It All Makes “Scents”…

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

I decided the other day to clean the guest bathroom at the palatial Foster estate.

Generally, my decision is based on the condition of the toilet bowl.

I like to scrub it before it gets too green.

Just kidding!

There’s something gratifying about a clean bathroom.

It looks shiny and smells clean.

Back in the day, I’d always splash some Pine-Sol in the toilet tank as well as all the drains.

Is there anything worse than the aroma of a public restroom that needs cleaning?

For years, public restrooms along Ohio roadways were basically outhouses.

Smells are pretty important.

Did you know we each have a unique “aroma” much like finger prints.

Except for identical twins.

Women have a stronger sense of smell than men.

Your brain can process roughly 10,000 different smells in an area the size of a postage stamp with our 6 million odor-detecting cells.

Dogs have 220 million.

I’ve always wondered when dogs sniff “disgusting” stuff or things, it’s because they can smell odors we can’t detect that might actually be pleasant.

The most popular scent is vanilla.

I might also add I enjoy the smell of bacon frying and coffee perking on a campfire, burning autumn leaves and scorched pumpkin flesh from candles inside jack-o-lanterns.

Smoking ranks among the 10 least-favorite smells in the world.

However, the aroma of a good cigar or pipe-tobacco is pleasant to me.

But once it’s “cold”, forget it.

Up to 95% our flavor is impacted by smells.

That’s why things don’t taste as good when you have a head cold.

Studies indicate without smell, we’d have trouble telling the difference between a potato and an onion.

Our sense of smell is there long before we’re born, it’s weakest in the morning and stronger in the spring and summer months, thanks to more moisture in the air.

Three-fourths of our emotions are triggered by smells.

We react emotionally first to a scent and then identify it whereas with sight, sound and taste we identify the source and then react emotionally.

It’s also interesting to note that we can remember smells and aromas with 65% accuracy for up to a year while visually, we’re only accurate 50% of the time after 3 months.

Our sense of smell gets bored easily.

That’s why that initial pleasant aroma we note when walking into a bakery seems to go away.

Good smells also make us happy.

Lavender relaxes us.

There’s a powerful link to the emotional regions of the brain with smells.

The ten worst smells?

A dirty diaper, sewers on a hot day, bad breath, a wet dog, a fart, human sweat (more related to bacteria), rotten food, smoking, smelly feet, a skunk, spoiled milk and that “juice” in the bottom of garbage cans or garbage trucks.

The toughest odors to get rid of?

Cigarette smoke, skunk and pet.

If you can’t smell, you have anosmia and if everything stinks, you might have cacosmia.

Did you know that 1/3 of all men’s fragrances are worn by women?

Whenever I smell Old Spice aftershave, I think of my Dad.

I also like the aroma when farmers first till their fields in the spring.

Fresh cut grass smells nice, too.

Ditto fresh mulch.

The first raindrops after a long dry spell.

Sniff up America!

What does your nose like?