I give up. I quit. I am so done with this day. Sadly, it is only 2 o'clock. I am now coughing only occasionally and having no chills or fever. I caught up with all the chores that seemed to come to an abrupt halt during my unfortunate illness.
The laundry is folded and hung in the closet, the kitchen was cleaned and the floors swept and vacuumed. I even dusted. Bought groceries and all the necessities of life and even made a huge effort in finishing all my painting projects.
Today was going to be the cookie making marathon. I had already made one batch of dough, wrapped and refrigerated it and I was on to the next. This one required melting the butter on the stove before adding the vanilla and dates. I was on a roll, washing up as I went.
I measured the butter and plopped in the sauce pan, put it on the stove and turned the burner on. A medium heat, not high, lest I scorch it and have to start all over. Not my first rodeo, you know. I am old and I know things.
A camper came in and I went into the store …. knowing full well that the stove was on. I am now older and know even more things. I am known to talk to people and I am known to forget things.
I smelled it just before the smoke detector went off. Yes, the butter melted and caught fire. I will never use that sauce pan again (it was my favorite one, of course). I grabbed the handle to the pan and pulled it off the burner, then went to grab some baking soda. The flames went out and I didn't need it. But, the knob to turn the burner off was melted and gnarled. I used a pair of tongs to turn the burner off, then assessed the damage to the surrounding area.
The bottom of the microwave is all melty and the backsplash is black now. The pepper grinder is twisted and unrecognizable. I decided to just walk away and do something else. I restrung some lights on a wooden tree that HeWho had deemed to be all working.
They did not work. I am done. I have no inclination to clean up my mess and am seriously considering going back to bed and hope for a better tomorrow.
7 comments:
Thank goodness you're all right! A kitchen can be fixed. You and your precious fur babies and HeWho are more important!
My grandma caught her stove on fire. I forget what she was cooking at the time. She smothered it with a wet towel, as I remember, but the cabinets had to be replaced. She caught it just in time. I think she had stepped out on her screen porch for some green beans she'd been snapping.
Kathy, I am SO sorry about your accident today! Everything was going so well, then, boom! It is downright scary how
easy it is to forget things as we get older. A few weeks ago, I put some potatoes on to boil. Went out to check the mail. Got sidetracked
when I saw some weeds that needed pulling. One thing led to another. Thank goodness, I did eventually remember the stove, I had no idea how long it had been since I put it on. I was some relieved to find a little water still in the pot. The same thing happened to you with the butter.
I am sorry you weren't so lucky. I am glad you caught it when you did. Could have been much worse. Meanwhile. Total sympathy here.
Surely tomorrow will be better.
I'm so glad you escaped.
My friend knew she had a chipmunk loose in the house. She heard it in the bathroom and left the bacon cooking to go take care of it. She got it. Of course, the bacon was on fire when the job was done, and she pretty much had the same outcome as you. Sigh.
A friend was cooking and started into something else and forgot the stove . It caught fire and she called the fire department. They put it out , there was about $4,000 damage. She asked them "was there anything she could have done to stop the fire" thinking they would say use the lid of a pan etc. He looked straight at her and said Madam you could have turned off the stove. Debbie said she felt like crawling into the ground she was so foolish. A funny end to a sad story.
You sure did better than I would have. I have an extreme fear of fire so I would have run out of the house, screaming, probably letting the whole house burn. I'm glad you had better presence of mind and hopefully HeWho will clean up the mess and make it all better.
I hope you let us know how things go re fixing the kitchen, Hope it isn't too bad!
Oh my goodness, girl, you have had a rash of bad luck. Glad your kitchen wasn't ablaze.
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