Wooleyes Wire Service

[Yardbird47@aol.com]

Microwave Disaster in Hooksett (NH) Shop
On the morning of 4/1/95, Fire Dept. Units and Animal Control Officers were
called to Ed Bordeleau's PianoArts Shop in Hooksett N.H., following a mishap
with his new institutional-size microwave oven. Assistant Eric Ostman
explained, "We were just warming up the two gallon glue-pot for one of our
naugahide jobs, you know the complete case make-over. There was kind of a
loud burp, and the next thing we knew, the entire inside of the house reeked
of sewer gas and the outside was surrounded by barking dogs and drooling
seagulls. The time buzzer never went off. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but
we're praying for week of good weather so the building can ventilate and the
perfume on our customers' pianos can decay."
Lab tests confirmed the Fire Marshall's initial suspicion that the relay
switch involved had been gummed up by the condensation of volitile proteins.
The manufacturer of the refrigerator-size microwave said that these units are
not intended for use with certain animal components overly rich in organic
materials (for instance, tripe and liver). It's not immediately clear how
this will affect Ed's insurance coverage for the clean-up.
Bordeleau however, looks on the bright side. "If the methane gas generated by
the vaporization had ever ignited, we'd all just be one crater by the side of
Whitehall Road." Ironically, earlier this year, Bordeleau had demonstrated to
a meeting of the N.H. Chapter, Piano Technicains Guild a smaller microwave
unit's ability to warm up the previous day's animal hide glue. Admitted
Bordeleau, "I guess we just let the technology get out of hand."