Leaving the House

Whenever Judy and I leave our house, which we do almost daily for shopping or other errands, there is one thing we always do without fail.  We unplug the coffee maker.

We've lived in this town home for over five years, and we have never unplugged any other appliance upon exiting, so it must be ingrained in both of us that coffee makers are dangerous when left unattended.  Oh, we can both go about our daily routines, me in my home office/computer room and she in her sun room at the back of the house.  I know that neither one of us ever gives a second's thought to that dangerous appliance sitting out there in the kitchen plotting our demise.  But, let us even consider going out for a ride, and the last thing we do before leaving is unplug the coffee maker.

I ask you, is this paranoid behavior?  Do we really have OCD about that coffee maker?  After all, we've never unplugged the stove or the refrigerator when we go away, and they would seem to have a greater potential for destruction.  And even if the coffee maker did some day go berserk and start a fire, if we're not in the house, we won't be injured.

Okay, I know we're being silly, but about thirty years or so ago, one of those ancient Mr Coffee™ machines started a kitchen fire in someone's house in the city where we were then living, and we never got that incident out of our minds.  It stuck like glue, and we've made it our life's goal to never let that happen in our house.

Now, either you're laughing about the crazy custom we practice, or you're thinking that maybe we need to see an analyst about our problem.  Even I think it's goofy to unplug that machine just because we're leaving the house, yet we still do it every single time.

Oh, by the way, we've never had one of our coffee makers explode or start a fire, and they do make excellent coffee.  In fact, I cannot recall hearing or reading any news report about anyone else's coffee maker causing a fire in decades.  I guess old habits are really hard to break.

Have a nice day and enjoy your coffee.