Why You Should Clean Your Oven Regularly

Hey Humble Readers...

Yesterday shaped up to be a day of minor injuries around the hobbit-hole. 

First, my Beloved nicked his chin while shaving.  Not a big deal, right? 

Then, Ginny managed to get an angry red scratch on her arm, about an inch and a half long.  Still not a big deal.  A little poly-spor.in and she's on the mend. 

Followed shortly thereafter by an oops while I was trimming Pippin's fingernails.  A little wiggle at the wrong moment and I nipped his fingernail too short.  A little dot of blood and a lot of wailing (on both our parts), and things were sunshiney again.

And then it was dinner time.  Shepherd's pie.  Yum!  I turned on the broiler for the last five minutes to brown the top of the potatoes.  Double yum! 

When I opened the oven I remembered that I had just made yorkshire puddings on Sunday and that always leaves a mess in my oven from the oil over-flow (when I forget to put in a tray to catch the drips).  Combine that with the fact that I haven't actually cleaned my oven in about four months. 

Yeah, there was a fair bit of smoke coming out of my oven.  Enough to set off the smoke detector in the hall.  Not a big deal.

I went down the hall and was waving the oven mitts I had in my hand at the smoke detector (I'm too short to be able to hit the button).  As I was doing this, I was talking to my Beloved, so I wasn't paying the closest attention. 

As I was waving the oven mitts, they must have connected with the smoke detector, which must have not been reattached to it's base correctly after the last battery change. 

All I know... one second I'm getting the smoke detector to shut off, and the next I'm holding my forehead and seeing stars.  And behold, the smoke detector is on the floor, after bouncing off my noggin. 

Now I'm sporting a lovely little bruise.  (feel free to chuckle at my expense)

And that, Humble Readers, is why you should clean your oven regularly.