Providence

Yesterday I made two choices that seemed trivial, but turned out to be very important. 

The situation:  I had washed some clothes, and were sitting in the washer waiting to be dried.  In the afternoon (it was a Sunday) I needed to go into the office and do some preparations for Monday morning.  As I was getting into the car, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to put the clothes in the dryer so they would be dry upon my return.  But, I was lazy, and did not want to go back into the house, and so did not. 

Later that evening, when I was home, I found myself with a sink full of dishes (I do not have a dishwasher) and should have put the clothes in the dryer so they could dry while I did the dishes.  I did not.  I got another attack of the "lazies" and decided to watch TV while the clothes were drying. 

The TV is in a basement room next to the room with the washer and dryer.  When the clothes had been drying for about 5 or 10 minutes, there was a very bright spark and a POP from the outlet where my dryer was plugged in.  I went into the room, and did not see any immediate problems, but checked it again in a couple of minutes, and there was smoke coming out of the outlet.  The wall behind the outlet was starting to turn brown.  I unplugged the dryer and shut off the breaker at the box.  Fire averted!

If I had started the dryer before I left for the afternoon, I would have come home to a pile of charcoal instead of a house.  If I had been upstairs washing dishes while the dryer was going, it would have been somewhat better in that I would have probably been able to call the fire department, but there still would have been significant damage.  Thank God for making me lazy yesterday.