i don't know -- there is something about lighting the traditional menorah in the right order, but this was pretty damned scary. next april she will be 17. i don't know if she will even be around for the next chanukah... i sure hope so. there are four others but she is definitely the most careless, the one who sometimes slides off the bed for example. we shall see.

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@genessa Yes, fire does have a (magic) appeal.

I have two wood burning fireplaces and a half cord of wood in the back yard but shortly before I purchased the house the owners (just before they both died in the house) (old age) added a shake shingle room. There are no spark arrestors in the chimney system so I don't dare light the fireplaces until I modify the chimney.

@NoMagicCookie oh i hear you. we have a fireplace and can't deal with it until a whole slew of things are done.

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@genessa They are a lot of work. In the attic I need to re-grout the bricks. The ten foot wide stone fireplace in the formal living room is fine but the nine foot high fireplace in the breeseway was incorrectly designed so I would need to lower the height of the firebox so it doesn't vent into the room. This project is very low on my to do list. I have 54 windows that need to be stripped, re-glazed and painted again. Lots of work. The six casement windows that make up the bow are almost a high as I am and they occupy roughly ten feet of wall space in the formal living room. Also need to design, build and replace the front door. Plan to make it a stained glass art project.

@NoMagicCookie we're old farts. our project is to wake up every day.

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@genessa My old landlord was in his late 90's when I moved out.

He stripped and painted the entire outside of his house every year.

He also outlived several of his children.

The first daughter he lost was eaten by a serial killer in California. The authorities found pieces of her and other young (missing) women, in the guys freezer.

@NoMagicCookie yuck!

no, we're not just old but disabled. but we have not been hacked up and frozen yet.

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@genessa As long as you haven't been hacked up and frozen, you are good.

@NoMagicCookie as good as circumstances and our natures allow )

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oh we never leave the candles unattended. that would be pushing our luck for sure. that's why i can't figure out how she did it, right in front of us! i must have been looking at richard. then i smelled burning fur....

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oh penny had no clue either! she'll never know!

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yes, relief crying, looks funny to others but we feel it.

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they and we. if she had jumped off the table, the house would've caught fire. <shudder>

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that would've been scary but not AS scary. penny was just aflame! glad kitty and tail survived!

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she has a big orange patch on her fur now. the outer layer (tabby) got burned off and apparently she is a secret marmie under that coat!

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thanks!

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omg i can picture that! we have a mostly longhaired chi too. we don't camp, though.

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all is well now but wow, i was terrified.

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it sure was!

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thanks. no one else and nothing else caught fire, though she managed, as it turns out, to extinguish two of the candles!

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i think i got some new gray hairs and maybe lost a year of my expected lifespan but we're all otherwise fine. penny is snuggled with one of her daughters and still apparently has no clue she ever was aflame.

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