Ticket is quite sure it is the devil incarnate. She's never appreciated it. Watcher and Henry love it. They lay within a foot of it and luxuriate in the heat it throws their way. Ticket warily walks past it, giving it the stink eye. And this morning she tried to kill it.
I woke up at a wicked 5a.m. to the sounds of her barking and whimpering and scratching at something. Before I even opened my eyes I smelled it. That putrid smell of rubber burning. My eyes snapped open and I saw a cloud of bluish smoke spread throughout and about 6 inches or so from the ceiling.
Scrambled out of bed, whipped out to where Ticket was and saw her frantically pawing and digging about 2 inches from the heater. The bottom of one of my rubber soled slippers was stuck to the bottom heater grill.
Ran and opened the door, ran back and yanked the slipper off the grill. Went outside with the dogs and watched the smoke quickly rush out.
I looked at Ticket sitting beside me and I swear she telepathically said to me "I told you that thing was the devil".
After the smoke had cleared and we were back inside, I made a tea and thought about it all. I couldn't understand how the one slipper had ended up all the way from beside my bed to the heater on the opposite side of our home! I looked at the slipper, and from the tell tale puncture marks, saw that Henry had decided it made a great chew toy. I guess he snuck away with it, laid in front of the heater, and it at some point it became wedged to the grill.
The devil heater is now safely tucked in a corner, and shall be guarded with a baby gate as soon as I warm up.
*shakes fist at Henry*
But mostly *shaking fist* at the 2 month old fucked up smoke alarm. It was working, because I check it every Sunday morning. ( something I trained myself to do years ago, after a friends house fire scared the crap out of me) But I guess at some point between last Sunday and this morning it died. I'm thinking I better have at a minimum 3 smoke alarms.
Go check your smoke alarms people!
Saving the day is tiring, right Ticket!
Thank goodness Ticket DID save the day - give that dog some extra treats! As for Henry, well, I gotta admit it made me smile to think of him stealing his mama's slipper and num-num-numing on it by the fire.
ReplyDeleteI remember I used to have a fire screen around a woodstove we had once upon a time as the dog I had back then was always leaving his toys too close to the heat.
I'm so glad nothing really bad happened, Colleen. We've had a couple of close calls and it's never fun. Hugs to Ticket and to Henry -- I'm sure he meant no harm. :)
ReplyDeleteTicket got extra scritches behind her ears all day long.
ReplyDeleteThe heater is now baby gated in the kitchen. Watcher and Henry can still get as close to it as they were before....so no love lost there. LOL
That smoke scared me! It also made me put a plan in place in case of emergencies...something I should have done a few months back. Oh well, it's done now. :)
Wow, how scary! So glad it was all just smoke....
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about the smoke alarm thing recently as we've been putting in some extra ones.
When I was selecting & buying them I did note that all were Made in China and sadly, my opinion of the vast majority of products from PRC is that they're crap. There have been so many scandals about the poor materials, substitution of ingredients, abysmal quality control.... it's scary when we're talking about safety equipment. :-(
Stay warm & safe.
"my opinion of the vast majority of products from PRC is that they're crap."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. :)
What I noticed, researching smoke alarms as well as carbon monoxide detectors, is that there are indeed some pieces manufactured in Canada, but the majority of the pieces that make the alarm are made in China.
It's hard to trust anything made overseas in Asia since the *milk* scandal in China. If they allow that then what's to say what they allow.
You're right,very scary when we are speaking of equipment that has the potential to save lives.
And hey, if you find anything Made In Canada, send me an email please!
That is SO scary! I'm so glad you were rescued. Fire is one of my worst fears..I'm always worried I'll never be able to get my nine billion pets out of the house in time.
ReplyDeleteGive Ticket a hug and some good scratches and pats from me.