Biology 101

A few days ago my dad bought a new cooler pad to install in our swamp cooler. Being the ever helpful daughter I am (more like nosey and curious) I crept up the ladder and onto the roof to give him a hand. The pad looked like a bunch of cardboard slats all stuck together and when we pulled it out of the box, there was a.......smell that came with it as well. I thought it smelled like something "sciency" and Dad kept saying "Aspen......it smells like Aspen." (Apparently, that's what it is made out of. Cardboard from Aspen trees?!)

We installed the pad with no trouble and came back down to the house to turn on the swamp cooler and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I'm telling you, as soon as that swamp cooler came on we were hit with a wonderfully cool rush of air AND a smell like none other. I felt like I was sitting in biology lab! The whole house smelled like formaldehyde and it was twisting my stomach. All I could think about were white lights, tile floors, dissecting trays, and creatures great and small splayed open for all to see. THAT'S what I've been living with for the past two days. Pahhhhh! Dad assured us that the small print on the box said that the "smell" would dissipate after a few days. Great news.

The smell is definitely NOT coming on as strong now, either that or we are just used to it. The feeling that you are no longer in Biology 101 is definitely a plus and the smell is becoming fainter and fainter. Last night I even began to think that were rid of the smell altogether but when I picked up my towel to dry off after my shower, the smell was still lingering in the soft cotton. Not only did the air have to smell like sick science class, but my skin was doused as well in that formaldehyde "I've just cut open an animal" kind of way.

Awesome.