It's Enough To Turn Me Vegetarian

I noticed a smell in the house the last day or two that was just faintly, well, smelly. This usually means that the dogs need bathed desperately and the kennels cleaned. Washing their bedding is always a nice touch, too. Mental note, do that when I get a free minute.

And then Micah's BSC came to the house today for a 2 hour visit. He wanted a toy in the basement and needed me to get it down off the refrigerator down there. (He has a love/hate relationship with the singing, dancing reindeer. He'll play with it for a while but insists it be put up on the fridge in the basement when he's done with it. One can't take the chance of it coming to life anywhere near him.) When I opened the basement door I noticed a definite dead animal smell. Yuck. I know for a fact that we don't have mice because the kids leave popcorn and other various foods down there on occasion and it's never bothered.

The further down the steps I went the worse it got. I headed toward the fridge for the much-needed toy. And then I saw it. The large pool of red under the refrigerator. And the smell was powerful and sickening. I grabbed the toy and ran. I tried blocking the image out of my mind, but it lurked there all afternoon taunting me with the fact that it wouldn't go away unless I took care of it.

When Sam came home I broke down. It takes a lot to reduce me to tears, but losing an entire freezer full of meat on top of the ugly mess it created was more than I could take in my current over-stressed condition. He graciously volunteered to clean it up for me. Bless his heart, this is the man that cannot clean up dog vomit without adding to it.

In the end neither of us could do it. My dad had to come take care of the mess for us. How on earth does one repay someone for THAT?! And let me tell you that the horrid, nasty, dead-animal smell I experienced was absolutely nothing compared to what was released when that freezer door was opened. One cannot describe the incredible stench. If you've ever experienced that, please accept my condolences. If you haven't, trust me when I say that it's enough to turn you into a vegetarian.

I'm just so, so glad that it was discovered before we left for vacation. I cannot imagine what the house would smell like after a week of that stench festering in the freezer. I probably would have had to condemn the house and move.

23 comments:

caramama said...

Ugh! That completely sucks! I'm so sorry that you lost the freezer full of meat, and that you had to smell a smell that nasty! Yeah for your dad!

Anonymous said...

I do know that smell. It was in my car once. For a solid week. I'm so sorry it was in your house. And, yes. Thank the Lord you managed to get to it before you left.

Wineplz said...

oh gross...

be sure to bring back a NICE gift for your dad from your vacation!

The Sports Mama said...

Oh yeah. Been there, done that. I'm fortunate enough to be married to a man who pukes at nothing.

5 more days..... :) (I'm trying to convince myself to promise to go back to my normal lesser levels of stalking after I actually get to meet you this weekend!)

imbeingheldhostage said...

Oh, I do know that smell and I am so sorry!! It's amazing how quickly your memory can pull that smell back up when you're reading about it too. Yuck.

Your dad deserves an award!

I hope you have a nice vacation-- even though you have this loss, you'll be coming home to a good smell.

Burgh Baby said...

And that is what you get for being a house full of meateaters. What? You were expecting sympathy from the vegetarian? Pshaw.

Besides, I'm too busy counting the minutes. 256, in case you needed an update.

AutoSysGene said...

Ewww, I would have had to have someone else come and clean it too!!

Spammon said...

If the freezer went south, you should have taken it out back with the meat, and lit it on fire. It would double as a bbq and you could invite all the neighbors and STILL enjoy the juicy meat!

Madame Queen said...

Blech. I'm familiar with that smell, but not on that level. Thank goodness you found it before your trip!

Birdie said...

horrible! Did the smell ever come out? ICK!

Andrea said...

Oh, yes that smell brings back some memories. After hurricane Ritta hit us two years ago, all fridges and freezers died. I got the wonderful task of cleaning out our fridge. I doubled up two black trash bags and still they leaked when I tried to drag them out side. Our fridge was never the same. Needless to say our house fridge became our barn fridge. That smell is horrible. I am so sorry you lost all that food and then had to smell it!! Yuck!!

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

I love your new layout!

I was worried this had happened to us, when I discovered our freezer wasn't running earlier this year. As it turned out, the breaker had tripped, and thank goodness nothing thawed out, so it wasn't wasted.

I'm sorry that happened to you, what a smelly waste!

pb&j in a bowl said...

Ugh. Just thinking of what that must have smelled like, made me a little nauseated. Thank goodness your dad was able to help out with that.

Unknown said...

All I have to say is "EEEEWWWWWW"!!!

Betsy, short for Elizabeth, formally known as Esther said...

GROOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

So GROSS!!!

SO gross!!!

SO so GROSS!!!

Really gross! I think I can smell it from here!

GROSS!!

ALF said...

Ewwww - rotting meat smell is the worst!

Pam said...

ICK! All I can say is sorry!

OHmommy said...

UGH! LOL... I am glad you found it too.

Boy, I took a couple days off from blogging and you got a blog makeover.

It. Is. Fab!!!!

Flea said...

Losing all that meat is such the tragedy! Yes, I've experienced that horror. Poor little bunny.

Shellie said...

While that is devastating and gross I am so glad you have a Dad who would help and that you found it now before you left. Say hi for me to the whole wonderful state of Arizona, sniff!

Tootsie Farklepants said...

Your father is a saint!! Thank heavens for daddys!!

Unknown said...

Someone else wrote about this happening to her too. I just cannot imagine. The smell of chicken scraps left in the trash overnight is so horrible, I can't even imagine a freezer-full of meat. Did you ever find out why the power went off in the freezer? Bless your dad for taking care of that for you.

Mostly Sunny said...

Ugh! I'm with you. I don't think I could attack that nastiness either!! God bless your dad!