February 15, 2009

Why there was a STANK in our house.

So, for the past few days, there's been a smell in my house. Okay, I admit, I am not Miss Clean. My house is messy, but it's not so messy that there should be a stink. To me, it smelled a bit like rotten cabbage. I pinpointed that it was in my kitchen, so I started trying to find where it was coming from....it was near my double ovens, pantry, counter top. I cleaned off the counter top, looked in the pantry (which only has canned and boxed foods, nothing fresh....no cabbage). A couple of days ago, I decided it was probably my microwave, because that's where the smell was the strongest. (The microwave sits in a cabinet above my double ovens).

I put a cup of water and vinegar in the microwave and turned it on for 5 minutes, hoping the vinegar would get rid of the smell. It seemed to work.

But when I got home from church today, I knew something was wrong. It was getting worse, not better. So, I started to sniff around and again, it seemed to come from the microwave area. Maybe something was under or behind it. I thought, maybe I spilt some water/broth when cooking and that's the smell. I called my husband into the kitchen and we removed the microwave....nothing under or behind it. He sniffs and says, "It's coming from here," pointing to the crack between the upper oven and the cabinet. "There's something dead behind it." So, he proceeds to remove the double ovens. And sure 'nough, there was something dead behind the ovens.


We can't figure out exactly how it got into that space, except through the conduct hole...which was really small, but I know mice....er, rats?.... can get into very small holes. This mouse/rat is about 6 inches long. He's big...or was big. We don't think he was electrocuted. We think he may have gotten his foot caught on the wires and hung there for a while It didn't looked burned. Well, I won't go into all the grisly details, but it wasn't pretty.

At least now, I know why there was a stank in my house. Though I don't know what's worse, knowing what caused the stank, or knowing there's probably more where he came from.....

Anna Kathryn
www.aklanier.com

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Your post brought back the horrid memories of a rancid smell in my house at one time. We lived near farming fields and during cultivation, mice sought refuge in the houses. We put out poison, which they were supposed to eat and go away in search for water, then die. One didn't make it that far and croaked inside the wall. Yuk! what a pain it was to get that out. We had to rip out an entire chunk of plasterboard in the living room. I hate little furry things that scurry. Don't you?

Hugz,
G

Anna Kathryn Lanier said...

Ginger, I was afraid he might be in the wall too, between the ovens and the living room. Lucky for us, he wasn't.

I was thinking...how long will the smell last? Can we outlive it? Luckily, Jim came to the rescue and we didn't have to find out.

Yep, I hate them. Yuck!

A.K.

Susan Macatee said...

How nasty! We just found a dead mouse in a long forgotten trap beneath my printer stand. The smell was long since gone, though, but seeing that mouse skeleton was still nasty.

Anonymous said...

I remember about 15 years ago I shared a townhouse with a friend of mine. We started smelling this awful stink in the house and finally realized it was coming from somewhere near the fireplace. Long story short: a squirrel had tumbled down the chimney and gotten stuck in the flue where he died. Ugh, I still shudder just thinking about it.

Christine

Teri Thackston said...

We've had a dead mouse in the wall a time or two. It is a dreadful smell. Glad you found it!
Teri

Jennifer Johnson said...

GROSS!!!!!!!!!! OH, GROSS!!!!!!!!! I guess we all have mouse stories. My dumb cats wait until the trap catches the mice then they carry them around in the trap so proudly as if to say, "Look what I found, and it was so EASY to catch!"

Maryannwrites said...

How gross, Anna. I have a terrible time with mice, even with three cats who are all good mousers. Well, actually only two. John doesn't bother himself with rodents. :-)

Our female cat once caught 3 mice in less than five minutes. I was cleaning out a cabinet where I had heard the mice the night before, and mice came running out. Misty caught them before they made it across the kitchen.

When she catches one, I leave the room for about two minutes while she does away with the mouse. That's something I can't watch.

Christie Craig said...

Not pretty!

CC