Going away to Veterinary School was a big move for me. I had gone "away" to undergrad but was only an hour and forty five minutes away from home at any given time.
I coped with this separation by calling home routinely, twice a week. My Mom was always glad to hear from me, but when the conversation started getting too long, she would say, "Ok, that's enough." This was before the cell phone era (ok, I am dating myself), so each minute on the phone was a billed minute. Mom figured one minute less on the phone, was money put towards my education.
One night I was talking with my Mom on the phone. The only phone we had was in the kitchen. It was a rotary phone that was physically attached to the wall (again, dating myself). You were tethered to it by one of those curly springy cords connecting the handset to the base and you were very limited by the two foot cord in the distance you could travel while speaking. This shortened any lengthy conversation a teenager might have because there was no privacy, and you had to sit down on a stool that was certainly not meant for long term use. Again, no cell phones.
Mom stopped me in the midst of our conversation that evening by stating, "Hold on a minute, the cat's tail is on fire."
There was no panic in her voice. There was no urgency in the "matter of fact" statement at all. I hear the phone's hand set being placed down on the counter. Meanwhile, I am on the other end of the phone panicking!
"Mom?! What do mean on fire??? MOM?!!!!"
A few moments later, she calmy returns to the phone. "It's okay, I put it out." she says flatly, and proceeds to continue with the previous conversation. Meanwhile, my heartrate is up, I am panting, and my eyes are widely dilated! My mind is in a frenzy.
Mom had lit a scented candle on the center of the stove, part of her evening ritual. Oreo, our longhair tuxedo cat, had pounced onto the counter and proceeded onto the stove to investigate Mom's supper which was still in a pan on the stove. During the cat's investigation, her tail spent a moment too long hovering over the lit candle, and it quickly burst into flame. The cat was completely unaware of the danger it was in.
Mom noticed the flame, walked over, picked up the cat, carried her over to the faucet, and doused that tail under a cool stream of water before any harm was done. The cat was safe, and was more upset about the wet tail than the burning tail
The funniest part was my mother's calmness during and after what could have been a disaster! What if the cat ran and spread the fire throughout the house? The possibility of damage to the cat, to the house, and potentially to my Mom is very sobering.
While I love scented candles for the fragrances they provide, I dislike the potential for danger that escorts them into the house. With pets, children, and my swiss cheese memory, I worry about the risks of the candles getting knocked over or being forgotten and left to burn when no one is home. I also happen to be married to a man who blows the candles out as fast as I can light them. He worries about soot stains developing on the ceiling. Each time he blows them out, he declares "The wick is too long! The wick is too long!" like Paul Revere declaring that the Red Coats are coming during his Midnight Ride.
Recently, a friend and volunteer pet foster mom, approached me about a new product, Scentsy flameless candles. Scentsy Warmers use a low-watt bulb to melt scented wax slowly. With no flame, soot, smoke or lead to worry about, the Scentsy system is a safe way to produce a pleasantly smelling environment.
The scents are fragrant and there are so many that everyone can find a favorite. If your child sticks their fingers into the melted wax, it is completely safe. It does not burn the skin. It is comparable in temperature to a paraffin wax dip. Warm but not dangerous. If your furry feline knocks the unit over, there is no flame to spread. The Scentsy burners are much more attractive than a half burned soot filled jar-o-candle.
I can finally have a nice scent emanating throughout the house without the fear of letting it burn too long or unsupervised. The Scentsy plug-in has taken the place of our night light in the hall. It provides plenty of light for the stairwell and we awaken to the scent of our preference each morning. I am so enamoured with this product that our South Hamilton Animal Alliance is having a fundraiser with our local Scentsy representative.
From now until September 30, we are holding a Scentsy products fundraiser. You can view the products at https://judebeme.scentsy.us/Home . When you arrive at this page, you will see a little box in the upper right hand corner labeled "My Open Parties". Scroll through them to find the "South Hamilton Animal Alliance Fundraiser" then click on "Buy from Party". You can then view the products, with styles that represent everything from animals to sports, contemporary to vintage, classic to country. If you already own a Scentsy burner, stop in and order a few new scents! The burners make wonderful gifts for showers, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and there is something to suit everyone's taste.
With each purchase, you will help The South Hamilton Animal Alliance to provide shelter and medical care for our animals in need, as well as make your home a safer place for your family, furry and otherwise. If you order online, your order will be shipped directly to your shipping address, and the South Hamilton Animal Alliance will be credited for the sale.
You can visit our adoptable animals at http://www.jewellanimalhospital.petfinder.com/ . If you cannot find a Scentsy product that suits you, hopefully you will find a furry friend that will...
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3 comments:
This is funny if it hadn't been so serious. Had a similar exp except with a dove that we let out to fly around the house. She lived to be 15 and loved my husband. On this particular night in the winter we had our wood stove burning, not thinking about the bird (her name was Lonesome Dove). lonesome was happily flying around when we all saw her getting ready to land on the stove. It was like slow motion as I flew off the couch to chase her away,too late she landed for a nanosecond,but enough to burn her feet. We felt terrible. I was a vet tech so in the morning I ask my boss what to do. We wrapped her perches on gauze(because she would'nt let us wrap her feet) and appiied sulfadine several times a day. She never quit eating and would sit on her perch on the back of her legs. we felt terrible,but she healed and lived to be 15 yrs old and always loved my husband and would nestle in his beard and coo to him
Oh time to call "BS" on this one...her blog entry of August 31st and the cat's tail bursting into flame...guess she needs a reminder of basic science and fact...hair and fur don't burn with a flame without the addition of an accelerant...they singe...I respectfully pointed this out on her blog but will be surprised if it makes it up there...I did however also mention things like screen shots and downloading pages for future reference...
watch out Iowa, this one would scare me. Looks like Wayne has a new disciple
ummm... yes, the fur WILL burn WITH a flame w/o any accelerant...
Several years ago we had a similar incident with a cat and a candle... candle was lit, on a countertop. Cat jumped up to investigate this new thing, and rubbed up against it (warmth? who knows). the fur did catch on fire... we caught the cat, ran him under cold water... he was fine, if a bit put out about the whole thing.
After his cold water bath, he ran down into the basement to groom himself and glare at us for inconveniencing him.
Very scary for us...
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