And I blamed the dog
I’m so sorry I haven’t been reading too many (if any) blogs lately. The last few weeks have been crazy. (Like the time I had five writing deadlines, made three trips to the doctor and one trip to the vet in the course of 5 days.) As I look at my day planner, I see things aren’t going to quiet down much for awhile. (Paying gigs take precedence.) I miss you all. I miss your stories and hearing what’s going on. Please don’t “write me off” yet. I haven’t forgotten about you all! I’m trying the best I can!
The last few days our house has smelled funky. And I don’t mean that in a good, fun way. This foul odor filled our main floor and seemed to radiate within the kitchen/breakfast nook area. So I did what any other slackin’ yet harried mom does.
At first, I blamed the dog, ocassionally muttering swear words under my breath while shooting her dirty looks. (I would have blamed the hubby but he had been out of town.)
The dog had recently been to the vet. Steroids were prescribed. I had assumed the meds were upsetting her digestive track. Sassy dog turned into gassy dog. And she has no shame! She’ll sit on the couch, let them rip and not even give you a sheepish glance. Didn’t she get the memo that we women don’t do things like that?
So yesterday when the stink reached epic proportions, I took out the trash and opened tons of windows. Within a few hours, the smell had vanished. Victory! That is, until I closed the windows again for the evening and realized the stink had come back.
Late last night (ok, early this morning) as I sat at the kitchen table typing away, engulfed in the smell, I looked over at the bamboo plant that’s kept in a big vase with pretty rocks and lots of water. Well, duh. Several of the rocks were covered in mold. Ick! Being that mold is one of those 25 things I’m allergic to? That would explain the last two weeks of headaches that wouldn’t go away. Once I put the plant outside, the smell magically disappeared.
I’m feeling really guilty for assuming Abbeydog had that sort of pooting power. So I threw her a piece of deli ham and we agreed to call it “even.”
So the moral of the story is… If there’s a stink in the house you might want to check the bamboo plant before you blame the dog — or any other critters within your home.
18 Comments
Other Links to this Post
-
And I blamed the dog — May 15, 2008 @ 4:47 am
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By Amber, May 15, 2008 @ 10:50 am
And if you don’t have a bamboo plant OR a dog, who do you blame for the strench?
By Alissa, May 15, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
haha! That’s too funny! Well, it’s not, but it is, if you know what I mean. Poor Abbeydog
I’m glad you solved the puzzle, tho!
By MommyTime, May 15, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
Actually, “blame the dog” is an EXCELLENT first recourse. Even when you KNOW full well the dog isn’t to blame.
However, if the smell lingers too long, well, then investigation is certainly in order.
By sj, May 15, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
whenever my dog toots, i find it hysterical that it takes him by surprise *every time*.
without fail, he whips his head around and looks towards his bum — as if to say “Hey! I can talk out of my butt! Neat!”
By flutter, May 15, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Hint for the bamboo? Add a teaspoon of bleach to the water, or get the water clarifying solution that you get for betta fish.
and quit blaming the dog, we chicks are sensitive about our gas, yo!
By Michelle, May 15, 2008 @ 8:06 pm
Cute!! No dog in my house, but the kids think it is great when the smell up a room. Pyper’s new word is FART - good times.
By Rusti, May 15, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
LOL - sounds just like me!! I’ll keep in mind to check the plants - after I’m sure it’s not the trash or dirty dishes
Thanks for the heads up!
By Heather, May 15, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
My dog is over 14 years old. The stench is definitely from her.
By Sugared Harpy, May 15, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
Oh lordy, I’m sorry for the headaches.
I never would have thought of the bamboo plant either! You are smarter than me
By Claire, May 15, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
I had the same thing happen at my house with much more difficult fix. The pest control people came and threw out bait, etc. and apparently it worked very well. It killed the critters and they dropped dead in their tracks. Unfortunately it was under our house or in the crawl space and the odor floated upwards into the house. Ick
By Alexandra, May 16, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Aw! I’m sure Abbeydog was very happy with the peace offering!
By Susan, May 16, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
Hunh - I’d have never guessed that a moldy plant would cause such stinkiness. I’m glad you finally figured it out so you could put an end to the smell and the headaches. I have to admit you had me cracking up about blaming the dog. In my household, there are no pets to blame for my stench. LOL!
By Daisy, May 17, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
Last time I had this problem, it wasn’t the rabbit’s litter box or the garbage under the sink, but a mouse. Ugh. It had been trapped under the fridge where I couldn’t see it. Well, the kitchen got an extra cleaning in my efforts to find the source of the odor — and I don’t have a dog to blame.
By Traceytreasure, May 18, 2008 @ 12:32 am
I’m just glad that it wasn’t dead mice in your walls or a dead raccoon under your house! Ummm, yeah, don’t ask…..NOT GOOD!! I’m glad that it was just mold on your rocks. A cap full of Listerine in the water that you water your plants with might help but it smells like medicine. You allergic to that?
By dana, May 18, 2008 @ 3:13 am
Seriously, don;t feel bad for blaming the dog. My husband STILL blames ours whenever he lets one go. It’s never gonna be funny. I try to tell him. Can we say thick skull? Haha.
By Carrie, May 19, 2008 @ 7:23 am
And what are these paying gigs that you speak of? I need me some of that!
Don’t feel too bad about Abbeydog, I thought Roy was in need of a bath (which I was going to postpone because he was supposed to spend the weekend at the kennel and dogs always get so dirty there . . . ) - anyway, I ignored it Thursday night and Friday when I took off his collar, he had an infected wound underneath it, hence the stink.
I am such a bad dog mama. He’s fine though, thank goodness.
By VirtualSprite, May 19, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
Oooh!!! I’ve done that!!!!
Only it wasn’t a bamboo plant. It was a jar of opened baby food my sister had put into a secret compartment of Goober’s diaper bag that I didn’t know about for, oh, four months, and only discovered because I felt something hard in an area of the diaper bag I never go into.
The worst part was that I walked around a shopping mall with that bag and seriously thought that my shopping companions had something seriously wrong with them.