Last weekend, John and I enjoyed a three-day weekend on the West Coast. Friday night on Fort Myers Beach (fabulous sunsets, groovy Key West vibe) and Saturday night with our good friend Lynda King who lives on Sanibel Island when she isn't buying and selling TV stations.
We had such a good time! We talked about how restful it is and how much we enjoyed ourselves all the way home.
Fast forward. Friday morning when I got into my car to head to work, I noticed an odor. The Ford 500 has a door drainage problem and sometimes, when it rains hard, the back doors fill up and make a noticeable slooshing sound when I turn a corner or step on the brake. If I don't drain them regularly, the car can smell a bit musty.
Ten hours later, at the end of the work day, the stink was noticeably stronger and even though it was dark and I was tired, I opened both back doors and lifted the little rubber flap at the bottom to let the water out. And then I drove home. The smell abated some during my 30 minute commute but now I think I just got used to it.
On Friday nights I have other things on my mind and so I forgot about it until Saturday morning as we were going out for our bike ride. John wanted to check it but I didn't bring my keys with me and generally, we take his car for errands, etc and so the Ford remained sealed up until Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, John remembered and took his set of keys to my car so that when we finished the bike ride, he could check it out.
He said he almost dropped to his knees when he opened the car door, the stench was so bad. Initially, he thought it had something to do with my slightly damp carpet (damn Ford doors) but then he followed his nose to the back of the car.
A noxious cloud of putrid headed for the heavens as soon as he opened the trunk.
The culprit? Two forgotten Publix shopping bags full of shells gathered on Sanibel. Seven days of warm, damp closed conditions combined with rotting pieces of marine mollusk inside the forgotten exoskeletons created a vile funk that permeated the area.
Another few days and our neighbors would have surely called police, confident that we had a body in the trunk.
A quart of Febreze, some fresh air and a little time cured our problem...and our forgetfulness!
We had such a good time! We talked about how restful it is and how much we enjoyed ourselves all the way home.
Fast forward. Friday morning when I got into my car to head to work, I noticed an odor. The Ford 500 has a door drainage problem and sometimes, when it rains hard, the back doors fill up and make a noticeable slooshing sound when I turn a corner or step on the brake. If I don't drain them regularly, the car can smell a bit musty.
Ten hours later, at the end of the work day, the stink was noticeably stronger and even though it was dark and I was tired, I opened both back doors and lifted the little rubber flap at the bottom to let the water out. And then I drove home. The smell abated some during my 30 minute commute but now I think I just got used to it.
On Friday nights I have other things on my mind and so I forgot about it until Saturday morning as we were going out for our bike ride. John wanted to check it but I didn't bring my keys with me and generally, we take his car for errands, etc and so the Ford remained sealed up until Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, John remembered and took his set of keys to my car so that when we finished the bike ride, he could check it out.
He said he almost dropped to his knees when he opened the car door, the stench was so bad. Initially, he thought it had something to do with my slightly damp carpet (damn Ford doors) but then he followed his nose to the back of the car.
A noxious cloud of putrid headed for the heavens as soon as he opened the trunk.
The culprit? Two forgotten Publix shopping bags full of shells gathered on Sanibel. Seven days of warm, damp closed conditions combined with rotting pieces of marine mollusk inside the forgotten exoskeletons created a vile funk that permeated the area.
Another few days and our neighbors would have surely called police, confident that we had a body in the trunk.
A quart of Febreze, some fresh air and a little time cured our problem...and our forgetfulness!
