January 19th, 2017

We've had an -   interesting - situation  here the past few months.  Now that the weather is so much nicer,  we tend to open the windows more . But in our bedroom, I noticed an  certain fragrance that did not belong.  Ok let's call it what it was, an almighty stink.  Now I have to be honest, My sense of smell of much stronger than most people's, so it's not unusual for me to say, "do you smell that ?" and everyone else to say no.   Tim did not smell it. At least at first. So, I tried to not-smell it.  Ever try to not-smell something?  Doesn't work.

I really only noticed it at night. But to be fair, that really is the only time we are in that room.  I tried ignoring it. Now and again, I tried looking for the source, and finding nothing.  I must be loosing my mind, I decided, starting with my nose.

Whenever you move to a new place, there so many things to get used to.  Not just finding your way around a new house in the dark and where is the best dry cleaner, but new trees, new flowers, new birds. Also new sounds and aha! new smells.  As an example, one of the unexpected scents that I had to adjust to here was the scent of ground water. I think that's what it's called.  Many people who live here have a well that is specifically dedicated to the sprinkler system for their lawns and gardens. The water in that well is ground water.  It's not potable, not drinkable water. And thank goodness, because when these people have their sprinklers on, the smell is fairly potent.  (We do not use that system)  Maybe it's a neighbor's sprinklers at night?

I allowed myself to believe that for awhile. But the smell just got stronger which means worse. To the point where, I couldn't sleep in the bedroom. Every night I would at some point, give up and move to the family room and snooze there. Well that's ridiculous. I have a perfectly good bedroom and I'm damned well going to sleep there, I decided. So yesterday was the day I was going to get to the bottom of it.

I started by sniffing around the room like a bloodhound.  It seemed to be primarily on the wall that the headboard and bedside tables were against. So all of that got moved out then  I emptied the closet.  I scrubbed the closet first, floors and walls. I put new dryer sheets in the shoes and then put everything back. Nope that wasn't it, the smell is still there.

Next was the floor and walls of the bedroom itelf. Every inch of scrubbed within in inch of it's life. Didn't help.  All righty then, curtains came down and were washed.  Windows and window ledge scrubbed and polished.  I fought a mighty battle with very old venetian blinds along the way. I have battle scars and still, the stench remained.  What on earth was it?

Then I considered that perhaps it wasn't in the house but outside.  There is a line of shrubs on the other side of that wall that come up to just over the bottom of those windows.  Nice thick glossy green ones.  Maybe some animal crawled into those bushes and died.

Dang. Ok I'm ready. Armed with plastic bags (for animal disposal) and rubber gloves I crawl around in the shrubbery, peering into and under it for awhile.  I'm filthy now but nope. No critter dead or otherwise.  I'm mystified. Until, I look a little higher. The window ledge, which is behind the hedge, is covered, inches deep in bird poop. Well this is just craptastic, I thought to myself with disgust.

I flashed back suddenly and remembered that when we were first house hunting down here, both times that we visited this house, the courtyard was filled with pigeons.  I even remember telling the realtor that I hoped those birds weren't going to be a problem. He said if we bought the house, he would have someone out to take care of it.  A man of his word, after we bought the house, there was not a sign of a bird, no bird droppings in the court yard and not a feather in sight.  I guess nobody thought to look at the window ledge.  We certainly didn't.

I don't know how long the house was unoccupied before we bought it, but clearly it was long enough for a pidgeon family to use our bedroom window ledge as an outhouse. May I just say, Ewwwww!  At least I found it, the stink source mystery has been solved.  Now how to get rid of it.   This calls for the proper equipment: one, let's call it disposable, flathead screwdriver since afterwards I threw it away, two rolls of papertowels, a lot of windex , even more Odo-ban  and a powerwash later, the window ledge was clean.

I was filthy and I was pooped, pun intended, but finally our bedroom was habitable again.  I got myself cleaned up and thoroughly changed and put the bedroom back together with a smile on my face.  Finally!

I felt like the worlds greatest detective!  There is a certain satisfaction here. There was a problem. I found the root of the problem.  I successfully resolved the problem.  A good day's work done. But woe unto any pigeon stupid enough to show it's feathery little face around here again. Ever!