My instinct was correct - the oven has gone wonky!! We went out last night to Target and picked up a $6 oven thermometer. I set the oven for 325F and watched for the little red light to go off (indicating the temperature had been reached). Not so. A check on the handy dandy thermometer indicated that it was more like 250F! Yikes!!

At least it works. I am having flashbacks of Thanksgivings past. When we lived in Austin, Texas, we had invited a couple of friends for Thanksgiving when low and behold the oven would not go on!!!!!

I had turned the oven on to preheat and set to work prepping the turkey. My hands were full of butter and spice, so I asked B to take a peek at the thermometer in the oven to see what it said. He looked in and said it was reading under 100F, which meant that it didn't turn on.

I didn't panic, thinking that the pilot may have just gone out. I had to learn how to turn on the oven pilot when I was in third grade when we lived in a cute little house with appliances from outer space. So I got down on my hands and knees and started to freak when I opened the broiler door and discovered the pilot light was not the problem. I knew no other oven turning on tricks.

Thankfully one of the people who was coming to dinner was handy. He is the kind who goes down to the junk yard and makes stuff, so there was hope. We called and asked if he might like to join us a bit early.

He came over and managed to fix it. I kept my cool by chopping up all the vegetables as he twittered away. I figured worse case we would have pumpkin soup and pie (another guest insisted on bringing dessert).

Dinner ended up being served at around nine o'clock, but it turned out fine. We called the landlord the next day and got no sympathy. These folks were truly morons.

Our friend advised us that while he had managed to make it work, he feared that it was a fire hazard in the making. He was seriously worried about our safety. This from a guy who made his own Mum a television out of spare parts. I figured for sure we would get a new oven, but alas, they sent Wilburn (his real name), their handyman over, to fix the oven. And so it went.

Shortly thereafter the red tagged heater drained into our bedroom closet. And then the property switched hands, and a squirrel came down the chimney. We really should have left after the oven fiasco. Ah, such is hindsight.

Tags: a squirrel came down the chimney, handy dandy thermometers, i dream of a dream kitchen, ovens, thanksgivings past
Current Location: los angeles county
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