So much for September

[halfshellvenus]

What a weekend. I wound up in a 6-person writeoff after last week's Idol poll, so I spent Friday and a lot of Saturday writing an entry for that. Humor! Always fun when I can get it to happen. Please take a look and vote for me if you can. I need all the votes I can get!

I was on a roll Friday. I poked some people at work (my day off) to get a review merged for something I've been stuck on for about... 2 months? I needed help from another team to get our feature to work, and it took awhile until they were available to help. Merged! I can breathe now! And go on to the next overdue thing. \o?

I researched and specified a bunch of stuff for the house, and the project manager turned it around and put it up for approval, so we made a lot of progress there. We might actually meet the end-of-October move-in date. *bites nails* Now I'm starting to worry about having to MINIMALLY replace our mattress/boxsprings, probably at least one sofa, and the rug under the piano before our surviving stuff gets delivered to the house. I mean, both sofas were declared fire losses, but we could get by with one for awhile. Anything upholstered won't have survived, obviously (smoke fumes & toxins). Other things? It's iffy. I canNOT get a straight answer from the restoration people about kitchen stuff. Keepsakes I cleaned from the kitchen took a LOT of work to get the smoke smut off. Will we ever be able to safely eat anything using our dishes & silverware? What about the cookware? I have the feeling we'll be replacing a LOT of that. :(

Wild and not-so-wild life: I saw something on the bike path Friday that was a first-- a Siamese cat in a bike basket! I would be so afraid a cat would jump out while the bike was moving. Conversely, HalfshellHusband swears that a little cottontail bunny came up and looked in the living room window on Saturday. That surprises me. At best, it's a third of a mile to the parkway from here, and that's a long way for a little bunny to hop!

So, 101^o temps again starting tomorrow. How's your weather? I'm hoping none of you had hurricane damage. :(

Comments

[erulissedances]

If your dishes are hard glazed, there shouldn't be any problem using them. Same with stainless steel for utensils. I'd have to research the sterling silver a bit more, but I think you'd be fine with those too. I'd toss any non-stick cookware you have, though, and replace it. Those coatings can't go higher than 350-450 depending on brand.


Items that are sealed - coffee pot mechanisms, crock pots, etc should be fine if they didn't get a direct fire hit, I'd probably indulge and replace your toaster, toaster oven, and I suspect your microwave might have taken a direct hit.

Not much help here, but maybe it gets you one little step farther.

I had a long-time friend (as in long time ago, not one I've had for years and years) who travelled with his cat in his bike basket. She loved it! I'm pretty amazed the bunny made it without turning into hassenpfeffer for a larger critter, though.

- Erulisse (one L)

[halfshellvenus]

Hmm, I'm not sure about the hard-glazed question. The dishes are Pfaltzgraff stoneware type stuff. Gah, I just checked Pfaltzgraff's site, and it says the stoneware is porous. That answers that question!

Good news about the stainless flatware! I don't know what to think about the dutch oven and slow-cooker. And our non-stick cookware was anodyne. HalfshellHusband will be crushed if we have to try to replace it-- they probably don't make some of it anymore. Like so many things I've come across due to the fire!

Thanks for the info-- I really appreciate it!

[erulissedances]

"And our non-stick cookware was anodyne"

Are you sure you don't mean Analon? But no matter, the nob-stick coating has an upper degree level that I'm quite sure was killed by the fire. I know mine can't be in an oven higher than 450 degrees, and mine is on the upper end for non-stick. I usually keep things down to 400 or under just to be safe.

Yeah - stoneware is indeed porous. Bummer!

- Erulisse (one L)

[halfshellvenus]

Hahahaha- not only do I mean Analon, I actually mean Calphalon!

No way of knowing how hot the temps in the house got. Most of what burned was in the garage, with an edge of the house. But we had water damage, and I know temperatures got pretty high because everything in the hall closet (opposite side of the house from the garage) got scorched or melted.

[murielle]

Your piece for the write-off was fantastic!

Wild life is all around us. :-)

I feel for you in that heat. I'd be a mess.

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you so much! I had fun writing that one. :D

Wild life is all around us. :-)
Well, some of us are feeding the wildlife and making sure of it. ;) :D

I am so tired of this heat. SO tired. Nothing says "October" like 101-degree temperatures. \o?

[murielle]

Guilty as charged. Though not as much anymore. If they come begging my frustrated maternal instinct takes over and I totally cave--and they know it.

101 Degrees! I'd need an ambulance or a fire hydrant. Fall is coming, fall is coming... We're going up to the mid 20s again next week. I don't think anyone told the weather that fall is coming. :-(

[halfshellvenus]

I swear that little animals know they're cute, and that we're susceptible to it. Once, at Yosemite, we had a bunch of squirrels show up where people rested on benches mid-hike. The one next to us stood up on its hind legs to "beg" for us, which immediately overrode our resolve not to feed it. ;)