I Burnt My Keys In The Wood Stove

Yup, its been that kinda day today. Had my list of things to do and get in town written out ahead of time so I would be back before I started my shift at FireDogLake at 4pm. Got up sorta early (noonish) so I was well caffinated by 1pm when I grabbed the list and my purse. Reached in to grab my car keys. No keys.

Emptied out the purse. Checked the car, inside, outside and under, but no keys. Looked in the kitchen, the deck, the stairs between the car and the deck. No keys. Cleaned the kitchen -- no keys. Told people I had lost the keys (usually a sure fire way to find something I've lost). Still missing. Not downstairs where the spare wood is. Not in the bathroom. Not in the pockets of the clothes I wore Wednesday nor in the hamper.

Kept going back and forth over what I did Wed and the only conclusion I could reach was the keys were in the wood stove.

The wood stove that was lit and heating my flat.

I last drove the car Wednesday. Had my dentist appointment, stopped at the feed store and got cat food, milk and eggs (fresh from the local co-op) and drove home. Had two bags on the front seat and a large bag of cat food in the trunk when I pulled in. I remember putting the smaller of the two into the bigger bag while in the car, grabbing it and my coffee cup, the cat food bag, and my purse and headed upstairs. Went directly to the kitchen and put away the stuff. Wadded up and tossed the bags in the to burn box for starter for the wood stove.

Hindsight now reveals that is where things went wrong. Somehow, instead of putting my keys in my purse, they were in the bag. I did not realize they were in there when I grabbed the wadded up bags and used it to start the fire.

Grabbed the poker and started looking in the fire. Nothing.

Let the fire die down a little bit more and after saying several St. Anthony prayers, dug in again. This was shortly after 10 pm after triple checking every other place they could possibly be -- including the freezer and fridge.

There they were, buried in the ashes in the front of the stove. All i could see in the ashes was the metal ring - I snagged that with the tip of the poker and took them to the kitchen where they gently air cooled hanging over the sink.

The two padlock keys to the pod look to be ok. The little teddy bear is history. Both car keys are sorta bent -- one more than the other. I think tomorrow I'll go down and see if either one of them work. If not, I'll have to get a locksmith to make a new set.

I think I am the only person I know who has accidently burned their keys in a wood stove or fireplace.