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!

Keeping it sane, simple, and holy on Thanksgiving!

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Tell us about them in the comment box. I'll try to write more for you soon. In the mean time, here's a radio segment from a previous Thanksgiving about "Keeping it sane, simple, and holy" with Teresa Tomeo and me on "Mom's Corner."

God bless you and yours!

Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms