It all started yesterday morning with the mice (or was it just one mouse?). Rattle, rattle, rustle, rustle, squeak, squeak! Well, one of our neighbors said that mice can’t stand the smell of vinegar, so I sprayed straight vinegar into the lowest cupboard and behind the stove. Under the bathroom sink I sprayed Lysol. Of course the house smelled like garbage after that because of the vinegar. But I was thankful because the racket seemed to calm down. If it sends the mice away, it is worth the smell.
Then I found a banana bread recipe. It was fun to get the bread mixed up. Looked so nice. Put it in the bundt cake pan so that I could use the bread pan for bread. The cookware was a set of silicone SmartWare that Christy had gotten for $5.00 at a thrift store. We have used silicone bakeware that we ordered through a mail order catalog, and we really liked it. SmartWare bakeware is supposed to be the best, top of the line, the choice of chefs. It is not supposed to have any lingering odors or tastes.
But oh, it smelled, really smelled - kind of like a mix between a very hot iron and burning rubber. As things baked, it got worse and worse. I opened the back door and several windows. The smell lessened for a little while and then got much worse. I opened the front screen door, all the way, and turned the oven down to 325º. Somehow I managed to let it finish baking. The smell lingered in the house for hours.
While the front screen door was open, two bees came in. They found their way to the back screen door, so I propped it open so they could go out. Well, more bees decided they wanted to come in the back door. I waved them out with the bright orange, homemade flyswatter. Meanwhile, more were trying to come in the front screen door. I closed it. One end of the fly swatter had dust on it. The other end appeared to have a tuft of mouse fur. But I was grateful it had kept the rest of the bees out. The other two finally made their way outside. (However, I did find one bee later on the window sill. I guess one of them didn’t make it after all. Or maybe there were more than two bees in the house. Poor bee.)
While talking to her, I decided to go out on the back porch. Not a good idea. Bees started attacking. Apparently they were not too happy because I had been waving at them with the bright orange flyswatter. :-) Something was odd about that smell from the bakeware. It was horrible to me, but not to the bugs. As the smell got stronger, more bugs came around. The flies came around, a spider came up onto the kitchen shelf, and bees were trying to get in the front door and in the back door. It was strange.
Thank God for His help on a very difficult day. “But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.” (Psalm 70:5)