Based on her body language, the fur ball is much happier in her new home.