Sunday, July 12, 2009

What you don't want to hear ...

... while you're up on a ladder painting a doorframe on the second floor is this:

"MIMI!!! Come outside! The car is on fire!"

I wait for the punchline, but Pynchon sounds kinda earnest and in fact repeats his entreaty. Since I'm painting in my underwear (don't ask) I quickly pull something on and yes, when I get outside, my car is on fire. He was just heading out on an errand and no one had used the car since the morning, and he discovered the vehicle filled with smoke. What on earth?

Well, the fabric ceiling panel was on fire. In two places. Pynchon threw a bottle of water upward at it, and the flames doused and the smoke billowed. Yum: the only thing nicer than new car smell must be scorched new car smell.

How, you might ask, did we set the ceiling of our car on fire, from inside the house?

There was a mirror on the back seat, straight reflection on one side, and on the other side, the magnifying view. Munchkin likes to play with it and it wound up in the car. On the back seat. With the magnifying face upward. In the sun.

Honestly, did you ever hear of such a thing? The ceiling of the car now has black scorch / melt marks. I'll take a picture for you when I get back from vacation, okay?

Meantime, let me know of any strange and unforseen circumstances have led to property damage and possibly noxious chemical fumes at your house. And also, WTF?

12 comments:

Mandy said...

When I was little, my mom left paint rags in a paper bag (for burning) on the back porch. She ran a 30 minute errand and came back, bag was one fire. If she came back another 30 minutes later, the whole house might have gone up.

cinnamon gurl said...

Wow, that's crazy! Two bloggers' cars up in smoke within days of each other - how often does THAT happen? (Danigirl also set her car on fire, though she was in an accident.

Melanie D. said...

I was leaving children's hospital last year after visiting my nephew. I drove right into the angle on the cement wall and completely CRUNCHED the passenger side of my van. To the tune of a $1000 insurance deductible to get it fixed. It was one of those how could this day get any worse moments.
Tell me more about your door frames. What color - are you painting them white? A post a bout trim and painting would be awesome. :0) Really.

Beck said...

How absurd! What a crazy thing to happen!
Also, mwahahahahah (but only because no one was hurt and everything is okay.).

Cloud said...

That is wild. I grew up in Arizona- you'd think I would have heard of that sort of thing happening, but I can't say that I have.

We did melt our dashboard clock once by putting the reflective windscreen shade in the wrong place.

Debbie said...

Wow, amazing. I've never heard of this or anything similar happening before. I will, however, watch for stray mirrors in our cars from now on.

We did discover that when a processed cheese slice melts on to your cedar deck and you don't notice for a few days, it becomes virtually impossible to remove. I'm never buying cheese slices again.

Patti said...

Laughing at the "I wait for the punchline" and "since I'm painting in my underwear" !!!!

That is one bizarre story, I must say.

I have posted my own property damage post just a few minutes ago, inspired by Ned Flanders - "okely dokely then".

happy vacationing!

Bon said...

wow. i never entirely believed magnifying glasses were that powerful. i apparently should start believing.

uh, noxious fumes at our house are mostly skunks. and my dirty oven. happy vacation!

alejna said...

That is a really funny and bizarre story! But I'm quite sorry you have to deal with a damaged car and a nasty smell. That's much less funny. Yick.

Have a great vacation! (I hope it's not one that involves lots of time enclosed in a car with noxious smells...)

Kyla said...

How CRAZY!! I never would have thought it possible.

NotSoSage said...

That is totally bizarre. You're not road-tripping for this vacation, are you?

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

I never heard of anything like that, how crazy!

We cooked crabs in the house and didn't take all that seaweed off them first. That smelled pretty awful.

Enjoy your vacation!