I Thought I Was Tough

Today a friend told me how she had helped clean out a 100+ year old house for several days last week.  The former resident was a bit of a "collector" and had saved dead critters in jars and other memorabilia in unexpected places around the house.  All the friends who pitched in to help the family clean out the house wore masks, due to the large amount of rodent droppings possibly being hazardous if particles became airborne, yet slept several nights in the house since it was so far away from any practical lodging.  They also found many treasures from the 1930's and 40's such as jadeite and depression-era glass.

I thought back to the times when friends helped a colleague de-clutter her house and we encountered almost fossilized cat droppings around the edges of the room and especially behind boxes filled with old papers.  The ammonia in the air made our eyes water and we all took showers and washed our clothes immediately upon returning home.  How is it that we get accustomed to smells inside our homes, or our cars, and don't realize that it's unusual to have an enclosed area smell that way.  When our attic exhaust fans turn on in hot weather my whole house smells like creosote from the chimney, until the fans' thermostats shut them off at night and the house returns to smelling like it should.  If I leave my used lunch wrappers in my car for several days then my car starts smelling like a greasy fast food kitchen.

I think I'll go out and hug on Stewey--he usually smells like he's been napping in the sunny hay barn.