Trainee neophyte
Established Member
The continuing saga of the windows has me planing and chiseling and sanding the nub of window sill still attached to the house. To clean up the mess I brought out my new (less than 2 weeks old) dust/chip extractor, which did a perfect job. However, Chief Interior Design Consultant sees it in action and says, "Wow! Can I have a go at the rug?" I say yes, because I am nice like that, and even provide a vacuum cleaner attachment to make life easier.
Ten minutes later there is much kerfuffle, and smoke, and divers alarum. Wife got bored with vacuuming the carpet, so handed it over to the 11year old daughter. Daughter also gets bored with the rug pdq, and having heard half a conversation earlier, decides to clean out the fire....
To be fair, the fire was mostly out, so it wasn't the most ridiculous decision ever made by an 11year old, but sufficient hot embers plus forced air forge amounts of oxygen managed to melt the vacuum cleaner hose completely, put pinholes in the 100mm flexible hose, and set fire to both the filter and all the sawdust and wood chips in the machine, all of which is happening in the sitting room. Some small amount of panic ensued, sotto voice so as not to attract the attention of the live-in tyrant (me), even though the smoke alarm is hard to ignore.
The machine still works, but I need a new filter, new hose, and new child. Other than that, could have been worse. Moral of the story - don't let your significant other see what your tool is capable of, because he/she will immediately want to misuse it, and much tears and recriminations will ensue.
(Full disclosure: no child was injured in the making of this anecdote, however I am still considering my options.)
Ten minutes later there is much kerfuffle, and smoke, and divers alarum. Wife got bored with vacuuming the carpet, so handed it over to the 11year old daughter. Daughter also gets bored with the rug pdq, and having heard half a conversation earlier, decides to clean out the fire....
To be fair, the fire was mostly out, so it wasn't the most ridiculous decision ever made by an 11year old, but sufficient hot embers plus forced air forge amounts of oxygen managed to melt the vacuum cleaner hose completely, put pinholes in the 100mm flexible hose, and set fire to both the filter and all the sawdust and wood chips in the machine, all of which is happening in the sitting room. Some small amount of panic ensued, sotto voice so as not to attract the attention of the live-in tyrant (me), even though the smoke alarm is hard to ignore.
The machine still works, but I need a new filter, new hose, and new child. Other than that, could have been worse. Moral of the story - don't let your significant other see what your tool is capable of, because he/she will immediately want to misuse it, and much tears and recriminations will ensue.
(Full disclosure: no child was injured in the making of this anecdote, however I am still considering my options.)