Apparently, it burned out from all the work it was doing over the past two days. And our basement filled with 8 inches of water. And my neighbor could not find my cell phone number (I was at a meeting)...so I missed the whole thing - including the fire department coming, the heater apparently arcing, and the water being sucked out. My landlord's wife called right after our meeting finished and left me a message on my cell phone and I was in a complete panic. Stuff is stuff but I was primarily concerned with the cats and making sure they were ok and still in the house (I hate it when people come in without my knowledge and I can't account for them) and church stuff being damaged or ruined.

I flew home (literally) and immediately was relieved to find Norman and Ramona - terrified but ok. Nellie of course was nowhere to be found but I knew she would not ever leave the house. My neighbor came in and told me the whole story and I am thankful now that I wasn't here. I think I would have been even more panicked to have the firemen come and tell me to leave the house because of the heater arcing and the chance of fire. This way, all was resolved (except for the mess in the basement and trying to figure out what is a loss) before I even got here. Boy, does God know me! And I know that everything happened the way it did for this reason.

I was also so glad that my friend Scott came over and brought me their dehumidifier and a heater to start trying to dry things out. I think that will work well - and we'll see what can be salvaged and what can't. Again, though, it's just stuff.

Now I must do my taxes quickly, take care of some other things, and get to bed.