Fire prevention

October 9. Fire Prevention Day.  It’s a good day to check your smoke alarm batteries.  And we did another thing yesterday to prevent a fire.  Well WE didn’t but my human did.  You see, she’s been having problems with the clothes dryer for quite some time.  Sometimes it works, and then sometimes the filter light goes on and the machine turns off.  She cleaned EVERY filter she could find on the machine, and after a call to a dryer maintenance man, and some rather precarious inspection on a ladder, she determined that the problem was in the duct going from the dryer, into the ceiling and out a vent in the roof.  So she called in help – when the vacuum cleaner hose she attached to a kayak paddle wouldn’t reach the vent on the roof.  From her perch on the ladder.  I must say, my human TRIES to be resourceful – but she is not always successful. Anyway, clogged dryer ducts ARE a fire hazard – so it needed to be fixed. Never mind the hazards of carrying a vacuum cleaner up a ladder...

So yesterday, my human’s mother came to entertain us while the duct man came and my human went to work.  OK.  She wasn’t REALLY here to entertain us – more like sequester us so we wouldn’t bother the duct man.  And we were good the WHOLE time he was here. And then he left.  And as SOON as he was gone, Frodo knocked down the gate that was sequestering us.  The deck door was open so he raced out there barking and barking.  For no reason, of course. And THEN, he PEED on the leg of the barbecue.  FRODO.  The good dog.  PEED on the leg of the barbecue.  My human’s mother scolded him, but he wasn’t too stressed about it.  THEN, every time my human’s mother sat down to read, he would lead the three of us in a BARKING frenzy racing across the deck.

When my human got home, she asked her mother how we had behaved all day.  Her mother said, “And WHO do you think was the trouble-maker today?”  As usual, my human guessed ME.  She was surprised to hear it was NOT me. Redemption.  Finally.

So it was an eventful day.  My behavior wasn’t “on fire” and our dryer duct is clean and safe. Fire Prevention all around.

©  Linda Wozniak