Monday

Monday, Monday

Oh, my. What a day. Just checking in. I have many, many blogs pinging around my cranium, but this simple 'Ola!' will have to suffice. We have been in Louisiana visiting my family for a few days. We left this morning at 8:30 a.m. in the pouring rain. Y'all, it was GREAT to go to bed listening to it rain last night. But to wake up to it and try to drive in it? Not so much. And Troy didn't feel well. Coming home always seems to take longer than going, and it was simply an eternal trip. We left early trying to get home for Ashley's 6:30 basketball game.

We rolled into the driveway at 5:15. Perfect -- 30 minutes to start a load of laundry, unpack, and get Ashley to the gym for the game. I had given the kids a list of things to start working on when we got home. As Troy and I are unpacking the car, Riley walks through the garage: "Ew!!! There is some AWFUL smell in here!" Ashley heads into the garage, "Oh, MAN! Something must have died in here." Troy follows into the garage. He doesn't exclaim, but it is quite evident that he affirms that there is, indeed, a funk. I, being a not-too-slow learner, marched myself to the front door and rang the doorbell waiting for someone who had already gone through the green cloud-o-funk to open the door so that I could get in. Troy finally figured it out -- and it was quite obvious that the funk wasn't contained to the garage but was concentrated there -- that our outside refrigerator/freezer quit working. In August. In Texas. While we were gone. Need I say more? Oh, yes, I should say more: deer meat. whole chickens. Are you getting the imagery? More importantly, are you imagining the odor?

My precious Troy, who never could identify a dirty diaper, even on his lap, knew my olfactory would never allow me that clean up. I offered to help, but that wonderful man did battle with the 'fridge alone. I don't know all of the details, and he says he hopes he can sleep tonight for some of the horrible images in his brain. Some things are better left to bear alone.

I left Troy hosing out the 'fridge while I got Ashley to the game. He showed up not too much later, freshly showered. Ashley had a wonderful game, and I got to sit in the stands listening to the other team's parents complaining that there was no way she was in the 11/12 age group. (We love that). The game was awesome, we stopped by Subway on the way home. Where I stepped in gum. At least today is over.

7 comments:

Roxanne said...

When I was in jr. high our chest freezer went out. As dead mice were no uncommon occurrence in our house, it took us awhile to figure out what it was. The thing was PACKED with deer, ducks, and fish--and it was HUGE--like the size of a Volkswagon. Some neighbor came and helped Daddy load it into the back of the truck. He promptly drove it to the farthest corner of the pasture where they shoved it out and took off as fast as the truck would carry them. We didn't venture to that corner of the pasture for awhile.

I am so sorry you had THAT to deal with after your endless I-20 drive.

Tammy M. said...

Bleckity, Bleck, Bleck.
Good for Troy taking care of the odorous disaster. Ashley Rocks!

Anonymous said...

Ask Troy about his freshman year at ACU while sharing a room with Warren Bouteller. Something about a mini-fridge being unplugged over the weekend...which was full of dead squirrels.

Susan said...

Your last comment reminded me of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Great book by Judith Viorst. It's a kids book (you probably know that) but is great for adults, too. I even used it one time for a staff inservice. Quirky, but fun!

"Some days are like that...even in Australia."

Troy M. Stirman said...

DAVE-

You are on the right track, but I can tell you that the current experience eclipses the former by about 1,000 to 1. (And it wasn't squirrels back then- it was freshly salted hides from deer, coyote, fox & raccoon mixed with an entire half gallon of whole milk...)

All together now, "Ewwwwwwww"!

Julie said...

Yes, I have a story, as well. One year in Prague we came home from a weeklong vacation at the beach to find that our housesitter had inadvertently unplugged the deep freeze to plug in the toaster. Oops, and YUCK. I didn't have any deer meat in there, though.

Anonymous said...

I can join in this one. Hurricane Katrina. Two weeks of no power. The guys who moved our refrigerator out were big athletic types. They would budge the fridge about 3 feet then go outside and throw up. Then come in ...repeat. They finally got it to the curb and duct-taped it shut.

Sorry you came home to that!