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Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 10:32 PM
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Is This You? It’s Olfactory Overload Season

Is This You?  It’s Olfactory Overload Season
From "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss.

Author: From How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuess

There are not many of us, but I happily tell you I am one. I am the one who will go into a candle or other sniffy shop, and I want to smell each and every one. From Flowers in Grandma's Attic to Something Musky. My favorite is nearly anything vanilla with a hint of rum and wood. Yes, of course, there are those that, as soon as the smell enters my nose and it reaches my mind, and my eyes begin to water, I twitch my nose and say, “Oh no way. Who would want their house to smell like that.” Inevitably, when I go to buy my favorites, the woman in front of me, dressed to the nines, is buying that “my nose still stings” scented candle. I just figure she is buying it for someone she is getting even with for something. I mean, why else would that smell sell? And that, my friends, is why there are over two billion people in the world, and we are all different and special in our own ways. 

All throughout the year, there is someone making something sniffy to sell. To make our homes smell tip-top. Or to make us smell better. There really aren’t many things that make a lady feel pretty more than a spritz of perfume—that someone notices. But! Yes, an overwhelmingly sniffy “but.” When winter sends us all inside, it’s a whole new ballgame as to how to keep things “fresh” inside. Oh boy, howdy!

I am right now creating a winter stew in my house. The winter is nigh, and windows have been closed up. Yes, it’s that time of the year. Let’s see what is the most politically correct way to say all of our houses need to be aired out. There are things that our bodies do in the summer that are not as apparent as they are in the winter. Because we don’t go outside when—well, when we occasionally need to. When it’s too cold to go outside or open the windows. Yep, it is that time of the year. My first stab at clearing the air inside Casa Trina is a full-flavored aromatic stew. After all, it not only smells good, but if I work it right, I will also be able to make bread and double my happy nose efforts. 

Past candles and stew, especially during the holiday season, there are so many things to freshen up your living space. I recently saw a commercial where the item for sale was an incense burner. Now, I am a child of the 60s and 70s, so I have vivid memories of incense, and I still want to sneeze every time I think of them. Seriously, they always just make me sneeze. And they never covered the smell they were supposed to cover up. However, incense burning will absolutely create a unique albeit heavy air space in your space.

Walking through the holiday season decorations, you will always, yes always, walk through the cinnamon-scented pinecones. I could never find, out in the forest, the tree that sprouts cinnamon-scented pinecones. Maybe it’s just me. I am extremely happy to find pine nuts in pinecones. 

There’s balsam and pine and sugar cookies, and gingerbread smells galore. There is so much to smell that my nose easily acquires an olfactory overload. Then, it is time to step outside and just breathe. 

No matter how much R&D a company does, there has never been, and I seriously doubt there will be a way to copy, bottle, put in a spray, or a disk of rubbery stuff that sets in a bathroom holder, anything that will take the place of that fresh air smell. I am one who actually believes I can smell snow. Now, there is a smell that is right up there with rain on sagebrush. Or a freshly mowed field of alfalfa—or a lawn. Those, the real smells we know and enjoy in the recesses of our winter minds, they get us thinking we can create a fresh home—in winter.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I seem always to have a candle burning in my home. Yes, you can Febreze every surface in your house all you want. You can Lysol the germs away over and over again. You can even toast garlic bread to make your nose happy. But until you just step outside, no matter how cold it is, just step outside and breathe in all those real scents. Those sniffs. They are the best way to create an olfactory overload of your own.

Trina lives in Diamond Valley, north of Eureka, Nevada. Trina’s books are available anywhere you buy books. Or on www.theeurekacountystar.com  or say “Hi” by email at [email protected].

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COMMENTS
Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I knew Sam as a member of our church growing up. He always had a warm smile, a kind word, and a great sense of humor! He will be great missed!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:57 AMComment source: Obituary -- Samuel Bruce WickizerComment author: Mike HinzComment text: Great teacher, great coach, but even a better person!!! Rest in peace Mr. BeachComment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:53 AMComment source: Obituary -- Jack Victor Beach, Jr.Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I had Mrs Hedges for First Grade at Northside Elementary in 1969. I still, to this day, remember her as a wonderful teacher…one of my favorites!!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:29 AMComment source: Obituary - Nancy Marie Hedges C Comment author: Carl C. HagenComment text: What are MFNs and PBMs ?? ............................ From the editor: This is a very good question and we apologize for not catching that wasn't in there. We reached out to the writer/submitter and got this info back...hope it's helpful. PBM: Pharmacy Benefit Managers are pharmacies that are owned by insurance companies. (CVS is one.) They negotiate with drug makers to get reduced pricing for medications, but they historically have not passed along those savings to patients. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf MFN: Most Favored Nation pricing is a policy that means a country agrees to offer the same trade concessions (like tariffs or price reductions) to all member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). When applied to pharmaceuticals, it could disrupt global access, deter innovation, and obscure the deeper systemic issues in American health care. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2025/05/22/the-global-risks-of-americas-most-favored-nation-drug-pricing-policy/Comment publication date: 6/23/25, 7:47 AMComment source: L E T T E R TO THE EDITOR
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