I never thought such a thing would be possible but I just had an explosion in my kitchen. There are glass shards everywhere! I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash and it EXPLODED. Apparently this thing built up gasses or something because I'd put the cork back in the empty bottle. It looks like a terrorist just visited my kitchen. Don't put corks back in empty wine bottles unless you intend to take them out to be disposed of immediately.
This has been a public service announcement from someone who just cut her hand on broken wine bottle glass and now has to vacuum the kitchen floor.
Empty? No no. Take the bottle back to the liquor store and show them the defective bottle that burst after you re-corked it. They will probably give you a replacement.
Take it back? How? It's literally in tiny shards (and now in my vacuum cleaner).
Jill
Is it possible that a vacuum formed in the bottle and that it imploded? The weather conditions (Dennis and all that he brought upon us) might have caused something of which you are not aware. Some kind of air pressure or what not?
Have you ever heard of a Poltergeist? What do you really know about Persia and Peaches? Aha, that started you thinking.
I am sitting at the computer, waiting for you to tell us all about your Holter results.
"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... <snip>
Quoted message said:
There is no window in the kitchen. The kitchen was not hot. It was sitting on the floor by the wall away from the stove, away from the fridge. Just sitting there waiting for me to take it out with the trash. It's very odd (and Persia was no where near it, in fact, she just about jumped through the ceiling when we heard the explosion).
Jill
Well I think you've just solved the one part of the mystery. The fridge! What about the fridge? The condenser and the fan motor vent on the bottom of most fridges along with blowing hot air over the evaporation tray. I know it wasn't by the bottle but the amount of air the fridge puts out is a lot. Is the floor of your kitchen like a "U" shape with only 1 entrance?
Has you got an inexpensive outdoor thermometer? Put is where the bottle was sitting. Open and close the fridge or leave the door open for say 2 minutes. come back and look at the thermometer.
I suspect the bottle had some microorganisms in it and they blossomed after the bottle was re-corked. As the microorganisms grew, they generated gas, just like yeast does when it gets warm. The gas probably built up to a sufficient degree to pop the bottle.
And what would those micro-organisms be eating? Yeast eats sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, but it stops when the alcohol content gets too high or when it runs out of sugar.
They would be eating the remaining liquid in the bottle. Unless Jill thoroughly washed out that wine bottle before she replaced the cork on it, there was still likely an ample supply of food in it.
Quoted message said:
I am inclined to go along with the cat theory. If the glass is all on the floor and not on the counter it was probably knocked there.
The cat might be a possibility too.
I'm telling you, Persia was not near the bottle when it exploded! She jumped higher than I did when we heard the sound. In fact, at first I thought someone had thrown a brick through my glass-front door when I heard the sound. I think it's probably an odd case of the aforementioned microorganisms because I sure didn't wash the bottle. And possibly the bottle was in some way defective. And yes, the cork was one of those newfangled rubbery ones.
Something else must have been involved - any pressure build up would have pushed the cork out long before the bottle burst. Perhaps the bottle was defective. Do your kids have a BB gun <g>?
Just re-read her post.... and Jill said: "I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash"... she didn't say *where* it was sitting exactly... and then I remembered - Jill has them cute, furry creatures aka cats... maybe she should ask them a few questions?? 🙂 I know our cats have been known to cause mayhem and destruction in the past....
Very true... I have six cats and have learned long ago never to leave anything breakable anywhere where it could be caused to fall from any height to a hard surface... two of my cats especially derive great pleasure in hunting out things they can whack to the floor, the higher the item and louder the crash the more gleeful their orgasms. If that bottle was left on a kitchen counter you can be absolutely cerain Jill's cat whacked it to the floor... there is no such thing as a cat that will never leap up on a countertop... it's just that you may never catch them, a cat's hearing is about a hundred times more acute than human hearing, there is no way you can sneak up on a cat before it can hear you approaching and [soundlessly] leap back to the floor. Believe it or not cats primarilly hunt mice by sound (not sight), they can hear mouse foot falls and high pitched squeaks as easily as you can hear amplified rock music at a concert. The cork would have been popped from that bottle long before any built up pressure exploded the glass... Persia did it, no doubt in my mind, mystery solved. And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets... ironically wireless mice are particularly suseptible... first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for pickup.
"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
cathyxyz said:
Peter Aitken said:
And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets... ironically wireless mice are particularly suseptible... first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for pickup.
Sheldon
I have a cat who takes things OUT of wastebaskets; eggshells, soap boxes, corn husks, globs of hair that I remove from the shower drain (I have long hair), twisties, you name it. I find it. I usually either smell it or step on it. But he loves getting on my bathroom counters and playing with my contact case and my husband's brush. I have a devil in that cat, I swear.
Something else must have been involved - any pressure build up would have pushed the cork out long before the bottle burst. Perhaps the bottle was defective. Do your kids have a BB gun <g>?
Just re-read her post.... and Jill said: "I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash"... she didn't say *where* it was sitting exactly... and then I remembered - Jill has them cute, furry creatures aka cats... maybe she should ask them a few questions?? 🙂 I know our cats have been known to cause mayhem and destruction in the past....
Very true... I have six cats and have learned long ago never to leave anything breakable anywhere where it could be caused to fall from any height to a hard surface... two of my cats especially derive great pleasure in hunting out things they can whack to the floor, the higher the item and louder the crash the more gleeful their orgasms. If that bottle was left on a kitchen counter you can be absolutely cerain Jill's cat whacked it to the floor.. Persia did it, no doubt in my mind, mystery solved.
