faster pussycat... type! type!

And so, once again, the day is saved, thanks to... Benjamin Franklin's suggestion of setting clocks back during the winter for extra daylight to conserve economic spending on candles... and the Powerpuff Girls.

Sometime, early Monday morning, my power went off. Which is why I woke up, around 9:30, that morning - listening to the rain on the roof, snuggling with the kitty, and wondering why it was so light outside. And the clock said 1:30 am. Ooops.

Last night, the power went out again, about 7:30. So I walked around the dark dark house and lit candles. The candle I left in the bathroom, was one of those glass jar candles from Illuminations, that smells like food.* I don't remember what this one smelled like... it was orange colored, so something orangey. I went into the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace [a very good place for one.] After that, I did a patrol around the house, checking my flames. The candle in the bathroom was not just burning at the wick, the entire thing was burning, it was a jar of giant flame.. a squat little torch, sitting on top of the toilet tank. Way more than I could blow out with one breath, so I grabbed a cup and filled it with water and doused it.

Note:
Hot glass jar + cup of cold water = glass and wax explosion of flames.

At first, when it exploded, the wax was still burning, and I thought the fire was going to spread. The smoke alarm was going off, and I was asking myself, aloud, "now... where would the extinguisher be?" For a moment there were large flames all over the toilet tank lid. But the wax splatters burned out quickly, and then it was pitch black again. So I started dumping cups of water all over the place, in case there was a spark anywhere. Just sort of willy nilly, tossing water. When the lights finally came back on, two plus hours later, I was able to assess the damage. Basically, it looks like someone with orange blood and guts was MURDERED in my bathroom. It's a very violent scene. Of course the white wall, and cabinet, are now smokey white. I looked at it, shook my head, and said, "Right. Ok... tomorrow."

I'm confident that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can take care of the smoke marks, but I'll probably be scrapping wax for awhile. Maybe I'll take a picture for you, when I get home.

*I was going to provide a link to the type of candle I lit, but the Illuminations web site is soooo freaking slow, and I'm a little annoyed with my candle experience right now, that they'll just have to do without the free referral. Some referral.

Posted by jodi at décembre 7, 2004 02:14 PM

not to add more fuel to the fire, but, er, if you heat the wax slightly, it'll be easier to peel off surfaces.

Posted by: river selkie at décembre 7, 2004 06:02 PM

i was about to say that it could only happen to you, but i remember that kam somehow had one of those gel candles explode in her apartment.

Posted by: arifa at décembre 7, 2004 08:41 PM

At least you were close to a water tap and had a glass. Me, I would have had to do the whole cup of hand deal and probably would have failed miserably. More likely, I would have been sitting on the couch reading by lamp light wondering why in the world that loud and annoying sound was coming from the hall, asking myself how IT had power.... Glad to hear that only the walls were blackened and no human or kitty was involved with the burning ;)

Posted by: Robert at décembre 8, 2004 08:31 AM

you know, the only reason i had a cup is because it's pru's cup. she won't drink out of water dishes. she will drink out of, in order of preference:
- a tap, with a tiny stream of water.
- the water left in the bottom of the bathroom sink.
- a full cup of fresh water left by the bathroom sink.
- water left over in the kitchen sink.

river, at first i was thinking that heating the wax would be BAD, considering what happened, but then I thought about it... I can use a hair dryer! That's so McGyver!

Posted by: Jodi at décembre 8, 2004 09:56 AM

that IS so macgyver!

Posted by: river selkie at décembre 8, 2004 09:54 PM