Fright Night

Today I woke early, before the clock radio went off like I'm often prone to do when there are a million different things I want to get done in a 24 hour period.  Turns out that wasn't the only reason I woke up early.  Just before I lifted my head from my pillow to see just how early it was, The Dude also woke up.  I asked him what time it was but he seemed preoccupied.  And just as he was about to launch into the reason he woke up our fire alarm started screaming. 

Our bedroom and the rest of the house was filled with smoke.  After quickly assessing the situation and being unable to locate if there was an open flame anywhere, I grabbed my cellphone and dialed 911.  Something was definitely burning but I'll be damned if we could find the source, so we opened the garage and went outside to wait.

The Dude was concerned it was an electric fire within the walls so I suggested we turn off the all the breakers.  About 1 minute later Fire Station #21 rolled up.  And as I stood there in my pajamas and slippers outside on the curb, I started going through the nightmare scenarios in my head.  Fire in walls, difficult to locate, house burns down, everything destroyed by fire, smoke, water or all of the above.

As the senior firefighter started heading towards the garage, he sniffed the air and inquired if we had an oil furnance.  Yes!  We do!  And as it turns out, the motor on that oil furnace went out with a bang early this morning and then filled the whole house with hot rubbery smoke.  So we shut off furnace breaker, turned the rest of them back on and then spent the rest of the wee hours of the morning opening all the windows in our house and airing out all the stinky smoke. 

You have no idea how thrilled we are that our furnace is totally fucked. I don't even want to think about what would have happened had this occurred a few days later while we were away on vacation.   

Comments

[Sally Simpleton]

Oh no! Scary! I hope everything turns out alright.

[egan]

Holy shit, that's a scary scenario there Sprizee. I'm relieved nothing major happened to you or the the house. I saw that furnace of yours and wonder if you will have to replace the whole thing or just the motor. Good luck and glad you were home to keep an eye on it.

I bet your neighbors now have a key to your house. Speaking of that, I need to give one to our neighbors.

[Katy]

Wow - I'm so glad you are ok! I totally need a house insanity catagory - did I mention our little home goes on the market tomrorow? Gah!

[kirk]

Thank the gods you have a new house and the furnace is under warranty.

[sprizee]

Sally, All is well considering. I couldn't stay home since I had an all day development class so The Dude held down the fort, froze his ass off and waited for the repair guy to show up. $500 later we're back in business.

Egan, None of our neighbors even woke up. Damn, they're heavy sleepers.

Katy, Good luck!

Kirk, Ha...warranty on a 80 year old furnance. You slay me.

[kirk]

Wow. I forgot one actually might still need to use a furnace up there. It is already AC season here.

[Pants]

So glad you guys are okay and that it happened BEFORE the trip!

[Chris]

I am grateful that you are both okay and that the damage is minimal considering. ENjoy your trip.

[kirk]

I you can't see through my sardonic wit, I too am glad you guys are OK, the house is OK, and you can go on your trip to España.

[Misty]

Is this some crazy insurance scheme of yours -- I know it worked with your first husband...

JUST KIDDING!!

Glad that you are okay Katey Kate and that Mr. House is okay. Wow, the perils of home ownership.

[Eunice]

Holy crap how scary! Good thing, though, that it happened while you were home and not in 48 hours from now...which I know you said that, but still...