If you aren’t familiar with the Cinco de Mayo celebration, it is a celebration of the defeat of the French, by a much smaller Mexican army, back in 1862. The battle was the Battle of Puebla. It is celebrated by people of Mexican heritage along with most of the United States. It is very evident by packed Mexican restaurants on May 5th every year. I’m almost positive that most of those celebrating this occasion are clueless as to why Cinco de Mayo is a celebrated holiday.
In fact, Cinco de Mayo has become very popular in the United States and has become one of the largest days of beer and wine sales in the U.S., thanks to promotion by the beer and wine industries. In Mexico, the lack of a big deal with Cinco de Mayo may be in part to the fact that a year after Mexico’s big win, France came back with a larger group of soldiers and defeated Mexico this time.
Puebla holds parades and festivals in honor of the time that they defeated a much larger group of French soldiers. They hold these activities each year. They even do a re-enactment of the battle, so if you are ever in Pueblo, Mexico on May 5th, it could be a day filled with entertainment possibly worth going out of your way to see.
Honestly, my husband and I usually don’t go out for Mexican food on May 5th. It’s not because we don’t like Mexican food, because we love it. It’s because we are aware of the crowds we will have to contend with if we go out to dinner that evening.
Our Memorable Cinco de Mayo
The Cinco de Mayo that I remember the most happened many years ago. Maybe five years ago. Phil, my husband, and I were home from work and I had not yet started dinner. Phil was in the back of the house, watching T.V. on “his” giant screen T.V. I had changed into my jeans and was thinking about what it was we were having for dinner that night, as I looked through our mail. Junk mail and bills as usual.
I don’t think our smoke alarm went off but Phil became aware of the smoke in our bedroom. He went to the kitchen to inform me. When we looked closer it appeared the smoke was coming from the ceiling, right where it met the wall. It wasn’t coming from a vent, but there was clearly smoke where it didn’t belong.
911, what is your emergency?
We were unable to figure out what was going on, so we called the fire department. What do you say, when you have no clue what is wrong, but it’s obvious something is wrong? We had smoke, but no fire. The Ripon Fire Department came quickly since they are about a mile and a half from our house. They came with a firetruck and the medical aide vehicle and the police also sent a vehicle. Our court was full of emergency vehicles. I might add here, that my husband is a retired volunteer with the local fire department. So he knew some of the firemen that showed up.
We waited on the front porch for them. A few firemen came into our home to try to locate the source of the smoke. It was not visible from the exterior of our home. The neighbors gathered around to see why the fire truck was parked on our court, in front of our house. This was the first and only time the emergency vehicles were there because we called, usually, it is someone else that calls. The fire department employees seemed stumped as to where the smoke was coming from. Since it appeared to be coming from our attic, one of the younger guys was told to go up in the attic to search for the source.
OOPS!
The younger fireman was also not the thinnest of them all. He was new at this so apparently, he did not realize that you need to walk on the rafters, not the sheetrock. Or possibly he lost his balance. No matter what had happened to cause it, his foot came through the ceiling in our bedroom, as we all watched. With it came a mix of broken sheetrock and a pile of orangish insulation. Quite a bit of insulation. And we still did not know the source of the smoke.
As a note, after they left we noticed that there was also a crack in the ceiling in the adjacent laundry room. Fortunately, there wasn’t a hole that went through the ceiling there.
Seriously?
The brave firemen in our home went closer to the area where the smoke was. It hadn’t increased in size. The smoke was actually climbing up the wall of our bedroom from the floor area. It was in the exact area that my husband’s laptop case was located. When the fabric case was moved, it was soon realized that it was the source of the smoke. To us, and apparently the fire department, it was a freak occurrence. The battery in my husband’s laptop had been smoldering. The laptop was taken outside and the battery removed. The smoke cleared. It ended up being an expensive call for help. However, I’m happy it occurred while we were awake, instead of while we were sleeping. Then we might have had enough smoke to cause the smoke alarm to go off.
The fire department offered to pay for the damage to our ceiling. We never submitted a bill, since my husband didn’t feel we should.
Time to relax
Once everyone left our cul-de-sac we were faced with the task of dinner. We decided to go out to eat since it had been such a messed-up evening. Off we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, hoping to relax and get away from the mess that was still at our home. As we walked in, we noticed that the place was unusually busy. There was a bit of a line. It took us a few minutes to realize what was going on. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Oh my.
Have you ever had a catastrophe in your house? Something unexpected that changed your day, not for the better? It can happen when you least expect it. Comment below if something similar has happened to you. Maybe a water leak or someone drove off the road and into your house? I’ll admit a car coming into my house would be my worse nightmare. In our situation, we had never heard of computer batteries catching fire. Now we know.
