Darkoshi

With my 3-day weekend, I've been cleaning out more of the stuff my niece left behind when she moved out. One item is an Easy Bake Oven. At first, I intended to take it to Goodwill, even though it seemed to be missing the pan.

When I plugged it in and turned it on to make sure it worked, the white light in front came on but it didn't seem to be doing anything else. Then I started smelling a nasty smell, like cigar smoke. Not wanting to impose such a nasty smell on anyone who might innocently buy it at Goodwill, I decided to throw it away.

First I thought of wrapping it in an old hoodie which I was getting rid of too. To hide it, I guess, and buffer the outside of it. I would put it like that in another bag, in my trash bin. But I changed my mind, not wanting it to damage the garbage truck (if that is even possible).

Per my county's Solid Waste & Recycling Guidelines, you can schedule a bulk item pickup for large appliances. But not for small appliances. Apparently you have to take the small ones to the landfill yourself. That doesn't seem fair! They'll take something big but not something smaller?

I considered disassembling the unit, and found a video showing how to do it. The oven has a thick plastic shell. The seam is near one side, not in the middle. So taking it apart wouldn't make it much smaller. But in pieces, it would no longer be an appliance; it would be two bulky pieces of plastic. That should probably be ok to put in my bin. I could keep the metal interior parts for metal recycling.

But taking it apart requires an unusually long #10 star bit driver, which I don't have. I suppose I could order one, but gee whiz.

To top things off, my neighbor put out a bunch of junk this weekend. A passer-by with a truck already took away the exercise bike. There's still a coffee table and side table (in fairly bad condition though they could be fixed up), and a shopping cart (that reminded me how after I moved here, it was common to find abandoned shopping carts on the side of the road. I'm glad that stopped happening) and some other things. Unless my neighbor scheduled a special pickup for that stuff, or someone else driving by decides they want that stuff, I don't think it will be picked up. I was tempted to put out the Easy Bake oven by his things. But I already cut the electric cord off it, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get taken.

I considered putting the oven on top of my trash bin by the street. That way the people on the garbage truck could decide whether it was ok for them to take or not. But now it's 3am and I don't want to go out there in the dark again.

I've never been to the landfill, so I don't know how dropping something off there works. I used to think I could do that someday if I ever really needed to. But then one time, Qiao and I drove by one of the landfills on the way out of town. The smell was horrible. I could barely stand just driving down that road. So now I never want to drive that way again, and I certainly don't want to drive in to the landfill site. I don't think I could stand it. But actually, I'm not even sure that's the location for dropping off appliances and such. Maybe that place is elsewhere and doesn't smell as bad.

Two years ago (on Valentine's Day, even!) I had hired some people to haul away a bunch of stuff to the dump. I might need to do that again someday, if I have enough to make it worthwhile.

This morning, I had a nightmare about the election results. That T* won in all states but 2. Or purportedly won. Realizing it was a dream was only partly relieving, because the nightmare still feels like a real possibility. But at least the opposite is quite possible too. It has to be.

..

Qiao's house has had an on-again off-again mildew-smell problem since he moved in. It doesn't bother him, but does me. By now, I'm pretty sure it's related to the HVAC system. This last week, the mildew smell has been worse than ever. It started a few days after we turned the heater on for the first time this season. We ran the heater for a long time with the windows open to air it out. We haven't had the A/C on since then. (I think that means it shouldn't be a problem with condensation dripping from the cooling coils.) It hasn't rained much since then either, only lightly a few times. But 2 days after having the heater on, the bad smell started.

This morning I began searching online for an inexpensive duct camera that I could use to inspect the ducts.

This afternoon, I had an sudden epiphany. Or rather a hypothesis which might not be true at all, about where the smell could be coming from, and why it's sporadic. A metal shroud covers the ductwork between the outside HVAC unit and the house; pine needles accumulate on the joint between it and the unit. Every once in a while, I clear it off. MAYBE clearing it off makes rain leak into that joint, rather than preventing it. I had just brushed away debris there not long ago. Maybe that's why the smell comes and goes.

So I took a closer look at it, and yes water could definitely be getting in there. (Qiao is having an HVAC inspection in a few days anyway, so I plan to ask the technician if they can check it when they come.)

