Fri. Sept. 2, 2022: Hello, Mr. Fireman

image courtesy of F.Muhanmad via pixabay.com

Friday, Sept. 2, 2022

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Jupiter, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny and cool

Finally, some cooler weather! Although it doesn’t smell like autumn yet.

I read a friend’s rewrite of her play yesterday and it was wonderful! I’m so excited for her. And I got my ballot down to City Hall and left it in the ballot box. So we’ve both voted in next week’s primaries.

Well, we had some excitement here yesterday. Yes, that was sarcasm.

I was working on the computer when I smelled something like burned toast. I got up to see if one of the burners was on, or if the toaster or the microwave or the coffee machine was doing something funky. Nope.

Then I wondered if I was having a stroke.

But I felt fine. Ish.

The fire alarms started going off, with their beeping, and the weird, robotic voice going, “Fire! Fire! Fire!”

They do that pretty regularly, but we could smell smoke.

A minute later, the next-door neighbor pounded on the door saying, “Get out! It’s real! The old lady downstairs has a kitchen fire!”

We grabbed the cats and stuffed them into their crates. Willa ran and hid, but when my mom called for her, she came out, and I grabbed her and popped her into her crate. I grabbed the computer, my bag of flash drives, and my purse, forgetting my passport and my phone. My  mom had the backpack where we keep the important papers, her phone, her purse. She took Willa. I had Tessa and Charlotte, and we went downstairs and sat on the curb.

The firemen were there by then, and the neighbor had gotten the woman and her walker out of the apartment, his roommates had gotten out with the dog, and the other downstairs neighbor had evacuated along with her kid (the other kid was in school).

It wasn’t bad; the woman had put something in the microwave to heat up, and, for some reason, it caught fire. It was mostly smoke. The firemen brought in big fans to clear everything out. No one was hurt. Nothing was destroyed except the microwave and the poor woman’s lunch. She was so embarrassed. I told her not to worry; it was more important that she was okay.

Tessa Was Not Amused. She sat in her crate with her back to the world, mumbling and threatening revenge. Charlotte and Willa, however, reveled in the extra attention. Everyone stopped by to tell them how pretty they were (Charlotte was purring by then). People driving by actually stopped and got out of their cars to admire them.

The firemen did a walkthrough of the apartments to make sure everything was fine, and up we went. The apartment smelled a little rank, but the windows were open, and I’d just gotten new incense in cedarwood and jasmine, so that went right on the burner, and soon it was back to rights.

We let the cats out of their crates and they ran around checking on everything. Tessa Was in A Mood, hissing and swiping at everyone, eating a whole bowl of food, and then not having anything to do with anyone until this morning.

The adrenalin crash wasn’t pretty, but I managed to cover two scripts (I needed to do three, but I’m still okay, deadline-wise. But not  a whole lot got done.

It was a good test run. We’re going to have to run drills to pack the cats faster. Willa and Charlotte’s crates were handy, but Tessa’s had been stored in a place that took too much time to reach, so that will be adjusted. We have to be efficient about packing up what we need and getting out in under three minutes. I think this time, we took six, and that’s too long. We were lucky; it could have been a lot worse, and now we know what we need to adjust for future emergencies.

I started the next book for review, which is kind of meh. Calls itself a thriller, but the pace is slow and the male protagonist falls into the Too Stupid To Live category. Never a good sign when I’m rooting for the protagonist to get murdered.

Started panicking in the evening when I had a sore throat, worrying I’d come down with the plague, and then remembered we’d had a fire and the apartment was filled with smoke. Took some slippery elm and felt better.

Slept well until about 3 AM, then had trouble falling back to sleep. I was restless, even though I wasn’t fretting. But I did fall asleep, and didn’t wake up until after 7, so it’s been a slow start.

I have to run some errands this morning. We didn’t have a chance to swap out to September fabrics (everything is still very summery) or change the wreath on the door, so that has to happen today. And I have to cover three scripts. I’d hoped to start my holiday weekend today, but no such luck.

At least it should be a good weekend. I plan to spend a lot of time resting and doing inner work. Maybe some work on LEGERDEMAIN. Maybe start recovering the kitchen chairs (which is the next project on the list).

Have a good one, and enjoy the holiday!