Fire!

Well I decided this weekend was the week to clean the garage. Last yr when we did our kitchen we really messed it up. So last fall we straightened it up enough to fit both cars in, but it was tight,and not really clean and organized. So I knew we needed to have a real cleaning. Oh the dreaded thought!

It needed to be a family affair. So we all started at 11:30 and worked till we were too tired at about 5:30. Killed 100's of hobo spiders, and swept up huge piles of dirt. We still didn't get quite done. We have so much garbage and not enough trash can's. So we got stopped in our tracks and we were too tired to go on.
We decided to go to Pizza hut for dinner. Mishael is up here in Libby, and she can get us dinner for half price and we were way too tired to cook dinner. So we were off to dinner, dropping off stuff at the second hand store and paint cans at the birth center to store in the basement. then spent about 1 hour or so eating dinner. When we got home Rick opened the door and black smoke came billowing out. He said there is a fire somewhere, all the smoke alarms are going off. We have a big house and it took us a while to figure out where it was coming from.

The "top of our basement stairs" counter is a 5 foot counter top between the kitchen and living/dining room. On this counter is the toaster, microwave, a hot water tea thing, a one shot coffee maker, and toaster oven. It has a tile counter top.
This is where the fire was. It looks like one of the coffee pots started a fire. They are both totally gone. There were still smoldering embers, but the fire was miraculously out. I also had some of that syrup for making Lattes, sitting there. a couple of the bottles were broken and the syrup burned, the other 2 bottles were hot and black but still fine.

It’s so discouraging this morning. Everything we touch is black. The soot is lining everything all the way up to my bathroom, the toilet is black, and in my medicine cabinet even.
Soot is oily, and water wont wash it. You have to use soap or alcohol and water. My computer is now black and right after we wash our hands as soon as we touch something, we are black again. I’m not sure how we are going to get clean for church. Even our clean clothes are soot covered. I’ll have to wash everything in the house.
Yet I’m so so thankful that the house didn’t start on fire. Although there was a good spot of fire, it died out on it’s own. We are all safe and besides the soot there is very little real damage.



Every wall is covered with black soot. All my new paint, should wash. Except for ceilings because we painted those in flat paint.


This is at the top of the upstairs. You can see how the smoke was coming up the stairs too.

The toaster has been the best toaster we have ever had. I used to go through a toaster a yr. Then I found this old sunbeam at a garage sale. It's lasted me about 13 yrs now. I won't be able to replace it will I?

This light fixture is a copper/brown color around the edge, and the ceiling is normally white.

All the tile protected from quite a bit of damage. The back splash is cracked, but the granite is still fine.

This picture is the plug . It had one of those 6 plug outlets plugged in.
So the Lord in his great mercy saved our house. I'm overwhelmed now, but if the insurance comes through, in the end I should end up with a cleaner house.
Well we will see.