Stan,
 You wouldn't have any of these mice problems if you you didn't eliminate 
all the cats in your immediate vicinity.
 BenT

 On 7/29/05, Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@sbcglobal.net> wrote: 
> 
> It doesn't take much for a wild thing to smell food of all types.
> I notice that mice eat the crank handles off my fishing reels trying to 
> get
> the blood that I get on them when fishing with worms or catfish blood 
> bait.
> I've had mice eat screwdriver handles to get the tiny bit of blood I get 
> on
> them because I'm a klutz and scratch myself.
> If you've opened your car door with burger drippings on your hand you 
> could
> be signing an invitation for wild varmint intrusion.
> I've seen TV reports where the bears just rip doors off the hinges to get 
> at
> a bag of potato chips (They have name brand loyalties you know).
> I'd say ............ go out and enjoy life. If a Bear tears your canvas up
> then you probably needed new canvas anyway.
> You'll have a story to tell the list and tell your grandchildren along 
> with
> your photos of the pillaging.
> If a Bear tears the canvass up while you're in there you'll become a more
> religious person if the bear doesn't win the encounter.
> 
> Stan Wilder
> Engine Ceramics
> 214-352-4931
> www.engineceramics.com <http://www.engineceramics.com>
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeffrey Earl" <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 10:04 AM
> Subject: Black Bears vs Westy Canvas?
> 
> 
> > Jon wrote:
> > >> This is exactly why I have a weekender and wouldn't
> > want a full camper. What kind of a crazy person cooks
> > in their car? sooty, dirty, smelly both good and
> > bad....
> >
> >
> > Not sure what you're cookin' up in your Westy that is
> > so smoky and greasy that it requires the excessive
> > ventilation and splatter-zone offered by the al fresco
> > food-preparation experience, but I'd be less worried
> > about your Westy interior than that of your
> > cardiovascular system.
> >
> > Aside from the very occasional indulgence in a slice
> > of Spam fried up alongside our omelettes, all our
> > other Westy cooking consists of boiling rice or
> > noodles, or heating soup, which, besides being more
> > healthful, also leave no residual odors of food.
> >
> > I dunno. Were I to choose the method of my own death,
> > and given a choice between a brutal and bloody mauling
> > by a bear in my van who has mistaken me for a large
> > breakfast sausage, or the long and torturous
> > bed-ridden decline of multiple cardiac arrests and
> > strokes caused by my cholesterol-clogged arteries, I
> > think I'd opt instead for the mauling, please. There's
> > just something stoic and noble about going down
> > swinging and screaming, in a flurry of blood and fur,
> > an active participant on the great circle of life ...
> >
> > Besides, I'd get to spend my final moments on this
> > earth in my beloved Westy!
> >
> > Jeffrey Earl
> > 1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"
> > http://www.vanthology.com/
> >
> >
> >
> > ____________________________________________________
> > Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
> > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
> 

-- 
BenT