But as it's forecast to rain tomorrow, I ended up caulking that seam today, and felt good about it. Like maybe I've finally found the problem/solution! (Old houses should come with manuals!) Or maybe not. But for the moment, it's a possibility at least.

Now tonight Qiao has turned on the attic fan. Even with windows open, it still also pulls nasty-smelling air up from the ducts. Blech.

But I guess if it's wet in there somewhere, that's the only way it's going to dry out, and at least the windows are open. Though I think it would dry out better with the heater on. But that's what seemed to start all this mess. So ::throws hands in air:: :: like I just don't care :: but I do, but I do :: do the hokey pokey and turn ourselves around, that's what it's all about ::

This year I've been smelling chlorine every so often, in the tap water coming out of the faucets. Before this year, I don't remember it ever smelling that way. Granted, most of the time it still doesn't smell that way, but it is pertinent to this post.

A few times the smell was so strong that I didn't even want to shower in it. One of those times there turned out to be a possible reason for it; some issue with the water supply which may have caused them to increase the added chlorine. Other people on the Nextdoor site were complaining about it too, so I knew it wasn't only me.

This year I also started using stainless steel water bottles to take water to work, instead of the glass bottles I used before. I made the switch because glass bottles can't be cleaned as well; the top is too narrow to get a brush in. With the steel bottles, I can brush them out after each use.

This year, I also started to smell an occasional unpleasant bleachy smell in the water from my steel water bottles, when drinking it at work. This is in spite of me using a faucet-mounted filter for my drinking water, like I've always done.

Yet the drinking water that I store in liter-sized glass bottles in the fridge never has that smell. (I'm not as concerned about not being able to clean those bottles out as I never put my lips on them. I only pour water into and out of them.)

It occurred to me that maybe the chlorine in the water doesn't dissipate as quickly in steel bottles, as the steel doesn't let light through.

So I started to store the filtered tap water in a couple of big glass jars by a window for a few days, before pouring it into my steel bottles to take to work. But I still notice the smell sometimes.

So. I'm not even sure if the smell is due to the water quality, or if it is somehow due to these steel bottles. Maybe it's due to the size of the bottle opening. Glass bottles have small openings, so maybe with those, the smell never hit my nose the same way. Drinking glasses have wide openings, so maybe with them the smell dissipates much quicker, also not hitting my nose in the same way. Or maybe it has something to do with the silicone ring on the bottle's cap, or something about stainless steel itself. Or maybe I've gotten more sensitive to the smell for some reason, even though the amount of chlorine hasn't changed.

I could switch back to taking a small glass bottle to work, to see if it makes a difference or not.

Maybe I should start refrigerating the water before putting it into the steel bottles, to see if that makes a difference. I could even boil a big pot of water once a week and store it, but from what I've read, I'm not sure even that would help.

Each time I've done research on the topic, I get overwhelmed by data, when I'm really looking for a simple fix.

Chlorine test strips, to see how much chlorine is in the water... apparently they are not very accurate, and rely on you comparing colors. Knowing how much bleach is in the water wouldn't really help with my problem anyway.

The smell may be from chloramines, not chlorine. Chlorine dissipates quickly when water is boiled or even when it just sits for a while. Chloramine takes much longer to dissipate even when boiled.

Based on the city's yearly water quality reports, they've been using both chlorine and chloramines for the water treatment since at least 2009. So it's not a new thing.

Now I've just read that adding vitamin C to the water can get rid of the chloramine. But I also read on a different page that some things break down chloramine into chlorine and ammonia, or something like that, and you need to make sure the ammonia isn't left in the water...

If vitamin C works, surely vinegar would too. I wonder if a small amount of vinegar in the water would taste bad or not. But I don't think I'm going to do that. Acid isn't good for teeth.


https://www.thesprucepets.com/remove-chloramines-from-tap-water-2924183
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/does-boiling-water-remove-chloramine.857730/
https://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water
https://waterandhealth.org/healthy-pools/smells-chlorine/

Oh, I just remembered another thing. On my recent trip, the tap water in one motel in New Jersey smelled as bad or worse than the worst it's ever smelled here. I didn't want to shower and even brushing my teeth was unpleasant. I'd hate to live in a place like that.

Why can we smell metal? - it's not actually the metal that smells.

