Much To Be Thankful For Today

I was on my way out the door today to go to the nursing home to see my mother-in-law, when the phone rang. It was actually a call from the Director of Activities at the nursing home, who had a few questions regarding her f-i-l who was just diagnosed with dementia.

While on the phone with her, my son, who was downstairs preparing lunch, came and told me that there were sparks in the oven. I went downstairs and opened the oven door and the heating element was on fire and it was spreading to the bottom of the oven! I quickly got off the phone and pulled the oven from the wall to unplug it. I moved the island and the kitchen table and pulled the range to the sliding glass doors, it wouldn't fit and the fire was spreading. I had my daughter call 911 and I grabbed the flour and threw a hand full in the oven, causing it spread more. I then remembered that we had a small fire extinguisher somewhere in the pantry. I had never used one before and had no time to read the instructions. Thankfully, I figured it out without difficulty and put the fire out. About that time, the police pulled up, and a couple of minutes later the fire department came with two trucks and a rescue unit. They quickly reassured me that the fire was completely out and they graciously moved the range to the garage.

I was pretty shaken, having seen once how quickly a kitchen fire can spread, but other than a ruined range and some difficulty from breathing in the smoke and chemicals from the extinguisher, we came out of this one pretty well. I'm so thankful that I had not yet left the house, the outcome might have been far different.

It is pretty shocking that a heating element can get so hot that it splits into and completely disintegrates as it burns. Scary.

So, I guess I'll be getting a new range now.

Oh, and the above picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, other than it was one of my first attempts and creating a collage. I still have difficulty doing that on Adobe Photoshop Elements and need a lot more practice, but it's fun to play with.