Fun Facts about Flour

Leslie,

So the other night I was cleaning up after dinner.  Baker and Cousin were sitting at the dinner table, front row witnesses to me dropping the flour canister.  Which I had just refilled the night before.  And over-tightened the lid, so it wasn't actually sealed.  In short, I had half a bag of flour all over my kitchen floor.  And my counter tops.  And in the grooves of the cabinets.  And in my hair and on my feet.

You know those times when you're so surprised at your surroundings, that you get the giggles?  Yeah, that happened.  I just stood there, laughing, as flour snowed down around me.  And I kept laughing.  The dust settled, and I was still laughing.  It was getting weird.  Baker recognized the signs that I was in shock, so he prompted me.  "Maybe you should clean that up, Crystal."  I told him I didn't know how to clean it up, and Baker suggested the vacuum.  Which made me laugh.

But, you know, I was at a loss so I just followed Baker's instructions and began vacuuming up the flour.  Then, barely audible over the whooshing vacuum, I heard this conversation.

Cousin:  Hey, so, isn't flour extra flammable?
Baker:  Yep.  ...  Crystal.  CRYSTAL!  Turn off the vacuum before you catch fire!

Gahhhh, what?!  Baker explained that one tiny spark of electricity and the whole vacuum could explode.  I was inadvertently conducting a high school-boy-type experiment in my kitchen.  I sent Baker and Cousin into the other room so I could clean the kitchen the old-fashioned way (broom, mop) and they spent the rest of the night youtube-ing flour explosions.  Hilarious.

Still cleaning the kitchen, Crystal