Thursday, July 7, 2011

Is Something Burning?




A while back, I woke up to a typically beautiful sunny Ojai morning. My son was still asleep (miracle) and I was looking forward to sipping my coffee and enjoying the rare quiet time to myself.
As I walked down the hall toward the kitchen I caught a faint whiff of smoke. My heart jumped and I rushed into the kitchen to find the source. Did my husband leave something on the stove then go to work? Wait…he doesn’t cook. I checked all of the appliances, but nothing was burning. “Maybe I'm having a stroke.” I said to myself (yes I talk to myself…don’t judge). Without finding a source of the smoke I went back down the hall to peel back the layers of blankets on the bed so I can find the dog, and force her to get up and go out. We walked back down the hall (she gave me major stink-eye the whole way) back to the kitchen. I shoved my irritated dog out the door, and again I could smell something burning! It was much stronger and I started to panic, what could I be missing? I sniffed every inch of the kitchen like a deranged rabbit...nothing.
I decided to move to the dining room. Nothing looked out of place. The sun was shining on the big dining room table and my bead work was still sitting there from the night before. I decided to bring the piece I was working on inside so I could work late without freezing to death in my little garage nook..er...artist’s studio. Of course the cat decided that my work cloth on the dining room table was the perfect spot to take a nap in the sun. For obvious reasons, he is not allowed on the table (I don’t really like cat hair in my breakfast cereal) so I stalked over ready to give him a piece of my mind. As I got closer I noticed the magnifying glass/light I use to see all of my teeny tiny beads was still on the table...in the direct sun...positioned over my sleeping cat...and his butt was smoking!!!
The worst part was, Geronimo or "Geri" (pictured above), the laziest cat on the planet was still asleep! I pushed the magnifying glass out of the way and smothered the smoking spot with a cloth. Finally, Geri woke up with a start, and glared at me as if to say, “look lady I am trying to sleep here” to which I replied, “Well your ass was on fire so...your welcome”. I think if he was capable of giving me the finger right then, he would have.
Later I called my mom and told her how I nearly set the cat on fire, and she reminded me:
“Well you remember when Maniac (our cat) sat on my plate of two-part epoxy and your Father had to cut the plate off his rear. Cats and crafts don’t mix”

True that.

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