An Eventful Day

My mother-in-law convinced me to post about today and after giving it some thought, I decided it would be fun to read about later.

So...here we go. It has been cold, cold, cold around here lately. Last night -16. Brrrr. It is times like these that I am so grateful to have a wood burning stove...there is seriously nothing like that kind of heat. At first Jeff would start the fire before he left for work, but then I was getting annoyed because it was way too hot to run (our treadmill is downstairs). I felt like I was running in the dead heat of summer. So we came up with a new plan. He would bring in wood and I would light it when I was done running. That was working great, but then I started having a hard time getting the fire going. New plan. Jeff would now build the fire, bring in the wood, and then all I would have to do is light it. Now this was really perfect...until this morning.

Heidi and I went downstairs and I had a great run...probably felt the best I have since she came into our lives. I was feeling great. I fed her, we played a little while, and then I realized I hadn't started the fire. I figured I would go ahead and do that so it would be nice and warm after my shower. I did what I always do...I lit the newspaper, opened the air intake, and held the door open a little bit until it got going. But today was different...instead of lighting, massive amounts of smoke started pouring out the door. I closed it a little more in hopes of stopping this, but it just got worse and started pouring out the back of the fireplace. Crap. I quickly called Jeff about 8 times, but he wasn't in his office. Now the fire alarms were going off because there was soooo much smoke. I quickly took Heidi upstairs and went back down to try to figure out what to do but the smoke was so thick, I couldn't breathe and now it was quickly creeping up the stairs and into the kitchen. I was sure I had started the whole house on fire. So, I did the only thing I could think of...I called 911.

I was glad I had someone to talk to while I waited for someone to come figure out what to do, but some of the things she asked me made me wonder what kind of an idiot she thought I was. Here is my favorite part of the conversation.

Her: You need to leave the house.
Me: I am getting my keys right now.
Her: Is there anyone else in the house?
Me: Yes, my baby.
Her: Are you out of the house now?
Me: Yes, I am in my car.
Her: Where is the baby?

Really? I felt like saying, "Oh, the baby? Well, she was taking a nap and I didn't want to disturb her." Honestly.

Anywho, so before long the first policeman arrives. He tells me that he will take the car out and park in the street running to get it warm. In the meantime he tells me to go and get in his police car where it is warm. So there I am with little bundled up Heidi in the back seat of the cop car crying thinking about how my house is probably ruined. (Heidi, by the way, thought it was great. She was talking and squealing the entire time.) Then, just to make sure everyone knows I'm having a bad day, 4 more cops arrive, 2 or 3 fire engines, and an ambulance. They then put cones out on the street to prevent traffic and that is when all the neighbors begin to emerge. Oh hooray. Now everyone can see me sitting in the back of the cop car crying and I'm sure they had all sorts of scenarios worked up in their head. I hate, hate, hate to be the center of attention and well, this was just perfect.

Anyway...so while I am sitting there thinking and wondering what was ruined and how bad the damage is, the officer asks if I have been able to get in touch with Jeff. I told him that he must be in a meeting or something and he promptly calls the police dept. and has someone find Jeff. I found out later that two security guards came and pulled him out of a meeting of about 20 people...perfect. Now Jeff is the center of attention--which, he hates being even more than I do!

Anyway, after a little while the fire chief comes over and tells me great news...no fire, just smoke. What happened was that because it has been sooo cold, the fireplace pipe was too cold and the smoke was drafting backwards in the house. So the firefighters spent about an hour or so getting the smoke out of the house and making it safe so we could go back inside. I felt like a total idiot, but looking back, I'm not sure I would have done much different other than have Jeff light the fire. Jeff told me that even if I had closed the air intake, it would have been really smokey and would have still had smoke coming out the back, which would have still been bad enough that I wouldn't have known what to do and the house would still have filled with lots of smoke. Surprisingly, I haven't had to clean too much up except for where the firemen walked and touched the walls with their sooty hands. No damage. Phew. What a day. So while I am grateful to have a warm wood burning stove, I am also grateful to have a husband who will be lighting it from here on out!