be-musings

One evening (a number of years ago) I turned on the oven to preheat for supper. A few minutes later there were flames inside the top of it, and smoke was pouring out of it! This was NOT a grease fire. Being the daughter of a fireman, I knew what to do...don't open the door. Okay, maybe I could have opened the door and doused the fire with baking soda, but the first rule (I thought) was if you didn't have to feed it with oxygen, then don't. Who knows where it could spread next! So, I called the local fire department and reported an oven fire. Presumably electrical. Well, since it wasn't a big fire and definitely not a house fire, I said "Do you mind not bringing the big truck or using your sirens? A little van will do." I was told that they only do things one way - with the big truck. That's embarrassing. Wait a minute, it gets worse.
So, I lived one block from the fire hall. The truck came down the street, sirens blaring. Then it went by because it couldn't see the house number. They doubled back, this time searching all the house numbers with the spolight. Could it get any worse? Soon everyone knew the firemen were coming to my house. They ran in, wearing full gear, I pointed to the stove and they opened it, exinguishers poised. By this time the fire was waning. A bit of reaching to the back of the stove, and out dragged a plastic Disneyland Mickey Mouse cup. Yep, it was in the oven, the oven heat began to melt it, and the cup caught on fire. The men left me with an industrial fan to blow the smoke out of the house, and a face red from shame.
I used to shove my dirty dishes in the oven when getting unexpected company, and then take them out to wash them. Let's say that after that I made sure no plastic dishes went in there. Now I have a dishwasher to hide them. But if you don't have a dishwasher and you haven't done the dinner dishes and someone calls to come visit...consider the oven. It has a smoked front so no one can see in it.
Darn Mickey Mouse.