sarah's Arty Dreams

Thursday December 13, 2007

Well, yesterday I was in the kitchen finishing up the chicken and dumplings that I had started earlier in the day, the kids were home already from school and settled. For about 45 minutes I could smell wood burning, yet I hadn’t lit the fireplace, so I was really confused as to the smell. Opening the front door and walking outside, I was determined to find the chimney that the smoke was coming from because it was soooo strong, it smelled like it was coming directly from next door or my own. (neither of my neighbors has a chimney) So I was so curious!

I went back into the kitchen and could still smell the burning ….distinctly wood burning. I walked into the bathroom because one of my daughters has shown signs of being a bit of a pyromaniac so I was anticipating a small burn beginning somewhere. The bathroom wasn’t on fire….hummm…still hunting, hunting and sniffing like a dog around the house.

Making the chicken and dumplings, I used a whole cut up chicken and extra chicken breast, so that I only had minimal de-boning work to do…I hate that… plus little bones ALWAYS seem to get left in the pot…anyway, I took all the skin and bones and asked my artist daughter to put them in the bowl for the stray mother cat of the neighborhood. I started to unlock the back door and got a glimpse of a fire on the cement about 5 feet in width with flames almost reaching the top of the patio cover…that is wood by the way. The only way to describe is to show a picture. I couldn’t think, couldn’t speak.. I could only imagine my house going up in flames, I was in panic mode, and I was in ‘put out the fire’ call 911 mode!

I ran outside and turned on the back water, thinking the water hose was still there, but no..so I grabbed a bucket and yelled for the artist daughter to help me, we begun dousing the fire ….but it strangely spread out like a grease fire. All I could think is….who tried to burn my house down? We threw water on over and over…finally it began to smother… we took the water hose and soaked the hell out of the card board box that was on fire. Guess what box???!!!! The one that my husband plasma TV came in! *sigh

I found out the truth about the fire after drilling the kids as to who was playing with fire…as if I had to, I knew who it was. It was the pyromaniac that I had suspected. (RS for the record)

Just a week before I found a burn mark in my bathroom carpet and we had a huge talk about it, I guess it didn’t work so well. Again, she had lit a toilet paper roll…and thinking that it was out, she UNLOCKED the backdoor, TOSSED it out and RELOCKED the door. The fire was spreading because we had fire wood stored in a plastic container at the back door. The plastic had melted and when the water hit it, it spread like grease. I am going to start looking for fire hazards around the house but needless to say, it was preventable.

Roof of back patio...


Melted disgusting mess.....I told my husband he should have torn that cardboard up and threw it away and he denied all charges....

Another angle at the mess...jeez.