Fire! Fire!

And there was! In my kitchen!
Last night I had fallen asleep on the couch, and woke up this morning about 6am with a Std Poodle in my face. Andy kept poking me with his big cold wet nose and hitting me with his paw like he needed to go outside, which is unusual for him. He is usually pretty good about just waiting till its my idea to get up and go out, happy to sleep on my feet till I do. So after I realized he wasn't going to give up, I got up and took the dogs out. It was like a scene from Gorillas in the Mist out there, all foggy and eerie, damp and misty. Really kind of neat! It was a nice morning, not to warm and not to cool. A light jacket was more than enough. There was a lot of humidity in the air, so much so, you could feel it like cooling little prickly sprinkles on your skin. We all had a good time, and the dogs had a nice 20 minuet run. I put them up in the kennels because they were soaked from the run, and went in to fix a pot of coffee. Andy refused to come back inside with me, so I left him in a kennel too. Odd for him, but OK. He seemed to be a bit strange this morning anyway.
I was sitting there sipping coffee and thumbing through a book I was thinking about re-reading, all was quiet and still. Kyle was still asleep, and Bobby had taken off early to a friends house, so I was in my element, I like it quiet and still in the mornings.
Out of nowhere, Bang! A loud noise and bright flash of light off to my right. It took me by such surprise that I spilled half a cup of coffee all over myself, and my book. (guess I wont be reading that one again after all) At the second it happened, I wasn't sure which I should do first, shuck off the burning wet clothes, or find out what that bang was. The rolling smoke quickly filling my kitchen decided for me. I am a changer arounder. I cant stand for things to be the same all the time and frequently change around my house. That means little things get placed in different spots all the time, and some times I forget where they are from one change around to the next. I quickly look in the direction of where I saw the flash of light, and decide that clothes be damned, I need to find the fire extinguisher. At this point,the rolling smoke, has turned into flames and rolling smoke, and I become frantic that the fire extinguisher isn't where I thought it was. I looked in 3 other nearby places and finally located it. At this point I'm shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, not sure whether that's because of the shock from the hot coffee, or because I have visions of my home quickly going up in flames but shaking so hard, I'm having a difficult time trying to undo the pin that is stopping me from using the extinguisher. As I'm fumbling, I'm screaming for Kyle to GET UP AND GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! He is sleeping very soundly all the way in the other end of the house with his bedroom door closed. I'm frantic, torn. Do I leave the fire and go get him up and out? Do I keep fighting with the extinguisher, do I throw water on it? Finally the pin gave way and I ripped it out of its slot slung it across the kitchen floor and tested the extinguisher to make sure it would work. Now up until this very moment, I personally have never found a need to utilize a fire extinguisher. But how hard can it be, point and shoot. Luckily, that's all that was required, and I proceeded to spray the crap out of the entire area. I could hear crackling and popping and smelled burning plastic which to me meant an electrical fire. As I'm dousing my entire kitchen with this white substance that is quickly filling my lungs and making it very hard to breath I'm wondering if in fact this is the correct type of extinguisher. As I recall, some are for different types of fire. Apparently it was, as it worked its magic pretty quickly, and the fire was put out and all that was left was to sling open the cabinet doors and spray the inside of them out, because the fire had started because of a light that was mounted to the bottom of the cabinet and I could see that the wood was starting to turn black and smoke and would catch on fire any moment. So I threw open the cabinet and liberally showered it down in what ever magical substance was spewing from the extinguisher every time I squeezed the handle. Which, apparently, I squeezed it a lot. After being satisfied that the fire was put out, and that everything was going to be alright, ( I must have stood there for a good half and hour,loath to trust that it wouldn't start back up the second I walked away) I set the extinguisher down in the middle of the kitchen floor and surveyed the situation. Through this all, I hadn't seen Kyle even poke his head out from his bedroom, so decided I should go in and see if he had been over taken by fumes, or was he just that sound a sleeper. Apparently he is just that sound a sleeper, as I opened the door and he didn't even budge. I shook him awake and told him what had happened, and he just shrugged and after sleepily inquiring if it I had gotten the fire put out went right back to sleep. What a guy.
At this point I'm still shaking like an addict in with drawls and getting rather nauseated feeling like I need to throw up, and cant seem to get myself under control. Ive got to sit down and get ahold of myself. When I did, I realized that I was covered in white powder, So I go in and change my clothes and survey the damage the hot coffee has done to my upper body. Now that I am thinking of myself, I realize that it kind of hurts. My chest, neck and arms are a bit splotchy and red, and I washed off with a cool wash cloth and put dry cloths on. I sat down on the bed to try to collect myself, but just couldn't trust that the fire wouldn't start back up again, and kept getting up to look. It had me in quite a helpless state. Finally I decided to get up and get another cup of coffee and attend to the ripping out of the light fixture that the ballast had blown up in and chuck it as far out the front door as humanly possible. It was not an easy task, but I wasn't trusting it to go find a screw driver and just literally ripped it from the bottom of the cabinet. It was still a hot SOB.
After getting the offending light out of the house, I then looked around at my kitchen. I had to turn on the ceiling fans and the stove fan, ( also at this point I might add that I'm really not sure I want to turn anything electrical on ) and still it was difficult to breath. The fumes from the burning plastic, wood and extinguisher were chocking me and I had to open the front door and go outside on the front porch for a bit to let the house clear out. I finally went back in the house and breathing became much more manageable, though I had the distinct tastes in my mouth of all three smells. Again I looked around my kitchen, and OMG! Does anyone have any idea how that white powder spreads! Everything was literally and liberally covered in it! Everything! In three separate rooms! The kitchen looked like it had been snowed in, the entire living room and everything in it had a fine dusting of white powder, and even the bed sheets felt powdery and gritty. I'm not even going to talk about the insides of the cabinets. Luckily, I live like Old Mother Hubbard, so there wasn't that much to have to toss out. At least, nothing that couldn't easily be replaced, which is more than I can say about what Id have lost had I not done what I had done. So I'm not to upset about that. Clean up isn't easy, and I am still in the process. What a mess!
I'm wondering at this point,if Andy knew something I didn't, and was he in fact really needing to go outside to potty, or was he trying to tell me something totally different. I'm thinking maybe he did realize that something was amiss, as his actions this morning were so out of character for him. I think he is a hero today, and deserves a hero's worship. Had he not woke me up, I may had woken up to a much worse predicament. Andy,.... my comic relief. The one dog in my house that I usually find the most useless,in terms of earning his kibble. I always know big, dumb, goofy Andy is always good for a laugh. Its his most redeeming quality. He virtually knows nothing, except how to make some one smile with his antics and expressions. Generally, he is one to be considered the class clown. I think he just earned a new title and a new respect around here.