Nothing Says Monday Better than Dead Opossum

I had a great weekend! Friday night, Jeff and I had an early dinner at Carrabas. Saturday was Team Tiara long run day and my wonderful hubby joined us on our 7 mile jaunt. For the first time, EVER, I was in front of him. Okay, so he's taken some time off and is just getting back into running. Still, I was in front! Saturday afternoon we picked up Heather and yesterday was a fantastic service at NewSpring and then went to Chelsea's film short premiere. So, I was all pumped up for a good Monday. I was well rested, knew it was going to be a short week for me, and was ready to be productive. And then....

I walked in the front door of the county offices and a smell immediately permeated my nasal passages. I wondered where all the trash was. Maybe the landfill was using our hallway as an overflow dump. Each step I took closer and closer to my office, the smell got worse. Yeah, I know, not a good sign. I put my key in the door and went into my office. Gag! It was still there and getting stronger by the second. For a moment I thought maybe I should check my shoes (or my pants!), but I knew it wasn't me. Then, my co-worker said those words that no one ever wants to hear....

"There is something dead up in the ceiling". UGH!!! For over 30 minutes there was nothing we could do about it because our facilities people don't come in until 8:30. About 15 minutes into our collective department gag, our service rep made a gruesome discovery. We may not have been able to tell what it was, but we could tell exactly where it was. While the rotting body (we were praying it was animal) was decomposing, fluids were seeping through the ceiling tile. This was truly one of the grossest things I've ever seen in my life. The poor facilities guys had to crawl up in our ceiling (yes, through the gross tile) and remove the culprit - a very large, very dead, very decomposing opossum. Who knows how long it had been there, but with the temperatures in the high 90s, you can imagine the carnage. Thankfully, they removed the body and sprayed some heavy duty deodorizer through the ventilation system. They also replaced the ookey ceiling tile.

Word spread quickly throughout the county of our early morning discovery. Hell, I'm sure everyone else wanted to know what the smell was too. I did invite some others to HR for an impromptu luncheon, but oddly enough, no one took me up on it.