Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Closet of Stink


Something has died in my house. No, really. Somehow, some little critter has creeped into our office closet and expired. Only we can't find it. So the stench of death has slowly been waifting through our home the past week or two. Do you know how hard it is to mask that unique, disturbing, disgusting smell? Candles aren't cutting it. Room fresheners help for about, um, forty seconds.

The closet is unfinished, allowing access to space behind the insulation and up into the ceiling. I'm afraid that's where our ex-culprit is lurking. I fear we'll never find the source and we will all be driven, gagging and gasping, from our home.

So. Who'd like to stop by for coffee?

7 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Please accept my deepest sympathies. I can relate. The last house we lived in in Illinois before moving to Minnesota was an old, old farmhouse. One winter a mouse died somewhere in the heating ducts going from the furnace in the basement up throughout the house. I truly thought we might have to move.

Even now, some 30 years later, every once in a while I get some sort of a whiff that reminds me of that odor and my stomach does a flip-flop.

At least you can keep the doors and windows open (a lot?) this time of year. Good luck . . . and here's hoping for speedy dehydration.

A Friend Across the Miles said...

Ewwww. I would recommend some sort of room spray, but all I can think of is the old commercials and your daughter saying "Now it smells like dead rodent and roses!".

I'm with Mama Pea - let's hope for a good, stiff, dehydrating wind.

Ann said...

The good news is that eventually the smell goes aways, disgusting, I know, but it happened to a neighbor of ours when a something got into the crawl space under their whirlpool!

idreamicanfly said...

Um, pass?

Lucy said...

Speaking of coffee... we had chipmunks invade our house and then... expire. AWFUL!! My husband, the dear that he is, recalled that coffee beans will help absorb odor. Initially, we used several bowls of ground coffee, which helped immensely and then just put a couple bowls of beans around. You might give it a try. I do sympathize though!
Blessings,
Lucy

MrsMama said...

Lucy, thanks for the tip. I'll try it! I'll try anything at this point. :)

Katidids said...

Oh, I remember that smell! We had mice die in the walls a few years ago, horrible, the worst was lighting the oven and having one in there....so gross. Was months before I could bring myself to light it! Coffee beand I second, also charcole helps absorb the odors.....Good luck!