THE STINK GENE

I felt very merciful today and decided to let the dog INSIDE for a little venture. The kids' schedule being so busy, they neglect him often. His "shock" collar is set so that he won't venture past the family room so he's relegated to about 1/3 of our house, which is GREAT! So, he follows me around while I'm cleaning and when he gets to his boundary line, he stops instantly...you know, he can hear the "buzz" of his collar warning him. He wants SO badly to see what's beyond the boundary and I find myself sort of revelling in this, my human hand of the power of electricity. Right now, he's just lying, right at the boundary line, I assume dreaming of being let into the kitchen area to sniff out crumbs. I'm thinking of taking his collar off so he can clean up the kitchen floor. We had Chinese food last night, hence little bits of rice all over the floor...and cornbread... a couple of nights ago. I know, some would say, "A COUPLE of nights ago?!" Sometimes I just think, why sweep, it'll just get crumby at the next meal. In reality, I've not felt well, hence the crumbs overcame.

What does all this have to do with the stink gene? Well, the kids came barrelling through the front door today after school, full of energy b/c it's Friday, Monday's a holiday and we're having two friends sleep over this weekend. The dog being in the house surprised them and they started playing with him...running, jumping, wrestling, barking, you know. So, all of a sudden, I catch a whiff of the dog and it's a BAD whiff. I tell the kids, stop playing with the dog or you'll smell like him. We'll take him to the dogwash later. They all stop, sniff the air, sniff the dog, and act like they don't smell anything. They begin to wallow all over the floor with him again. I begin to wonder, at what point in your life do you begin to notice things that *stink*? I think back to the first time I remembered "the stinky kid" in class, and I think it was somewhere around sixth grade. Could it BE possible that we don't notice B.O., fido-stink, smelly feet or our own bad breath until we're that old? NO WAY! I tried, in vain, to remember a schoolmate that conjured up a bad-smell memory before sixth grade, and I could not. Maybe I was weird? I had hayfever, almost year round, maybe that ravaged my sinus cavity so bad that I was friends with "the stinky crowd", maybe I was stinky myself.

This brings me to an interesting fact I read years ago, and I TOTALLY believe it. I have five kids, a husband, and have been on the bus with high school boys that could knock over a liquor store on B.O. alone...without even leaving the bus.

"Others can smell you an hour before you can smell yourself."

Next time you sniff the air and realize it's "you" that stinks, you'll immediately start trying to remember everyone that you've been in close contact in the hour previous.

I was turned on to an interesting website today. Living in a town that is in existence because of the space program, we're inundated with news about space all the time. There is currently a pretty big comet in space, close to earth, you can apparently see right at sundown. Check it out.
http://spaceweather.com/. If you scan down a little, past all the solar wind speed and all that confusing scientific stuff, there is a link that lets you listen to sounds in space (magnetosphere); my kids think it's cool.