I was wondering last week why my hand smelled bad, then realized it was from simply having touched the metal zipper pull on an old duffle bag. (Yet when I later sniffed the zipper, it didn't smell). Certain metals like that (not sure what kind, but generally the yellowish/bronze colored ones) make my hands smell so horrible that I have to wash them to get rid of the smell. Then I wondered if other people could smell metal too, which led to me finding the above information.

Revisited the crawlspaces today.

At my mom's house, I removed the electronic air cleaner front panel. The prior owners did get rid of the cells; the inside was empty except for a thin disposable filter. It was very dirty (reasonably so as my mom hadn't replaced it since moving into the house). My mom had bought a new one, so I replaced the dirty one with the clean one. With the front panel off, I could see into the return ducts. One of them appears to have insulation on the *inside*. It looked very dirty.

I removed the snake skin by the HVAC system, and found another snake skin by the exterior wall. It was next to an opening through which cables connect to the outside A/C unit and phone box. So that is likely where the snake(s) got in. My mom will close it off.

At the other house, I went down below to take another look at the humidifier I saw last week. I found the label with the model #, but no humidistat and no obvious way to power it off. I tried to turn off the water valve to it (because of the mold, we want to reduce the humidity in the house, not increase it), but then the valve started dripping, so I put a bucket underneath for now.

Maybe the house's mold problems is caused by the humidifier putting too much moisture in the air. Today with the heater on, the house smelled quite unpleasant to me again. Of course, now I'm envisioning a dirty moldy humidifier that may not have been cleaned out in ages, blowing mildewy air into the house, even though I have no proof yet that the unit is dirty inside.

Then I picked up pinecones and branches from the yard - last week was very windy.

Then I put up a pet gate in the house to keep the dogs away from the bedrooms. I'm unsatisfied with the gate though. It has 2 design flaws compared to the one at my house. The bottom catch doesn't work right (other people have mentioned the same problem in their reviews), and the whole gate occasionally lifts out of the hinges. Unfortunately the better model was discontinued and is no longer available. Now I'm considering getting a different brand instead, but that can wait. Maybe I'll get used to this one, or find a way of fixing the flaws.

.

I also voted in the democratic primary today. I'm disappointed that Hillary won over Bernie, and by such a large margin. But I'd much rather have Hillary win than Trump or the other Republican candidates.

Yesterday I washed a section of the garage wall that had gotten moldy, with bleach. Boxes had been pushed up right against the wall, not allowing enough ventilation. This is the 2nd round of bleach on it, as after the first round a week or so ago, it still smelled musty from somewhere. I hope there isn't mold on the inside of the wall. It's plain unpainted plyboard.

Then, as I was doing bleach anyway, I mopped down (up) the sun-room ceiling too, as it had accumulated a bunch of mildew spots from the frequent moisture in there.

I looked up info on adjustable beds, as Qiao is planning to get one. Currently he switches back and forth between the bed and the recliner at night, trying to get comfortable. His foot hasn't been hurting him much the last few days though (hallelujah!).

Today I washed the dogs. They really needed it.

Then I tried to figure out why the kitchen sink drain was suddenly (since yesterday) making glug-glug-glug noises, even though the water was draining fine. Suspecting a blockage in the drain vent, I got out the ladder and went up on the roof to check the vent. There wasn't anything blocking it up on that end, and water I poured into the vent seemed to be draining fine / not backing up.

While up there, I cleaned out the sun-room gutters. Zorro chose to stand directly in the path of the falling dirt and debris. It occurred to me that I had just gotten her all nice and clean... Yelling at her didn't help any, but I finally managed to sweet-talk her into moving away.

I debated whether to go to the hardware store to buy a drain auger. I had tried pushing some cable wire down the vent, but it wouldn't go further than the bend at the bottom of the vent. But I didn't really want to go to the store.

I left the kitchen faucet running and checked the drain pipes in the basement. They were vibrating from the glug-glug-glugging. After a while, there was a change in sound - a larger rushing of water as if someone had dumped out some water into the sink. Whatever had been clogging it must have unclogged itself, as the glugging noise was gone.

While in the basement, I saw that water had leaked in during the flood-storm. It was absorbed into the dirt and didn't look too bad, but I carried a fan down there to help dry it out.

After the fact, it occurred to me that I could have simply tried using the sink plunger instead of going up to the roof and down to the basement.

I took advantage of the remaining daylight to cut down a branch that had cracked in the storm and which was leaning down on the shed. I had to use the extendable pole saw, with it extended to the maximum height.