Except the bottle was on the floor and Persia was sitting next to me here in my office at the time of the explosion 🙂
And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops
Quoted message said:
indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets...
Which one? (just curious, wondering if it might be Jilly heheh)
ironically wireless mice are particularly
Quoted message said:
suseptible... first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for pickup.
"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
cathyxyz said:
Peter Aitken wrote: > >
And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets... ironically wireless mice are particularly suseptible... first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for pickup.
Sheldon
I have a cat who takes things OUT of wastebaskets; eggshells, soap boxes, corn husks, globs of hair that I remove from the shower drain (I have long hair), twisties, you name it. I find it. I usually either smell it or step on it. But he loves getting on my bathroom counters and playing with my contact case and my husband's brush. I have a devil in that cat, I swear.
Yep, got a few of those garbage pickers too... one will eat the styrofoam meat trays, have put those into the big trash can in the garage right away.
"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
kilikini said:
"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
cathyxyz wrote: > Peter Aitken wrote: > > > > And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets... ironically wireless mice are particularly
suseptible...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for
pickup.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Sheldon
I have a cat who takes things OUT of wastebaskets; eggshells, soap
boxes,
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
corn husks, globs of hair that I remove from the shower drain (I have
long
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
hair), twisties, you name it. I find it. I usually either smell it or
step
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
on it. But he loves getting on my bathroom counters and playing with my contact case and my husband's brush. I have a devil in that cat, I
swear.
Quoted message said:
Yep, got a few of those garbage pickers too... one will eat the styrofoam meat trays, have put those into the big trash can in the garage right away.
Ah, I forgot to mention the styrofoam meat and fish trays!
"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
rmg said:
Was it one of those newfangled plastic or rubberish corks??
Are you playing Twenty Questions or do you have some point to make?
Sheldon
I was just thinking, since an earlier poster said laboratories use corks in certain glass containers specifically because they prevent the containers from exploding under pressure, that the cork must not have been doing its job, or that perhaps if it was one of those new-type non-porous corks, it might have acted differently somehow.
And cats don't just whack stuff off countertops indiscriminently, I've got a cat that takes particular joy in whacking really good stuff from bathroom vanities and desk tops into wastebaskets... ironically wireless mice are particularly suseptible... first time it happend I got lucky and noticed it in my wastebasket, wastebasket is now on the other side of the room... I just know I lost my favorite stapler that way. Anyone who has cats it behooves them to check wastebaskets carefully before puting the contents out for pickup.
Sheldon
I have a cat who takes things OUT of wastebaskets; eggshells, soap boxes, corn husks, globs of hair that I remove from the shower drain (I have long hair), twisties, you name it. I find it. I usually either smell it or step on it. But he loves getting on my bathroom counters and playing with my contact case and my husband's brush. I have a devil in that cat, I swear.
kili
Oh, I've found rib bones from the trash in the living room. I have never caught him at it but I think that James Moriarty is the culprit. My cats are 10 years old now and less prone to mischief now. They have knocked over numerous potted plants (always newly-watered - why is that?) but never a wine bottle.
When I worked at a university, one of the secretaries got some bottles of champaign from her boss, probably from graduation. She had them on a shelf at her station and after a few hours they began to pop their corks. It was sort of funny, wine all over in this office.
I never thought such a thing would be possible but I just had an explosion in my kitchen. There are glass shards everywhere! I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash and it EXPLODED. Apparently this thing built up gasses or something because I'd put the cork back in the empty bottle. It looks like a terrorist just visited my kitchen. Don't put corks back in empty wine bottles unless you intend to take them out to be disposed of immediately.
This has been a public service announcement from someone who just cut her hand on broken wine bottle glass and now has to vacuum the kitchen floor.
Jill
Jill, your luck has not been good lately... first the burned biscuits, now this. Don't operate heavy machinery in the near future, because it could be hazardous to your health and whatever you do - please don't buy any lottery tickets!
Hope that hand wasn't too badly cut and you'll find all the glass shards before your kitties do.
"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
I never thought such a thing would be possible but I just had an explosion in my kitchen. There are glass shards everywhere! I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash and it EXPLODED. Apparently this thing built
Now you know why the guy from Sideways doesn't drink [censored] merlot.
"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
I never thought such a thing would be possible but I just had an explosion in my kitchen. There are glass shards everywhere! I had an empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be taken out to the trash and it EXPLODED. Apparently this thing built
Now you know why the guy from Sideways doesn't drink [censored] merlot.
Really? I don't remember the movie explaining that way. Some people like Merlot, some don't - and he didn't.
"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
sf said:
Scott Robins said:
"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
> I never thought such a thing would be possible but I just had an > explosion in my kitchen. There are glass shards everywhere! I had an > empty bottle of merlot from last week, sitting, corked, waiting to be > taken out to the trash and it EXPLODED. Apparently this thing built
Now you know why the guy from Sideways doesn't drink [censored] merlot.
Really? I don't remember the movie explaining that way. Some people like Merlot, some don't - and he didn't.
What the heck is Sideways?
Jill
It's the movie I think I told you about where the two guys go up to Napa Valley for a wine tasting tour. It's a dark comedy and I loved it!