PART FORTY SEVEN
Hello folks,
Ruth is back safely. No problem with car. Store says charger was struck by lightning "sorry not our fault."
At around twelve Ruth decides to make potato chips. The sky is overcast and a storm is threatening so she wants to do it now in case the power goes off again.
She needs to steam the chips in the microwave, then if the power does go off she can use the gas plate to deep fry the chips.
I am in my room when the power goes off. I go to the kitchen as she transfers the pot of hot oil from the stove to the hot plate. I stay with her while she finishes and she turns off the gas and puts the pot of oil back on the stove. She doesn't realize the stove is still switched on . But the power is off.
We take our bowls of chips to the front porch where we spend the next hour and a half eating and then just chatting. Suddenly from where I am sitting I see clouds of smoke billowing out from the side of the house and realize something is on fire. I tell Ruth at the same time as she smells the smoke - she can't see it from where she is sitting, she jumps up and runs towards the smoke. I watch but I am thinking the smoke is coming from the direction of Amanda's house, maybe they are burning garden refuse or something. But Ruth comes running back, panic stricken - the smoke is billowing out of our open back door. The smoke is coming from our kitchen. She disappears into the house.
I grab my walker and follow. The lounge and dining room are already filling up with smoke and it is difficult to breathe. When I reach the kitchen I can't see anything the smoke is so thick it is surreal and eerie - I can feel the danger, it is alive and very threatening. Ruth is in this smoke filled kitchen but I can't see her.
When I speak she shouts, "Mom, get out of this house, get out, get out!" Fearing that something is about to explode I head for the porch expecting an explosion at any minute, thinking this is the way it is going to end, we are both going to die in the smoke filled house I can barely breathe.
I reach the porch, my throat is burning from the smoke and I have difficulty breathing - my lungs are no longer what they used to be. I wait for Ruth - I expected her to follow me but it quite a while before she emerges.She had to feel her way around the kitchen for a cloth to move the pot and switch the stove off at the wall (she could't see her hand when she lifted it in front of her face) - the power had come on again while we were outside and she had inadvertently not switched the stove off. The oil then began to boil and boil - we have no idea how long it boiled but by the time the smoke had cleared there was just a very thin layer of pitch black oil left on the bottom of the pot and the stove and the pot were covered with pitch black oil. Fortunately she had put the lid back on the pot which kept the oil confined, otherwise the house would have been a raging inferno, and it would have burned to the ground.
photos of pot - the pot was originally three quarters full of oil - now it is empty.
She also had to open some windows. She also managed to soak a dish towel in water to cover her mouth and nose while making periodic trips to open more windows and switch on the fan. Fortunately there was no flame.
There are some windows she couldn't open because Harry can get out into the unfenced section. We also couldn't open the dining room windows because they open onto the porch where we were sitting while we wait for it to clear. It was still pretty uncomfortable though as the smoke smell was very strong I had to keep my mouth and nose covered with the soaked dish towel.
Ruth had inhaled so much of the toxic smoke she had to use the nebulizer twice in the afternoon and will use it again tonight to clear her lungs.
Do you see God's mighty hand in this ? - what a miracle - He brought us safely through - we only suffered a bit of smoke inhalation. This happened a month and a day after our ginger beer explosion. The enemy of our souls is trying to destroy us but Our God reigns, He is in control. He goes before us and prepares the way for us to follow.
next post 5th March
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