September 16, 2020: Two Experiments -

 

1. Natural Air Freshener-

My daughter and I were on a road trip when she was a young teen, and we stopped for lunch in a small town. As we were about to hit the road again, I asked if she wanted “anything for the car.”  I meant snacks. But she considered and then said judiciously, “Maybe some eucalyptus.”

Right.

I didn’t think we were in a eucalyptus sort of place, but we found a little florist who had a few sprigs, and we put them in the back window. They smelled great.

I went to the store yesterday, urgent resupply, and there was a bucket of eucalyptus. I grabbed a hefty batch, but in my defense, they were rubber-banded together.  

By the time I reached the checkout, multiple people had seen my eucalyptus bundle and helpfully suggested I hang it in my shower. I told the last one that I planned to tuck all the stems into my front waistband and walk around in a private thicket.

She looked at me with newfound respect.

Report: Didn’t work. I could not smell a thing. But that’s because my nose had given up. I thought I’d try the shower trick today.

2: Pre-Shower, aka Dirty Pictures:

Sorry in advance if these gross you out.  My friends have been posting all these pictures of groady air filters. I see your air filters, and I RAISE YOU.

I was going to just take the aforementioned shower with eucalyptus-bush-hanging-from-the-soap-caddy-thng, but then I thought, no, wait! Can we capture the miasma, for those who are not in it?

Here, two bathwater shots:

If you are grossed out by the very concept of baths, I apologize, go your way. The point of these pix is that I was not just back from working in the fields, nor from fighting fires. I was in my house. And this is what washed off of me, or soaked out of me, after one day since the last shower. (And yes, squeamish ones, after soaking in this water I DID shower. I was just curious, had to see what would happen.)

The picture of legs and (indistinct) feet is intended to show how very cloudy the water was.  Also, this isn’t dirt or dust (which was prevalent in the first, very windy days). It’s everything that burned, everything that is in the pervasive smoke/crud. Trees burned, and wooden houses, but also plastics, and insulation, and chemicals and paint and cars and motor oil and (your turn, go ahead). That’s what we are seeing and breathing.

SO.

Then I took the shower amidst eucalyptus.

Report: Didn’t do a darn thing. Bathroom doesn’t have a nice, steamy eucalyptus smell. Nada. But I still don’t have much ability to smell anything, so….

Made myself a pot of tea and a bowl of ice cream and retreated to the bedroom, formerly the “clean room,” but I think my DIY air purifier in there is getting tired. Report: Ice cream was excellent. This wasn’t an experiment. This was solace.