Posted by meli on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 in wild adventures | No comments
So... my house was on fire today.
Ok, maybe it wasn't quite on fire yet, but it was well on it's way!
A couple of minutes later the smell was getting stronger. I no longer assumed it was the heater; the scent was far too strong and thick. We did a walk around the house, checking rooms, closets, attic, etc. Nothing. We couldn't see any smoke, it just smelled, so ok, it must be a BBQ outside... but a couple of minutes after that it no longer smelled like BBQ, still couldn't find any smoke in the house, so we figured it was a fire pit outside. After all, when I came home I ran up to put warmer clothes on. It was COLD out there. Probably would have been nice to cozy up to a fire. We went with the fire pit idea, and tried to get on with our evening. After 30 minutes of the smell getting stronger and stronger the kids went out to check around the neighborhood to see if anyone had their fire pits going. Meanwhile my head was pounding, my eyes were dry, my throat felt raw (I'm extremely sensitive to smoke and smells [I like writing the words smells, lol]). We were keeping the doors and windows closed because we thought it was coming from outside.
They didn't find anyone. Nick called the MPs to see if anyone had reported a fire in the nearby area that perhaps was blowing our way. Nothing. It was strongest in our house: when we were outside we couldn't smell the smoke, but it was really windy, so we figured maybe that had something to do with it. We couldn't find where it could have been coming from inside, so we were sure it had to be coming from out there. The MP's came out, followed almost immediately by a fire truck, and they asked us to stay outside. Then came another fire truck. And another one. All with lights on and sirens blazing. Decked out in their gear. They jumped out of the trucks and connected their hoses. Two fire fighters went inside, and quickly came out to grab their gas masks...saying the smell of smoke was strong! It was probably 10 minutes or so later that they came out to tell us that it in fact was us on fire ... not a BBQ or neighbors fire pit. Nice! :-/
Little back story quick. We're about 99% Raw Vegans. We don't use our stove or oven, at all ... haven't in a couple of years. When moving; we've always unplugged the appliance, and turned off the gas line (if there is one), and then we set a big piece of bamboo over the cook top, and use that space as extra counter top. It's where we have our wooden bowls of fruits. Nick took that bamboo board off a couple of weeks ago to use as a puzzle board. He temporarily threw a towel over the cook top in place of the bamboo, and set the bowls of fruit atop the towel ... and then he forgot about it. Yea, you know where I'm going with this!
Wellllllllll, when we moved in here in April I asked Nick to take care of the stove, and he told me that he did. So much happened in those first few days of us moving in here (moving stress, owens broken arm, money, the assault) that I didn't think anything of it after he told me he took care of it. Apparently while the boys were putting away the groceries, the stove knob got bumped, turning on the cooktop. No one noticed because we haven't had to worry about the stove in years! The towel was burning. And then as soon as there was a hole burnt through the towel; one of the bowls of fruit was burning, too.
The stove is now UNPLUGGED...
And we are SO thankful the stove knob didn't get knocked just before we went up to sleep...
Happy Winter Solstice!!!
Hope it's a great one for ya (albeit with a little less excitement that ours has been)
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