The Sweet Smell of Success

So earlier this evening -- before the kids are in bed, even -- I walk upstairs from this computer, and in the main hall of the first floor there's a faint, familiar smell. But it seems very unlikely, so I call The Wife over. She agrees with me, after a minute-- it's that very sweet smell that can be nothing else (but you never expect to smell unexpectedly in your own house, even with all of the windows open).

Together, we follow the smell to the back of the house -- it's coming through from the backyard somewhere. But not from the neighbors on one side (who are Grateful Dead fans and thus always suspect). And not from the house two doors down the other way, which was a low-key drug den for a while earlier this year.

So, if you live behind me, and you're reading this, you should know that your teenage kids are doing a little smoking out back by the pool. And the whole neighborhood can smell it...