Thursday, October 19, 2006

Miracles Do Happen

I have just done something so goofy - one of those things that remind most of us on a daily basis how lucky we are.

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, so this evening I had planned to just sit here at my computer and mess around, read blogs, balance my checkbook, do some lessons in an online class I’m taking, and maybe write a post of my own.

About half an hour ago, I realized it was getting late and I’d better get some dinner so that whatever I eat won’t go to fat after I hit the sack (as if that’s going to help). I went downstairs, still thinking about a post I’d like to write, and put a pot of water on the stove for cooking spaghetti. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed on the counter the Tupperware wannabe in which I keep my hearing aid dryer thingy. (Yes, I’m partially deaf. Perhaps I’ll write a post about it some day when someone develops a procedure to fix my brand of deafness, because I will be having that procedure done. To be able to hear normally again, I would be happy to pay my share of that surgeon’s wife’s - or husband’s - upkeep!)

Anyway, the dryer thingy is almost as annoying as the hearing aid and the deafness put together, because it won’t work if it isn’t baked for 30 minutes once a week. So I had put it on the counter this morning, thinking I would bake it this evening. And bake it I did.

I put that little sucker in the toaster oven, turned the dial to 350 degrees, set the timer to 30 minutes, and went outside to pull the Miata into the garage. But by now my mind was reeling with the mental image of the gigantic spider I’d just killed in the living room in an effort to keep Sammy from yet another vet visit. (What is it with that cat? This spring, he took one too many swings at a snake out in the woods. Maybe he was just sizing Aragog up for a saddle?)

A fuzzy image of a not so fuzzy but at least dead Aragog

Oh yeah, I wanted some garlic bread to go with my spaghetti. Retrieving the garlic bread from the freezer (see Kathie’s post about my cooking capabilities), I opened the toaster oven door to take out the dryer thingy and put the bread in its place. “Wait a minute, that doesn’t look like the dryer thingy,” I thought to myself.

Dryer thingy a la Tupperware wannabe

No kidding. It was the dryer thingy with the Tupperware wannabe melted around it and down onto the bottom of the toaster oven! Five more minutes and the whole thing would have gone up in flames!

See what I mean about miracles?

P.S. This episode was almost as good as the time the kids and I evacuated the house and called the Mt. Pleasant fire department at 11 pm because we smelled smoke. The firemen looked at me a little funny when they opened the dishwasher door and found a Tupperware wannabe melted to the heating element on the bottom. Guess I should quit buying Tupperware wannabes.

On the Inca Trail

Incachiriasca Pass, 16,000'

Kathie's been in South America for a while. I've missed her. She came back yesterday, and sent me this photo. Hope there's a story to go with it!