Its Toast!

  Yep, its toast.  It bit the dust.  It plain out died...well, sort of...maybe...probably, well, there is no maybe about it..it is dead. Before dawn this morning, I was in the process of making me a bit of breakfast when the calamity struck.  I had just plopped two slices of bread into the old toaster and turned to stir my coffee. Wham!  Psssssst!  Pop! The room filled with the most acrid smoke imaginable!  Oh, my!  I spun around toward the toaster to be met with flames.  Alrighty then!  This was not my favorite way to start the morning!  

  I pulled the plug on the flame-spitting, smoke-spewing monster and opened the back door.  The cooling breeze helped alleviate the stinging, cough-inducing smoke so I was able to examine the toaster.  Yep, just as I had imagined...that old thing was toast!  It was definitely a goner. The cord near the plug was nigh burnt in two and the rubber around it was soft and mushy. (Also, stinky!) 

  This morning's incident was a minor nuisance although, it could have been far worse. While this could have been a disaster with the overhead cabinets heating up pretty fast, it made me feel a lot better about my habit of unplugging all small appliances.  I think sometimes Mark thinks that I am a mite crazy for putting the toaster up in the cabinet after each use but I always worry about things just like what happened today.  We already lost one house due to a faulty plug in a clock radio.  There was no need to get lackadaisical.  (Oh, and do not think that just because you have new appliances that this cannot happen.  The aforementioned clock radio was brand new!)

  The incident, also, made me realize that we need new smoke detectors.  The one nearly directly above the toaster never even sounded even though the room was thick with black (and did I mention stinky?) smoke.  Installing a few new ones will be on the agenda! Meanwhile, my bread finished toasting on the old cast iron skillet which just so happens to be my preferred method anyway.  

***SO CHECK THE PLUGS ON ALL APPLIANCES, TRY TO REMEMBER TO UNPLUG ANY NOT IN USE AND....DO A CHECK ON THE SMOKE ALARMS!!!  Right now...go do it...get going...do not procrastinate!***