Leave It to a Stink . . . .

I think I'm on to something that would work in any environment where some major project---usually of "round-to-it" variety needs to get done.

A stink showed up in our garage about 2:32 p.m. Saturday afternoon.  I could not decide if it smelled like rotten meat or spoiled food, but it sure did stink near the door leading to outside.

That's near the garbage cans, but the garbage bag that I'd just stuck there had nothing in it to bring out that distinct a smell quite so soon. 

The odor could have been in all the stuff that has piled up for several months on the right side of the doorway----three ice chests of varying sizes, two boxes of contents cleaned from our Jimmy when we traded it in for the Suburu, gardening stuff, including a partial bag of potting soil and a whole lot of bags of other stuff like ice melter, dog food, etc. 

On Sunday, I cleaned out the garbage containers and took the sacks to the white pickup, figuring Bill could take a load to the dump, along with that half-ton TV which has been sitting in the back of the pickup ever since Sefo, a very strong man, carried it downstairs in our house straight to the pickup bed.

I've gone to the dump aka transfer station twice since then, but no strong men have shown up during my visits.  I told the attendant that I would unload the TV when men are around. 

Turns out Bill never made it to the dump on Sunday because of no gap between the big games. 

So, the garbage and the TV sat in the pickup bed overnight, which IS a good thing. 

About midnight, I awakened with the horrible memory of a few years ago on a winter night when a raccoon climbed up into a pickup load of our garbage and tore it to smithereens, leaving stuff strewn all over creation, even stuck to the ice.

I did not want to repeat the fun of cleaning up that mess, so I got out of bed, went to the window and looked to see if the pickup, which sits under a shed light, was remaining intact.

It was BUT I also spotted a very sorry sight, one for which we all feel so sorry:  someone had inadvertently left poor Kea outside FOR THE NIGHT. 

Shades of the night that someone inadvertently left little Foster outside to circle the house 8 bazillion times, hoping someone would let him in.  They did, about 3:30 in the morning during a bathroom break, after spotting the energizer mini Aussie racing past the sliding glass door. 

Well, it was just midnight when I saw Kea, but Foster's night out was in warmer weather.  When I opened the door and apologized to poor Kea, I felt even worse.  Her back line was white with a coat of frost.  

I apologized again.  

Anyway, coons stayed away, probably cuz it was so cold, and the garbage remained untouched in the pickup bed, just as the stink remained unfound in the garage. 

I even began to wonder if the new smell could signal that another colony of mice had moved in and taken up living space in one of those many containers. 

Each time I went outside or inside, the stink seemed to have strengthened.  

On Sunday night after the game when Willie and Debbie left, I asked them if they smelled something cuz a lot of times my nose tends work overtime.

Indeed, they did. 

So, yesterday's project list led off with the determination to find the stink, especially because Bill told me he would be home early before the basketball game to take the garbage and the TV to the dump.

I worked for a good two hours in that garage, going through containers, sniffing a lot, moving more stuff to the pickup, sweeping, vaccuming, sniffing some more, still smelling the stink. 

Eventually, after the garage was clean like it hasn't been in a couple of years, I figured out the source.  rotten potatoes.  A few within my potato boxes had frozen during much colder weather.  

The spuds were just starting to let off their aroma, a bit on the time-release mode but enough to keep my nose in high gear and my work ethic. 

The spuds, the TV and a whole lot of stuff went to the dump yesterday afternoon, and the stink has gone----for now anyway.  

I still have potatoes, and we still have winter and more cold weather could arouse the stink again sometime.

For now, I'm quite pleased with all the work I did simply to find and rid the garage of the stink.  I remember a couple of years ago how a bunch more stuff went to the dump when I could not find my original Social Security card.

I also remember finding stuff I hadn't seen in years and doing a whole lot of tidying in the process.

So, I'm thinking that if we really want a major project to be completed by someone, take something away that's really important to them or plant a revolting stink that will drive them crazy in an obscure place.  

Almost guaranteed they'll go into action.