Jizo Bosatsu!

[winterbadger]

So, I'm sitting here at the computer trying without any success at all to catch up with all the different things I want to do (correspondence, email lists, LJ discussions, filing, paperwork, games I've in online, the CV I keep not finishing, trip planning, army lists for a miniatures campaign) and I go to the living room to pick up a couple of books to comment on something someone has written. And I discover that the smoke smell I kept noticing was not, as I thought, the leftover scent from the burnt marinade for my steak, but an actual little fire!

Apparently the cloth potholder/glove that I had been using had somehow gotten hot enough to burn and started smouldering, which I did not notice when I put it down on the counter after I took the broiling pan out of the oven for the last time. So it just sat there merrily burning away and producing clouds of smoke, which I didn't notice because I moved from the living room into the kitchen.

The place is filled with smoke, so I have all the windows open and the fans running. The potholder is in the (steel) sink, having been moved with great care and then had several gallons of water poured over it. The counter is (somehow) only slightly marked, though still a little hot to the touch (I'm continuing to check it and the drawers underneath).

And you know what I learn from this (besides "pay more attention to the smell of smoke" and "no more insulated cloth hot mats")? Cats. Cats suck as smoke/fire/trouble detectors. They had been very active when I came home and needed to feed them, but they relaxed after that and told me nothing about the fire. Apparently this was "just another of those weird thigns humans do that make no sense". Great.

Comments

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad you're *okay*.

(((HUGS)))

I recently burnt a wooden chopping board here. Please do not ask how it happened. :::sheepish::: I will tell you that stoves in the UK are *strange*.

[kevinrtaylor.livejournal.com]

And every one of them has the controls in a different place!
How hard would it be to put the controls in the same pattern as the burners?
Like
O O
O O ::

(O is a burner, . is a control)

[winterbadger]

one of my favourite books

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Hilarious! I've never seen this book before! Thank you for pointing it out!!!

[winterbadger]

He and Henry Petroski are wonderful authors.

[pusscat.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I once managed to leave a bamboo steamer sitting on top of a burner that was still on. Nice one, PussCat!

[winterbadger]

My dad and I are both famous for leaving kettles on burners that are still going. I think he went through 2-3 kettles. I'm hoping I learned my lesson after 1.

[plutosonium.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, that's so scary. I fear fire.

Damn cats. You'd think they'd at least earn their board by being scared of fire.

[winterbadger]

Wouldn't you? Faugh!

[shy-kat.livejournal.com]

And then there are your loving housemates, who smelled smoke and simply said "oh, jan must be cooking"

;-)

[winterbadger]

:-) Yes, it's not as if I don't broil a lot of things with marinades that end up, what is the phrase from the Torah, "offering a pleasing odor to the Lord".

[(Anonymous)]

"The place is filled with smoke, so I have all the windows open and the fans running."

!!!

I'm amazed that you then had the presence of mind to come right back to your LiveJournal to describe the incident. It sounds as if you barely caught your breath before returning to your duties!

NB

[winterbadger]

Catching my breath was the hard part, what with all the smoke. :-)