Monday, January 21, 2013

Never a dull moment!

When I opened the door to my office yesterday, my little furry friend looked up at me for half a second and then dashed out of the room, trotting down the stairs to his food dish. Hmm, how did my cat get trapped in my office? I wondered. I didn't see him in there when I closed the door before going to bed. He does have a habit of hiding though. But there was zero time to think about that.

The terrible burning stench in my office was what I needed to focus on. It was definitely not what I expected to discover (more like hit me in the face!) upon opening the door. It smelled like wires were burning--somewhere. But, where? I wondered if electrical wires could be burning in the walls and opened the window as I pondered.

The phone man was outside my house checking my phone wires because I called in a report of no dial tine. Could what he was doing cause the atrocious smell in my office? I didn't think so, but I found it a little peculiar that a technician was at my house and then suddenly something smelled like burning wires.

I had to get to the bottom of the dilemma and quickly, because it could potentially be very dangerous. The smell alone was enough to keep the problem first and foremost on my mind.

I got down on my hands and knees to examine the carpet. Was it wet? I was checking for something my cat might have left behind in case you didn't figure that out. But, how could cat pee smell like that anyway? I had to figure it out and was investigating any possibility.

I crawled closer to my desk and upon further inspection I saw a little puddle behind the power strip for my computer. Oh no! Cat pee? Did my cat pee directly into the electrical outlets on the cord? What are the odds of that? He had the whole room in which to relieve himself!

I then realized that each outlet was scorched with black and the terrible burning stench was permeating the power cord which was indeed the source of the problem. I promptly unplugged the power strip from the wall. Mystery solved--but was my computer with all of my writing work dead or damaged?

I cleaned up the mess, tossed the cord into the trash, wiped the black char off each prong of my computer cords and plugged them into a different power cord to test out my computer. Thank God it was still working.

Phew, never a dull moment. But, honestly who would think that this could happen? It was a good thing my cat didn't electrocute himself or cause further damage to the house!

Yes, that wet area at the top (which I didn't bother cleaning) is cat pee!

Now, each night before closing the door to my office (previously to prevent my cats from knocking down my papers off my desk and now to prevent a catastrophe!) I will be sure that both of my cats are accounted for!

The culprit here on the left looking oh, so innocent!


Do you know where your furry friends are?

God bless!

5 comments:

  1. Donna-Marie!!! You are so very fortunate that you caught that in time. You could have had a massive fire. Thanks be to God that all is well.

    As to my furry friends, yes. I do know where they are. At present, they are curled up in front of our kerosene heater contentedly as it is cold, cold, cold here.

    God bless you, dear friend! God is good.

    Lorraine

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  2. I know! Lorraine, can you believe it? It's so crazy! I am very thankful that all is well and no further harm was done - thanks be to God!

    God bless!
    Donna-Marie

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  3. I'm passing this around to my family. For the most part my office door stays shut but when we are in there, the family cat comes and visits. She likes to stay long after we've left.

    So glad you didn't have lasting damage.

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  4. We have two cats. This could easily happen to me. Thanks for the warning, Donna-Marie! I'm glad you were so attentive once you smelled danger! I would have been confused, too.

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  5. That's crazy! I'm glad you figured the stench out though. I would have been right there with you, thinking those same thoughts and imagining the worst. Your cats are most adorable in that picture and only increase my longing for a cat of my own someday soon.

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