The Art of Distraction

The purpose of this post is to distract you. You know, like a slight of hand kind of thing, only this will be on your computer screen. Are you ready?

The Mystery of the Puddle in the Car

We bought a car in September of last year, right about the time we were trying to scrape together the cash to bring Axel home. It's a flood car. Do you know what that is? It's a car that's been in a flood, totaled by insurance, auctioned off, gutted, and the entire inside re-done, wiring checked out, etc.

We've bought flood cars from this same dealer before, as have many of our extended family members. This salvage dealer has always (and still is) great to work with. We bought a 2009 Toyota Camry with just 30,000 miles for less under $6,000. Car runs GREAT! Every thing in the mechanics and wiring is perfect. (Dean is driving our other flood car. Paid $4,000 and he's put 120,000 miles on it in 2 1/2 years! Its certainly paid for itself.)

Taking deep breaths as I remember I have a really big day tomorrow. Breathe in, breath out....

So no issues with the car. Drove it all winter long without issue. Drove it all spring without a problem. Vacuumed it out about a month ago, both front and back seats, and all was well. Love my car.

Until about 3 weeks ago, when I noticed a bottle of water had leaked on the floor of the rear passenger seat. There was standing water back there, so I soaked it up with a towel. Two days later there was another puddle there. There has been a puddle there EVER SINCE! I suck it up with my carpet cleaner and the next morning there is 1/2 inch deep puddle there again!

Trying not to imagine a tube being shoved down my throat.

Where could this be coming from? I could see if there was...like...water in a door or something, but FAR more than a door's worth of water has been sucked up from the floor of the car. And...wouldn't we HEAR the water in the door? I could imagine this happening if there were a leak in the floor and we were driving through rain or something, but it happens with the just parked in the driveway. IN.THE.SUN!

Really totally freaked out about what the results of tomorrow could be.

My theory is this car has a ghost.

Some of you may remember my posts about the ghost in our house. You know the one who turns the bedroom t.v. on half way, switches lights on and off, hides my keys and harasses the dogs when they're napping.

Whatever you do, don't google the symptoms I've had for the past 9 months. The searches never lead to anything good. I know, I've read the first 30 pages of the search results using a wide variety of search criteria.  

I don't think it's the same ghost. I think this is a car ghost. Why would a ghost leave a puddle of water in my car? I'm thinking I don't want to know, but I'm getting quite annoyed with it. It makes my car stink. It get stuff wet. It eliminates Angela sitting there when we're going somewhere as a family. I could have Axel and Angela switch seats, since Axel's feet don't reach the floor, but this is Angela we're talking about. Change is NOT going to happen.

I hope I remember to not eat anything after midnight and until my late afternoon appointment. I have a tendency to absentmindedly put food in my mouth when I'm on the phone. If you talk to me tomorrow, remind me, ok?

Dean didn't really buy my "ghost in the car" theory. I'm not surprised really, considering he also doesn't believe there's a ghost in the house. So I googled, puddle+rear passenger seat+camry.

Guess what? It's NOT a ghost! It's a plugged condensation tube! See, Google CAN be your friend when you're searching non-medical related stuff. WHO KNEW?! It it wasn't 100* right now, I would go pull the carpet out of my car to find that dang hose. Maybe tomorrow, when I'll need further distraction.