The weirdest thing that's ever happened at the 7MSN Ranch

It was Wednesday morning around 6:45. I had just taken a shower and dried my hair in preparation for a long, boring day of meetings in town. As I was walking out to the kitchen to make coffee, I thought I smelled smoke – and not the wood smoke that's been in the air from the Arizona wildfire. This was a different kind, not quite electrical smoke but something along those lines. Hmmm.

All of the pictures below were taken the next day, in my attempt to re-enact the scene.

I sniffed my way around the house and couldn't locate anything amiss. 

But every time I walked back into the bedroom, I smelled smoke.

I checked the hair dryer I had just used...nothing on fire there.

I headed for the open front window to see if the smell was coming from outside.

The chickens were busy eating their breakfast and didn't seem to be concerned about an impending barbecue.

Me: Daffodil, do you smell smoke?

Daffodil: Now that you mention it, yes, I think I do.

Me: Smooch? Smooch, are you in there? Stop staring out the window and tell me if you smell smoke.

Smooch: Did you say smoked? As in bacon? Bacon bacon bacon!

Me: Smooch, I'm serious here. What's that smell and where is it coming from?

I pressed my nose against the window screen and didn't smell smoke outside.

Then, as I was walking back the other direction, past the window seat, I saw it...

The window seat cushion was on fire! There was a little flame and a pillar of smoke, camouflaged by the filth on the window. 

I slammed my hand on top of it and quickly put it out.

 It was a tiny fire and I did not burn my hand, so don't be thinkin' I did something majorly heroic.

I could see immediately that a very bright beam of light was the cause of the combustion, so I closed the window shade as quickly as I could. Then I stood there wondering what in the heck was on the window that would cause a reflection hot enough to set the cushion on fire. I peeked behind the shade to examine the glass. Nothing but filth. I opened the shade. The beam of light came back. I closed the shade. Open. Close. Open. Close. You don't want to know how many times I did that trying to figure this out. Then I stopped looking at the window and glanced to my left.

Remember when you were little and you used a magnifying glass to cook bugs on the sidewalk? Or make wood-burned signs at Girl Scout camp? That is exactly what was going on here. The almost-summer-solstice sun, at the far north end of the eastern horizon, aligned with the magnifying side of the mirror, which was tilted at the precise angle to focus the beam of light and start a fire. Who woulda thunk it?

So then I took the seat cushion outside and unzipped the cover to make sure the stuffing wasn't burning, and it wasn't. Crisis over.

I don't think there's any deep meaning or moral to this story. It will just go down in memory, and on this blog, as the weirdest thing to have ever happened at the 7MSN ... so far.