Please everyone - do not - try this at home!
Last night Tubby just about gave me a heart attack! I was taking a hot tub - the tub is similar to the one in Sara's picture of one of Jupiter's favorite places, deep and kind of short, with the jets. Anyway, I like to light a couple of candles while I'm in there, maybe have a beer or glass of wine and read a good book. I never close the door tight because I know Tubby likes to come and go, and usually will curl up on the towel I have laying nearby for when I get out. So I'm in there, just relaxing and reading my book. It's just about time to get out when Tubby comes in. He jumped up on the edge, which is always an ordeal because he doesn't always make it that far anymore. So this time he made it up and he was walking around the edge. He manuevered (sp?) around the beer bottle real well, so I went back to my book.
Well the next thing I heard was some hissing and popping (not cat hissing) I look around my book and I see Tubby's tail on fire!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
He had moved it away from the flame, and it was still on fire, so I panicked, almost dropped by book in the water, and tried to grab him before he knew I was panicking so he wouldn't run. I had closed the door (air was way too cold that was blowing in) so even if he did run he couldn't get far, and if all else failed I could grab him and just throw him in the tub. All this goes through my mind in a split second as I put the book down and reach for him. I got him and just put my hand over the flame (which probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do), and it went out right away. Whew!!!
It had just burned some of the hair on his tail and didn't get anywhere near his skin (whew!) so he was fine and was wondering what the heck I was doing. The burning hair smelled to high heaven, and I had to crawl back in the tub because my legs were weak and a little shaky from panicking.
Geeze, just re-telling it gets my heart rate going again. Needless to say, I immediately blew out the candle and tried to get my breathing rate back to normal.
In that split second, I saw him running around the bathroom on fire, starting the towels and the carpet on fire, him being seriously burned and possibly causing a major fire. Whew!! Was I relieved it turned out so much better. There are two spots on his tail that the hair is a little rough, but they are so small you wouldn't even be able to tell if you didn't know, so it really turned out to be no big deal, but it really reminded me that even though he and Peanut have been around candles, and could really care less about them, I still have to be so careful when candles are lit and they are around.
I really wish I had Cinders way with words to tell this story, but I was thinking more about Phred after this episode than anything else. So go ahead, Phred, lecture away about candles because I obviously need it, and hopefully others can learn from my mistake. :o :)
