Safety First

You may find yourself asking why have I begun baby proofing my kitchen. You may stare with curiosity at the plastic bubbles adorning the knobs on my gas oven.

Could it be? Could the impossible have happened? Could a little England be on the way?
All signs point to "it seems so."

As it turns out, we're not expecting a bundle of "joy" because it's already here, in the form of a 3-year-old Great Dane. A pretty big puppy with an apparent penchant for arson.

I came home from a long day of work one day to find the kitchen about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. How odd. Why? Is the a.c. vent clogged?

No. The gas burner was on. High.

Who knows how long that 5-inch flame was threatening the lives of my animals and the structural integrity of my house. It had to have been on a while since the tea kettle on the next burner over had hot water in it and the underside of the cabinets were too hot to touch.

But I saw that flame, rushed to turn it off, and promptly fell on the floor in tears. Horrible thoughts running through my head: "What if something had been on the stove that day?" "What if the burner hadn't lit and gas had filled the house, waiting for the refrigerator compressor to kick on."

Life is full of what-ifs. So I'm going to give credit where credit is due and thank God for saving my house, my animals and my life. And I'm going to enjoy these safety knobs on my oven that keep my pyromaniac dog at bay. Now, if I could just keep her away from the bananas on the counter.