A Funny
This may be one of those stories where ya just had to be there and ya'll won't find it funny at all. It is kinda lame. But Daddy and Sis2 thought it was hilarious. Then again, it does involve me behaving foolishly so there is that to consider.
Anyway, Saturday morning was rather interesting. After shopping and breakfast I got busy doing laundry and cleaning and stuff. (No, that isn't the interesting part.) All of a sudden the smoke alarm started going off in short bursts. Nothing was on fire and it's done this before so I wasn't concerned--just annoyed. While it's wired into the house, I think the battery back-up is dying. I can't figure out how to get the cover off of it to see if it even HAS battery back-up, though.
So it did that a few times over a five minute period and stopped. A little while later I was deep in the midst of rearranging furniture (this is what I do when I'm restless) when it started going off again. This time in longer bursts. I rushed to it (it's in the hallway) and started fanning to get it to stop. That's when I smelled something burning. Honest to goodness ya'll, I nearly had a heart attack. I scurried around the house checking every room for a fire or smoke or something but couldn't find anything. I shut the dryer off and checked around it. Nothing.
Meanwhile, the smoke alarm was still going off in long bursts, Libby was trembling and hiding in her bed and I was about to have a nervous breakdown. I walked back through the house a few times, sniffing and looking trying to find the source of the burning smell. That's how I realized that the burning smell was limited to the area where the hallway bleeds into the dining room and entry. Stranger still, it was warmer in that spot.
Since I couldn't see what was causing the burning smell and there's no visible smoke my next thought was that it must be something in the attic burning. That would make sense with the heat and the smell but lack of smoke. To my mind, anyway. And with the luck I'm having lately? Of course it'd make sense that I have faulty wiring, right?
So I rushed around and gathered my stools so that I can reach the pull wire for the attic door, rushed outside and tried not to fall getting the attic door open. At this point I should probably mention two things. 1) I'd never actually looked into my own attic before and 2) I'm deathly afraid of ladders and heights. So here I am, no clue what I'm looking at and just sure that I'm going to plunge to my death just any second now, climbing this dumpy little ladder into my attic in 95 degree heat. And wouldn't you know that as I swung the attic door down I got hit square in the face with a dirt dobber's nest? (If you don't know what that is, it's big dried piles of dirt that dirt dobbers use to build their nests. And no, I don't know if dirt dobber is it's scientific name or just what us locals call them. Dirt dobbers look like wasps but don't sting.)
I forced myself to climb to the very top of the attic ladder and peered inside my attic. All I saw was insulation and duct work, though. No smoke. No flames. Nothing that would make me think fire.
Once back inside (visibly shaking by this point) the smoke alarm was STILL shouting long bursts of warning. This was the longest I'd ever had this problem so I knew I was either going to have to rip the thing out of the wall or move if I couldn't figure out what was going on.
As I'm pacing back and forth in the area where I can still smell something burning and feel heat I just happen to look at the dining room table.
Ya'll...I had plugged in the stupid hot glue gun earlier to fix one of the little mirrors in the wall sculpture on the dining room wall and had forgotten all about it. It had gotten so hot that it was oozing hot glue onto the dining room table. Who knew a little hot glue gun could cause so much trouble?
But sure enough, as soon as I fixed the mirror thing and unplugged the gun, the alarm stopped screaming at me, the burned smell went away and no more hot spots.
Who says Saturday mornings at my house have be boring?
Anyway, Saturday morning was rather interesting. After shopping and breakfast I got busy doing laundry and cleaning and stuff. (No, that isn't the interesting part.) All of a sudden the smoke alarm started going off in short bursts. Nothing was on fire and it's done this before so I wasn't concerned--just annoyed. While it's wired into the house, I think the battery back-up is dying. I can't figure out how to get the cover off of it to see if it even HAS battery back-up, though.
So it did that a few times over a five minute period and stopped. A little while later I was deep in the midst of rearranging furniture (this is what I do when I'm restless) when it started going off again. This time in longer bursts. I rushed to it (it's in the hallway) and started fanning to get it to stop. That's when I smelled something burning. Honest to goodness ya'll, I nearly had a heart attack. I scurried around the house checking every room for a fire or smoke or something but couldn't find anything. I shut the dryer off and checked around it. Nothing.
Meanwhile, the smoke alarm was still going off in long bursts, Libby was trembling and hiding in her bed and I was about to have a nervous breakdown. I walked back through the house a few times, sniffing and looking trying to find the source of the burning smell. That's how I realized that the burning smell was limited to the area where the hallway bleeds into the dining room and entry. Stranger still, it was warmer in that spot.
Since I couldn't see what was causing the burning smell and there's no visible smoke my next thought was that it must be something in the attic burning. That would make sense with the heat and the smell but lack of smoke. To my mind, anyway. And with the luck I'm having lately? Of course it'd make sense that I have faulty wiring, right?
So I rushed around and gathered my stools so that I can reach the pull wire for the attic door, rushed outside and tried not to fall getting the attic door open. At this point I should probably mention two things. 1) I'd never actually looked into my own attic before and 2) I'm deathly afraid of ladders and heights. So here I am, no clue what I'm looking at and just sure that I'm going to plunge to my death just any second now, climbing this dumpy little ladder into my attic in 95 degree heat. And wouldn't you know that as I swung the attic door down I got hit square in the face with a dirt dobber's nest? (If you don't know what that is, it's big dried piles of dirt that dirt dobbers use to build their nests. And no, I don't know if dirt dobber is it's scientific name or just what us locals call them. Dirt dobbers look like wasps but don't sting.)
I forced myself to climb to the very top of the attic ladder and peered inside my attic. All I saw was insulation and duct work, though. No smoke. No flames. Nothing that would make me think fire.
Once back inside (visibly shaking by this point) the smoke alarm was STILL shouting long bursts of warning. This was the longest I'd ever had this problem so I knew I was either going to have to rip the thing out of the wall or move if I couldn't figure out what was going on.
As I'm pacing back and forth in the area where I can still smell something burning and feel heat I just happen to look at the dining room table.
Ya'll...I had plugged in the stupid hot glue gun earlier to fix one of the little mirrors in the wall sculpture on the dining room wall and had forgotten all about it. It had gotten so hot that it was oozing hot glue onto the dining room table. Who knew a little hot glue gun could cause so much trouble?
But sure enough, as soon as I fixed the mirror thing and unplugged the gun, the alarm stopped screaming at me, the burned smell went away and no more hot spots.
Who says Saturday mornings at my house have be boring?
Comments
I think we've all had these sorts of day, no worries. :)