Category: Home and Garden

RDP: Odor

Something Smells Bad

If you like the way something smells you might say it has a pleasant scent, fragrance or even odor but normally odor, or as we spell it odour, does not have pleasant associations.

When I first put my house on the market the agent said: “You probably don’t notice it but the house smells a little ‘doggy’.”

Cindy in the back room.

My pets live inside and nothing is going to change that but after that, I became paranoid about bad odours. Even though I cleaned the carpets, opened windows and burned scented candles I was never sure if the house smelled OK. It smelled fine to me but how did I know that wasn’t just because I was used to it?

What made it worse was that one particular family who came to see the house obviously didn’t like animals. They arrived early and I had not had a chance to leave the house. I always take Cindy for a walk while the house is being viewed. Of course, she rushed up to their car to say hello and I think that put them off. Apparently one of them had asthma or allergies. I probably should not have warned the agent that Polly was hiding somewhere in the house and he should not leave the front or back door open. As Polly is an indoor cat and doesn’t like strangers I worry about her escaping if someone startles her. As long as she can hide under a bed she’s fine.

They hated the house complaining about the smell and even that one of them could not breathe. The agent said they were fussy people and had not liked anything he showed them but I still felt bad.

Smells are a big deal in real estate. I’m sure you’ve read those articles about having the scent of baking or coffee brewing in the house when there is a viewing. I don’t do that. It seems a bit contrived and actually, not everyone likes those smells. Naomi hates the smell of coffee for example. I try not to use any scents that are too strong or too sickly sweet because not everyone likes those either. Usually, I just open all the windows that actually open for a few hours, unless the weather is really bad and if I do use any kind of scent it will be something that is not too overpowering, citrus is a favourite.

A well-deserved cup of coffee.

This Saturday I have people coming to look at the house again so Friday will be a day of preparing the house and making it look and smell as nice as possible. Wish me luck!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Close-Ups of Flowers

Flowers

It’s mid-winter here and I didn’t know if I’d be able to find any flowers to photograph in my garden but guess what? The first jonquils are out!

First Jonquils of the season
Playing with editing software

My King Alfred daffodils are not far away from flowering either.

King Alfred Daffodil
Daisy edited

I do have a lot of daisies and although they are considered weeds I’ve always been fond of them. The pansies are about the only other thing still flowering.

Frosty

As I mentioned in an earlier post it has been cold here. This morning as I waited outside for my ride I snapped a few pictures with my phone. We had a really big frost this morning which didn’t clear until well after 9 am. These were taken at around 8:30 am. In fact, when Donna arrived to pick me up I was unable to close the car door after getting in. Neither of us had ever seen that before.

Frosty Photinia

While I was waiting I caught the local garbage recycling van in the act of emptying a bin. Mine were not out as there was not much in either rubbish or recycle bin. On my own, I find I don’t need to put them out every week.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Flowers of any kind

Since I started to play with Cee’s black and white challenge I’ve found it a lot of fun to experiment with editing my photos using different filters, desaturating or sepia for different effects. I also love to photograph the flowers in my garden so although I still like them better in colour it’s quite fun to see how they come out.

Flowers

Dark Clouds Gather

I looked out my window this afternoon and I thought it must be raining but the ground didn’t seem to be getting wet. I went outside and the sky was full of black clouds. I think that for just a few minutes it was trying to snow. It was cold enough outside but it didn’t settle and in less than five minutes it was over. As long as I was out there I thought I would take some pictures of the clouds. Despite the threatening appearance, it didn’t rain this afternoon.

  • clouds above the garage.
  • Dark clouds gather
  • Dark clouds, 1:15pm
  • Clouds and a patch of blue.
  • clouds but no rain.