Election Day Fire

Election day was such a beautiful day in southern Cal. Nice and sunny, not too hot, with a slight brisk breeze in the air.

I drove to my polling spot to see how crowded it was, having seen long, long lines on TV. But it looked as it usually does - there were cars on the street, but still plenty of parking.

So I went in, and there was NO line! So I cast my vote and was on my way.

For dinner, I decided to make meatloaf. I got the idea to make it in a muffin tin, so it would come out in serving sizes. I put it on the top rack, and a cookie sheet with potatoes and the meatloaf that wouldn't fit in the muffin tin underneath.

When I went to remove it, I didn't realize that the muffin tin had been dripping oil onto the cookie sheet below, so I removed the cookie sheet first and shut the door. Then the Girl said, "Mommy! Mommy! Look!" and I looked at the oven, and it was smoking like crazy. So I opened the door to take out the muffin tin, and a fire flared up and threatened to leap out at me! So I quickly shut the door again.

Then, for what seemed like 20 minutes but was really only about 2, we ran around trying to figure out what to do. I thought shutting the door would cut off the oxygen supply, but the sucker kept burning! It kept dripping and burning and dripping and burning! I had visions of the meatloaf turning into charcoal, let alone the house!

The house quickly filled up with smoke as we ran around. The Girl ran for the door, and K kept opening the cupboards looking for salt or something to throw on the fire. We tried one of our fire extinguishers, but found it was out of whatever it needs to work. We went and got the second one and tested it in the front yard, and found it was charged.

When we returned to the oven, the fire was luckily out. Luckily, because whatever we had thrown into the oven would no doubt have created a BIG mess!

We were airing out the house all night.

In the evening I was watching the election returns, and it was hard to tell what was going to happen. Obama was ahead in electoral votes, but a lot of states were really close. The TV commentator kept saying that they wouldn't make a prediction until they felt certain what the electoral votes were over 270 for either party.

Then, at 8pm our time, he looked up and said, "That's it. It's 11pm Eastern time, and the polls have just closed on the West coast. We can now predict that Obama will get California's 55 electoral votes (and some others I can't remember), and we project that Obama is the next President of the United States."

Wow. Even tho he wasn't the candidate I had wanted originally, in the end I was proud of our country. I'm old enough to remember the struggles of the 60's, and it was so great to see how far we've come as a nation. I'm once again proud to be an American (United Statesian?), and I have more hope for the future than I've had in a very long time.

Looking at the numbers, however, I realize that for nearly half the country, the result is a disappointment. I know what it's like to feel like that, and to have the media act like it's what EVERYONE wanted. Last election they declared a "mandate" when it was nothing of the sort. So for those who are disappointed, I hope that Obama will prove to them that a good choice was made in the end.

Let's hope.