My apartment building caught fire yesterday.

I was taking a nap when a neighbor pounded on my door, yelling “Fire! Get out!”. I rushed outside.

Thankfully no one was hurt (although my cat was quite vexed), but there’s now a rather sizable hole in the ceiling of the living room (I’m on the top floor). Between the smoke damage and the water pouring in, I suspect the place is pretty much a total loss. So much for the book collection.

Still, silver linings: I have renter’s insurance, and as some here may know, I also have a rather substantial gun collection. They were in multiple safes, and not harmed in the slightest. I would have lost tens of thousands had they been destroyed. The police didn’t want them in the building under the circumstances, though, so asked if they could take them down to my SUV for me to secure somewhere else. That took a couple of hours, since I couldn’t help and they ran the serial number on every one of them.

I’m crashing at my sister’s for the night. It could have been far worse. It was just stuff.