Saturday, September 20, 2008

Shattering Saturday

There is no picture of the event I am about to describe, so you are going to have to use your imaginations. But first, a little story.

These are the glasses Mom uses when she drinks. Mom says everybody has glasses. Our glasses look ordinary, but Mom says they are special. How special?Mom says they are "Picardie" glasses, made in France and made by Duralex. Mom has had some for 30 years. Yes, that's right. Some of these glasses are 30 years old. Back when Mr Karate was in college and got an apartment with 3 other guys, Mom bought him a dozen and another dozen for herself.

How, you are wondering, does a glass last 30 years? Each of Mr Karate's roommates brought glasses when they moved into the apartment, but only Mr Karate packed his glasses when they moved out.

These Duralex glasses are tempered, that's why. Mom says they are made of the same stuff that windshields on metal machines are made from. This means the glasses are very tough and practically indestructible. They can get banged around, even dropped on the floor, and they won't break.

Unless.

Over time, if a glass gets bumped and dropped enough, the molecules inside rearrange themselves. And then one time, the merest little tap will cause one of these glasses to explode into a veritable army of squarish pieces that will fly everywhere.

Mom was emptying the dishwasher the other night, while she was making her dinner. She lifted one of these glasses out of the top rack, and bumped it gently against something. The glass shattered, sending little fragments in the dishwasher, on the counter, on the floor.... all over the place. Now these little pieces are not sharp like ordinary glass, and that's a good thing, but they are still glass and Mom had to stop what she was doing and clean it all up right away.

I, of course, ran like hell when I heard the sound.

Which is why you have to use your imaginations.

18 comments:

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

30 years is a long time to have a glass. We would have run too. ~S,S & C

Monty Q. Kat said...

O_O

Mr. Hendrix said...

whew! aren't you glad you aren't the one that bumped 30 year old glass Millie??? did you yell, "no bad mommy" like mine does to me when i break something?

Us4 Cats said...

oh we run when bad noisey sounds like that happen cause they make weird clangy talk-like bark like noise reminds us of woofies. does that makes sense, we are tired from talking like pirates our minds our kinda fuzzy.

meow!


wlk crew.

Nomi said...

Yep, I can imagine that ! Must haf been qwite a scene eh ? Well, if you had hung around you could tell us in gwafic detail.

seriously amused said...

That must have been scary for you!

Unfortunately, around here breaking glasses etc. are common because a certain someone is a klutz. (Yes, that would be me.)

J

Team Tabby said...

We woulda run too, Millie. Funny isn't it, but da kitchen is often the place where the sound of breaking glass occurs the most. Well, except for the day a bird ran into our window.

Mindy & Moe

Anonymous said...

Oh, sure. Where's the camera when YOU need it, Millie?

Mickey's Musings said...

Yup! I woulda run too!!!
Good thing it was your Mom that did that! Too bad you have no proof ;)
Purrs Mickey

Anonymous said...

Wows that is pretty scary! I would run like hellz bellz too!
My Momma has glasses that are goodness knows how old, they were given to her granma when she was married from her mother...
I think maybe she should not touch them now! EEKKK

V-V

meemsnyc said...

oh my goodness! That mist have been a nightmare for your mom to clean up!!! I'm sorry that your mom had to clean up such a large mess of glass.

The Island Cats said...

Wow...that's pretty interesting that the molecules change over the years and just a little tap can cause the glass to shatter! Must have been a big mess for your mom to clean up!

Wally, Ernie & Zoey

Lux said...

Well, it lasted a really long time, but man ... I'll bet that wasn't much fun to clean up!

Anonymous said...

That happened to me, too, with the middle bowl of a set of nesting glass bowls. I washed, dried and put it away in the middle of the set, and about a half an hour later, there was a HUGE explosion in the cabinet! There was glass everywhere, including in the silverware drawer two cabinets down!

Max said...

I can totally see it in my head and I can even hear the fun words that must have been said. I am really sorry that her glass that was nearly anteek broke...

Kimo and Sabi said...

WOWY - yer momma must be stronger than Mr. Karate!

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Ooops! Mom haf glass plates like dat and one day uncle Gilbert put a scoop of ice cream in one and it went POW! We all ran too.

Leslie said...

We can't keep glasses for even a short time. That is fantastic that they lasted so long. :)