What is that smell?

October 15, 2008

A couple of months ago I brought an antique china cabinet upstairs from my basement. It was old, rickety, and definitely musty. The china cabinet had been my Mom & Dad’s and is around 50 years old. My Mom says that it was just a cheap thing that they had purchased long ago. I’ve carried it with me from home to home for the past 25 years and it had ended up “tossed” in the basement. Today, it is a wonderful piece that I am proud to have in my home.

For the past month, as people have walked through the dining room, we’d get a whiff of something not so pleasant. It definitely smelled like “cat”. At first I assumed that it was just musty odours that the cabinet had acquired after years of basement living. And then I thought.. .hmmm.. could it be cat?

So I re-washed the cabinet and gave it a spray or two of smelly stuff, but the cat smell remained.

On the weekend, we had a Thanksgiving family event and I pulled out my camera bag and lenses from the lower storage area in the cabinet. I had put the camera equipment in there about a month ago (hmmm timing..) and prior to that the camera bag had been sitting on the floor, in the corner of the room. (My camera is stored elsewhere for easy access). I’m sure you’ve guessed it: my daughter’s cat peed on the camera bag. Oh yes, what a joy!

I took out the equipment (fortunately the batteries and flash cards had been inside a ziploc bag) and I tossed the camera bag outside to air out.

Today, I went to do some macro photography and changed the lenses on my camera. Oh my goodness.. .gag me. The macro lens smelled horrible, especially as I held the camera up to my face. oh yes, what a joy.

Current status: the camera bag is in the washing machine to see if that will clear up the smell and then I have to see if the zippers will work.
The lens has been wiped down with a slightly damp cloth. I am not sure what to do with it to clean it—I don’t want to put liquids on my lens.

Good news: it’s not the china cabinet
Even better news: my camera was not involved

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada