Never ignore strange noises

by gretchen

I was working upstairs, minding my own business. My cat and dog, however, were not polite enough to do the same. While I worked through project plans and schedules, I heard the cat running laps around the house. This is common. At any moment, he'll suddenly gallop through the kitchen, through the family room, up the stairs, down the stairs, through the living room and around again. I can hear this Olympic training from my small study on the second floor. After awhile, it's not distracting. The dog even gets tired of trying to stand in as a ref for the event and settles at my feet.

There are antics all day long. Again, you just take it in stride.

So as I answered emails and heard the very loud, "POP!" I ignored it. Figured the cat was knocking something off of the counter. Another "POP!" and I wondered what he was playing with but continued working, knowing there would be a mess downstairs. When I stood up to get a notebook, I heard a third "POP!" This one alarmed me because both the cat and the dog were lounging by the window.

What on earth was popping?

I started down the stairs. "POP!" The kitchen was smokey. It smelled foul. And then I saw tehe stove: the scene of a massacre. An egg masacre. Charred eggshells had egg guts squirting out. Egg yolk crumbs were splattered on the mircrowave, the remenends of an expoded Grade AA Large. Shells bits were everywhere. Egg whites had cemented themseles to the bottom of the now-bone-dry pot. One egg, having made what I can only assume was a flying escape from the pot, laid on its side, yolk and whites oozing onto the burner, bubbling from the heat.

And here is my lesson. No matter how many times you have tested a theory, like, say, that you can leave the stove on a low temp for hours while hard-boiling an egg without risking injury to your eggs, the pot, the stove, or any passing spider on the wall, you might consider the value of common sense over whatever anomolous results you may have previously found.

By the way, Jamie asked me to check for any other potential hazards before leaving the house and fix them before I went.

I locked the "potential hazards" in the bathroom with food and water and treats. When I returned, the house was fine.

Bathroom was in shambles.