Friday, November 23, 2012

Turkey Disaster ! ?

In April, we bought a new range with digital oven controls.  Two different options for self-cleaning, too.  There are knobs for the burners but to control the oven I just need to poke the right place on the touch screen.  The important words in that last sentence are "the right place."

The turkey was done.  The vegetables were roasted.  All I had to do was make the gravy.  People weren't showing up for another 40 minutes or so.  So I emptied the warming drawer and poked "Warming Drawer" on the control panel.  My finger slipped.  Do you know what control is right under the Warming Drawer area?  THE SELF CLEANING CONTROL!!!

The oven whirred and the LOC message showed up and my turkey was imprisoned in an oven that would soon heat to immense temperatures.

The ...door....would...NOT.....OPEN!

AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

This is a close approximation of how I looked yesterday!


That wild screaming you heard coming from the East - that was me!  I could not breathe.  I could barely speak.  BUT! I could shriek and jump up and down.

I poked the touch screen wildly - The ON OFF control, the Warming Drawer, the Self Clean control, the On Off control again.  The oven remained LOCKED. NOOOOOO!!!!!!

I pounded down the basement stairs to the breaker box and snapped all the kitchen circuits off.  Hub calmly called down that the oven was still on and still locked.

Back to the breaker box.  Of course, the range was on its own circuit.  Snap!

I raced upstairs - gabbling wildly and crying "Oh! Oh! Oh no!"  and other useful phrases like, "My turkey will burn up!  Smoke!  Help!"  And the ever helpful "I AM SO STUPID!!"

Hub stood by calmly, saying.  "Don't worry.  It will be all right. "  And he looked for the oven's manual.

Smart man!  I knew where the manual was and half crying, half shrieking the entire time, I turned to the pages about the Self Cleaning cycle and read this.

"To pause or stop the Self Cleaning cycle, push the On/Off control.  The oven will unlock when the temperature returns to a safe level."

Yeah.

So I ran downstairs and snapped the range circuit back on and raced back upstairs.  I poked the On/Off control and waited, rocking from one foot to the other and wringing my hands.  Within 3 minutes, the oven door was unlocked.  The turkey was intact and a lovely brown.  The vegetables were still delicious.  Thanksgiving was saved!

I am thankful for my husband.  His unruffled manner helped me find a solution.  Still, I wish we had the event on video. The whole incident would make a good entry on America's Funniest Home Videos!

Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and love-filled.

3 comments:

  1. Holy Smokes that would freak me out! Glad all turned out well! :)

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  2. Oh my goodness!!! I would have flipped out! SO happy you were able to get it out! You are right that would have been a great video. These things are funny after the fact, they aren't funny worth a darn at the time are they? ;)

    So happy you found the video about the abandoned church helpful. I am a cancer survivor myself. It is a scary business. I know God helped me in my time of need. xo

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  3. When our old stove broke eons ago, the door wouldn't open. The appliance guys hauled off our stove with the meatloaf dinner still locked inside. So glad you didn't end up with a petrified turkey.

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