A few day ago, I opened the driver door to get into my truck and it smelled like someone just farted in there and shut the door. It was first thing in the morning and no one had been in the truck. So as I was driving to town I was wondering if a mouse had crawled into the heater vent or something horrid to create that smell and how much work it’d be to disassemble what and how much it’d cost to find and fix it. As the week went on the smell got louder and was developing a putrid character, and I remembered an incident from the previous week. I was leaving town and saw a guy needing a ride. He lives in an old bus in the forest a couple miles from me, so it was easy for me to help him out. He put his groceries on the back seat of my four door pick up and climbed in front. The conversation was easy and he was real ripped from imbibing on the fruits of local harvest. We got to the head of the trail to where his bus is concealed in the woods and I let him out. He opened the back door and got his bags, only the milk in one bag had leaked considerably, at least a quart. He made a comment about his cats will be disappointed and started to blot it with a paper pattern I had on the seat for a boat I needed to letter. I scooted him along and got home and blotted it up with a towel as best I could. Have you ever smelled rancid milk? It’s bad, and nothing seems to cover it or hide it except fresh skunk. So after many attempts and phone calls, Megan and I removed the seats and spent a while with the hose trying to completely saturate them and get water to flow through to flush it out and then flooding it with diluted bleach. Right now, I’m hoping it’ll be dry before springtime, and enjoying a new meaning to the expression “don’t cry over spilled milk.”
[ September 22, 2007, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: Rick Sacks ]
Posted by mike meyer (Member # 542) on :
eeeeeWWWWWWWW!
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I'm still in awe over the vehicle companion you entertained. You are truely a giving person and a very brave one at that!
I do remember Cody's baby forumula had a very strong odor if I didn't get to the baby laundry pronto.
These days are a little different. I couldn't figure out what the dead smell was in Cody's room. It was barely there and simply got worse over time. I was ready to rip out the carpets it was so bad. I was scrubbing, stripped the bed, you name it.
One day I came across a 'nest' as I call it, behind a tall cabinet. Cody socks away dirty laundry when he's too lazy to deal with it. A simple pair of dirty socks sent me running for the OUTSIDE trash. I also threw out the shoes, they were just as bad. Something's still amiss in that room. I swear, the carpet is next!
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
Donna, I believe the ambiance of the particular area of where Rick lives has indeed changed very little over these past years and being brave is left up to other parts of the country, I personally don't think it to be brave for Rick to help another soul get from point A to point B. Mendocino county is mostly composed of laid back persons who have been living this lifestyle for many years and is part of some of the most beautiful country on this planet known as the Emerald Triangle which be Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties.
The milk is a different story
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Donna and Rick....try spraying some Fabreeze on them.
Posted by Donald Miner (Member # 6472) on :
Well I have heard that tomato juice will get rid of skunk odor, might work in your case also. Just my 2 pennies worth. Don
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Wash it with white vinegar. Rinse with water.
After 3 kids worth of spills on the carpet...? Rapid
Posted by stein Saether (Member # 430) on :
joey, your a hippie??
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Stein, glad to see your presence here again...been a long time.
Here is a response that a friend sent that some might enjoy......
Hey Rick,
I had a good chuckle out of this! It did remind me of an even worse smell related to me in a story while living in Mendo. It seems a friend just happened to have in his possession one abalone over the limit deemed legal to possess. I seem to recall it may have also been just a wee bit undersized. As there was some consumption of local fermented fruit involved prior as well, it made perfect sense to hide this 'extra' shellfish under the spare tire in the Ford Pinto that was his mode of transportation to get back home.
The drive home wasn't particularly direct. It seems a residual effect of the nectar of the fermented fruit beckoned a deviance from a more direct course home and included some further indulgence.
Eventually that journey home was completed and four of the abalone plucked from the local waters were stashed in the refrigerator to be thinly sliced at a later time when a better sense of coordination would return and a hand, a knife and an abalone would be less of a hazardous situation.
