The nose knows

When I was pregnant with Chloe, I developed "super pregnant sniffer". I discovered a whole new world of smell and most of it was bad. I assumed (foolishly) that things would get better after she was born. HAH! The following two pregnancies just made things worse and worse until now when I have a sense of smell equivalent to a mega super cyborg whose sole purpose in life is to sniff things.

Anyway, because of this new handicap, um I mean ABILITY, I spend a considerable amount of time thinking about smells. Especially in the summer when everything around me is twice it's usual temperature which leads to aromas of unbelieveable strength and pungency. Take hay, for instance. We live in a rural community with lots of farms and dairies (more about them later). I'm a big fan of the smell of fresh cut hay (even though it makes me sneeze) but after the hay has been fermenting in the sun for a few days I'm really wishing for a little more Febreeze! Then there are the dairies. I think most barnyard animals (including cows) smell good and natural until the natural byproduct of their existence is laying on the ground at the dairy in the hot sun for about a week. That smell just about puts me off milk! Of course, not all natural smells are good. Skunks smell bad alive or dead by the side of the road. Phew!

I guess I shouldn't complain, our old house is very close to some oil refineries where they burn off chemicals at night. Those smells will peel the paint off your house! Not to mention the Great Salt Lake. When the wind was just right we got to enjoy the smell of acres and acres of marshy, rotting vegetation. Ugh!

There are good summer smells, too. Warm strawberries and raspberries smell fantastic. Freshly turned dirt in the garden is good and also new mown grass (which also makes me sneeze). Oh, and onions still in the ground make for a lovely, fragrant garden. Mmmmmm. Maybe I'll go eat some chocolate. That smells good!