Friday, January 10, 2014

It's So EXHAUSTing Being Right All The Time

A few weeks ago when we were home, I walked into the kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks.  "Eww.  What's that smell??"  I said.

Ed was making breakfast and he was just getting ready to fry up some bacon.  I picked up the package, smelled it, and said, "That's bad."

"No it's not." he said.

"Yes it is.  It smells disgusting."

He looked at the date and said, "It can't be bad.  It's not even past the date yet."


"Well, it is.  I wouldn't eat it,"  I said.  "But you do what you want."  And I walked away.

He cooked it anyway.  After taking one bite, he realized it was bad.  And because he cooked his eggs in the bacon grease, he had to throw away his entire breakfast.

When I walked through the kitchen and saw his breakfast heaped in the garbage, I had to say it.

"I told you."

Personally, I would have rather he just listened to me and got rid of the bacon right away.  I knew it was bad.  My sniffer told me.  I mean, why would I want him to go through the lengthy process of making breakfast, to possibly eat something that was going to make him sick?  But, sometimes you just can't tell someone what to do.

Even though I try on a regular basis.  Bossiness is - according to others, not me - one of my less desirable personality traits.

Which brings me to the latest sniffing tale.

For several months I've been telling Ed I smell exhaust.  


I didn't know where it was coming from or what was causing it, but I knew I was smelling it.

"That happens when you turn on the defroster," he said.  "It sucks in exhaust from the other cars."

"Um, no.  I've been using the defroster on this truck for almost five years and it has not smelled like exhaust."

"Well, you don't know what you're talking about." he said.

"Well, I know you're not supposed to get asphyxiated when you defrost your windows.  I know that's not supposed to happen."


"It's in your head." he said.

"Um, no...it's in my nose.  I.  Smell.  Exhaust.  IN my nose.  It's coming from somewhere, and it's making me nauseous."

So he looked for it.  Couldn't find anything.  Or maybe it just didn't present itself when he looked.  But as soon as he started driving, if I were sitting up front with him, I'd smell it.


"There it is again.  I don't know how you don't smell that.  It's so strong."

"You're too sensitive." he said.

"I don't know why you're not taking this seriously.  You know how I am with smells.  I can sniff out anything.  You're the one who calls me a bloodhound.  You joked about renting me out to Border Patrol.  Remember??"

Fast forward to this week.  Yesterday we took the truck in for repair.  We had to get new mufflers because the weld on one of them broke.  But that wasn't where the exhaust I was smelling came from - because this weld thing was a new problem.


This afternoon Ed came back from the shop.  I was standing in the kitchen making cookies, and he came in the sliding door with mail in his hand.  He approached slowly and said in a serious tone, "I have something to tell you."  Oh crap.

Then I saw him looking a little sheepish.  Shifting.  I swear he was kicking a patch of imaginary dirt with the toe of his shoe on the other side of the counter.  


He shuffled from one foot to the other and said, "So, uh, I was at the shop.  And the guy said he was checking out the system and he found...um, under the passenger side of the truck...there was a loose clamp.  It was way up underneath.  He said that it was so loose, he's surprised it didn't come off."

"Uh, huh." I said.  "And?"

"Well...it seems there was a leak."

"So I was right?" I said.

"Well..."

"Sounds like the exhaust I was smelling was probably coming from there, huh?" I said.

"Well, I told the guy that my girlfriend kept telling me she was smelling exhaust, and I kept telling her she didn't know what she was talking about, and now I have to go home and tell her she was right.  And the guy said, 'Yeah, I hate that.'"

"So does this mean you'll listen to me in the future when I tell you I hear something not right, or I smell something funny?"  I said.


"Yeah."

"So where's my apology?" I said.

"That was it."

OK.  I'll take that.  



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2013: A Marriage Of Two Loves
2012: I Love A Man Wearing A Damn Good Looking Workboot
2011: MMXI At Full Throttle
2010: Maybe There’s A Reason Ed Never Lets Me Out Of The Truck
2009: Napolitos
2008: Pull Up A Chair
2007: The Story Of The Uppity Barista: Otherwise Known As A Texan Gittin’ Above His Raisin’
2006: Rock, Paper, Eddie
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

3 comments:

Gil said...

I didn't know that you were part bloodhound! Feels good to be right, doesn't it?

Belledog said...

Salena: would it work to have a little battery-operated CO2 monitor in your truck? I would worry about exhaust fumes as well.

I just bought a combo pack with one fire detector and one CO2 monitor at Target for maybe $26.00. Peace of mind. You can get the monitor alone for about $17 at hardware stores.

Tucson looks so beautiful and blue this week.

It's mild, but raining (sometimes heavily) and foggy intermittently in DC area. This after the "Polar Vortex" earlier this week.

The Daily Rant said...

GIL: I am part bloodhound - I hope it's only the nose though because it's sort of a funky looking beast. And yes, I LOVE to be right! LOL

BELLEDOG: We do have a CO2 Monitor in the truck. I'm guessing it works, but one time it was going off constantly and we took the truck to a local firehouse to have them check it. The fireman came in and checked the sleeper with some sort of wand thing that detects any fumes...there were none.

Tucson is sunny but COLD. Not as cold as other parts of the country though. Ed is happy about that - no snow!