For the next couple days this particular friend drove his truck to work and on any other chores that might involve the use of motorized transportation. As I'm sure you've formulated a question in your mind already as to when the process of discovery of the decay of that local shellfish began, it was on the 3rd day after being harvested from the sea. This process took yet another couple of days before this festering mollusk and the source of the stench was discovered under the spare tire. It was only then that some recollection of the event filtered back and how this particular shellfish may have found it's way from a tidepool to underneath a spare tire came back from the hazy past that had been heavily influenced by a fruit-derived intoxicant.
I believe the Pinto sat through a couple of good pouring rains with all the windows rolled down and the hatchback wide open and several boxes of Carpet-Fresh were liberally used to begin to tame the stench.
Unfortunately, since a phrase such as 'no sense crying over forgotten abalone under the spare tire of a Ford Pinto' isn't commonly used, I'll end the story here and thank you again for the smile.
As an aside, I have in the past cut up apples and left them in bowls inside a car for a couple/three days to help absorb and eliminate the smell of a few years of cigar smoking. It took a while, several attempts and many a good apple sacrificed it's life for the cause, but it did eventually and completely rid the car of the lingering smell.
Best of luck with the cleanup!
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
I remember having a friend in school whose parents had a dairy store. We absolutely dreaded getting a ride with them because the smell in their van made us gag. And one time I canned fish which all went bad and started leaking out of the jars. That was one of the worst smells I have ever experienced!
Posted by Rich Stebbing (Member # 368) on :
You hit home with this one Rick. This past July someone left a gallon of Milk on the floor in my backseat. Nobody really drives my vehicle except me, but I had visitors and it was used by another. A couple of weeks later as I was taking someone to airport and need to remove stuff from vehicle we discovered the gallon of milk under a paint tarp. It had swollen and overflowed. Now ,I already hate milk in the first place, so now I have this "sour milk" smell that exists til this day. It is not as strong but I can still smell it. I took the floor mat out(still out) and shampooed the floor there, but the smell still prevails. I have used air fresheners only to find them a temporary fix. But now thanks to your post I may find a solution! Thanks Rick.
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
I'm shocked that nobody has said it. "No good deed goes unpunished". There, I said it.
Posted by E. Balch (Member # 3545) on :
I'm with Ray, vinegar works really well.
It saved me from throwing away my favorite old sneakers. Nothing else worked, including the washing machine and daily lysol sprays.
ernie
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
Can you wash your shop dog in Vinegar?
Only because Teak's skunk spraying from last week seems to be a lingering thing. It's by far not as bad as it once was but.....She's had more showers in the last week than she cares for. And in a lot of different concoctions. And she still feels that under my desk is the best place on earth. I don't know whether I can still smell the full smell of skunky Teak or not. Perhaps I am getting used to it.
[ September 25, 2007, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: Deri Russell ]
Posted by Nancie W. Phillips (Member # 3484) on :
I don't see why not, Deri. If we can drink it why couldn't you rinse your Teak with it? I bet she won't like it though...Maybe you can spray some on her and just let it dry. Dulute it if you are afraid to use it full strength on her overwashed skin and coat.
Posted by Jerry Starpoli (Member # 1559) on :
Fresh ground coffee in the carpets of my used truck removed odors that I thought would never go. All the car dealers I know use coffee. Sprinkle it on the rugs and let sit a couple of days. Vacuum it up. Smell gone.
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
no advice on the milk, but I have a quick story.
I ran out of gas about a half mile from a gas station the other day. I took a wrong turn off an exit I never get off and burned up all my gas going the wrong way, anyway. I asked a guy if there's a gas station close and he said, "yeah, get in" so he took me there, but he had an appointment so he couldn't wait for me to bring me back...fair enough... So I get my gas, and start walking in the 90+ degree heat. I see a guy close by washing his car (and a few ladies at the pump) I would never ask a woman for a ride if I were ever in that kind of situation because I wouldn't want to freak anyone out.(I'm kind of a burly lookin' dude) So I walk up to the guy and he says sorry, I'm going the other way, then he has the nerve to drive right by me in his shiny newly washed car toward the exact direction I needed to go.
Some people suck...but on the flip side, I like to think most people are decent.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I don't know whether I can still smell the full smell of skunky Teak or not. Perhaps I am getting used to it. ![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)