And I washed 2 loads of clothes/towels, and made brownies. Finally.

Next, sleep-sleep-tired-tired.

Not having cooked methi before, I thought it was okay to include the stems. Wrong - the chopped up stems remained tough and fibrous even after cooking.

I had cooked the greens with mustard seeds, which in spite of my familiarity with their popping action, made a bit of a mess on the stove.

Because of the stems, I told Qiao that he didn't have to eat his portion. Then, after meticulously picking out all the stems, I ate the remaining good parts up all by myself, just to get rid of the mess and be done with it. That was Sunday evening.

I didn't notice the methi having any strong flavor. Raw, it tasted simply like mild greens to me. This seemed odd, as I had read that it had a distinctive taste. I recall fenugreek seeds not having much of a smell either - only a light butterscotch smell.

Cooked, it was like spinach. Most of the taste was from the mustard seeds.

Fast-forward to Monday afternoon. I was surprised by and self-conscious of a smell emanating from my underarms, even though I had washed and used deodorant like usual that morning. After getting home in the evening, I washed and applied more deo, but the smell persisted. I worried that my deodorant was no longer working for me.

Tuesday morning, I showered and again applied deo. I even re-applied some deo before and after my lunch-time walk outside in the 100-degree heat. But I still noticed the odor. It's not even a very bad smell, but definitely unfamiliar. It's not the normal smell of my sweat.

So I wondered if it was from something I had eaten. I've been trying out SAM-e supplements... but I had started those over a week ago. Furthermore, I had gotten sweaty working in the yard on both Saturday and Sunday, without noticing this odor.

Then I remembered the methi and mustard seeds. I had eaten mustard seeds in the past without any ill effect. Could it be due to the methi? Yep, apparently so.


Fenugreek pungent sweat, how to get rid of it?
(from a comment on that page) Fenugreek contains an aromatic compound called Soletone. It smells sweet like maple and a bit curry-like. It is the scent that people notice wafting off of people from certain countries where it is commonly eaten. These people do not notice it since they and those they know mostly smell like it, so to them it isn’t an odd thing. Some Asians have commented that Americans all smell like rancid butter, which is probably true based on our diet. Some Asians smell like fermented cabbage to other people. The fact is that most of us shower every day and these smells have nothing to do with hygiene (although this can be a separate issue).

The Mystery of the Maple Syrup Smell

ETA: My body odor continued to smell of fenugreek for a whole week, even though I had only eaten it that one day!

When you store sauerkraut in a plastic container - even a glass container with a plastic lid, the plastic takes on the sauerkraut smell, and it is very hard* to subsequently rid the plastic of the odor.

I found a way to avoid the problem, by covering the glass container with a sheet of aluminum foil before putting the lid on. As I don't like to waste foil, I rinsed and reused the same sheet several times for the same purpose.

This last time, I was surprised to notice the plastic lid smelling of sauerkraut after I had washed it. The foil had accumulated several tiny holes in it, from being reused too many times. Even those tiny holes were enough to let the smell get through to the plastic.

*I do not recall having taped the lid to an outside window for a few weeks. It's a good thing I wrote that down; I suppose I'll be doing it again.

Why is it that a house always has an odd smell when it's been empty and closed up for a week or more? Not a putrid smell nor one of decay, but some kind of stale unpleasant smell that only goes away after airing the house out for quite a while. There was no smelly trash left in the house that I'm aware of, nor dirty unwashed dishes. This used to happen at FF's old house, and happens at this house too.

It smells somewhat like a full vacuum cleaner bag. So maybe it's the concentrated smell of dust and dead skin cells and such.

Dear Target,

After waiting 6 months for the nasty smell on the Teal Accent Cabinet to completely dissipate, I got angry, and it happened to be standing right there, so I kicked a hole in its side. Now it's definitely of no use to me. Could I have a refund?

Thanks.

...

Why do I have to clean up other people's junk?
Why does the sunroom have to keep having moisture problems?
Why do I have to spend all my "free" time cleaning and fixing and sewing and such?
Why does non-work begin to feel like work, when I do it?
Why is the dog back, and why does it have to look like it's starving again?
Is it morally acceptable to me, to put out bait/poison in the garage, to stop getting piles of roach shit in there?
Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?