Solentiname and the Fire Extinguisher

For quite some time, we stored our fire extinguisher in a cabinet in the computer desk along with the printer paper and an old monitor. The desk is up against a wall, but the cabinets don't have backs to them and every so often, the cats squeeze between the wall and the desk and hang out in there. Not a big deal - or at least, it wasn't for a long time.

One Sunday evening in August of 2010, we sat down to eat and relax after finishing all of the housework and other chores. I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud, unfamiliar hissing noise and turned to see a white cloud of...something...billowing from the vicinity of the computer desk.

Tiname had squeezed into the cabinet as she often does. This time, however, she had somehow managed to knock the pin out of the fire extinguisher, then knock the whole thing over. When it hit the bottom of the cabinet, it fell right onto the part of the handle you squeeze and shot its contents out the back of the cabinet. Tiname, as cats often do in situations like this, fled the cabinet at the first sign of trouble and escaped completely unscathed.

Fortunately, the force of expelling its contents caused the extinguisher to roll off of its handle and shut itself off, so it didn't discharge its entire load. It still made quite the mess, however. That stuff is simultaneously powdery and sticky and it took numerous rounds of cleaning to get rid of it.

The cats, including the guilty party, found the whole thing more interesting than frightening. We moved the fire extinguisher elsewhere.

The dust was still settling when I took this picture.
The blank, square spot had been occupied by a
paper bag the cats liked to play with.