Today has been one of those days where it just does not pay to get out of bed...

My sister Kate came down from Halifax for the weekend; her friend Krystal is moving west and is holding a party before she leaves. Kate was also selling her truck, the vehicle mom has been driving since that asshole in the pickup truck slammed into me back in August. Mom's been having starter issues with the truck for the last week; something's wrong with either the starter or the ignition. The other night on her way home from work it refused to start at all, and dad had to go "convince" it to behave. With a hammer.

The truck's potential buyer showed up this morning. Just to be contrary, the truck started immediately and behaved perfectly during the test drive and sale. But, just because the truck behaved itself, of course something else had to go wrong.

I was in my room playing Silent Hill: Downpour on my xbox 360 when I heard panicked yelling coming from the living room. A minute later I smelled this nasty smell, like charred plastic and burnt metal. Kinda smelled like my dad's auto garage when he's been using either the grinder or the welder for a while. A minute after that mom comes tearing down the hall yelling that the thermostat is on fire.

I live in a mobile home park, in a trailer in which everything is electric, from the heaters to the smoke detectors and everything in between. One of the electric baseboard heaters in the living room had stopped working, shorting out the living room thermostat. The short ignited something in the thermostat itself, causing an electrical fire. Thick black smoke was pouring out of the thing.

Mom had the presence of mind to throw the breakers in the main breaker box, shutting off the power. That did kill the fire. The rest of us were throwing on coats and boots and hurrying outside while calling the fire department, then my father. We were standing out in the driveway in ankle-deep snow, idiot dog on leash, when two firetrucks, six firemen, and the fire chief showed up. They removed the fried thermostat, trimmed and capped the wires, then carefully turned the power back on. After dad arrived, they explained what had caused the fire, then dad called an electrician to check the wiring and replace the thermostat.

The living room and kitchen still smell like burnt metal, despite scented candles being lit and a frozen pizza being cooked. That smell is probably going to linger for days if not weeks, depending on whether or not it got into the upholstery.