Our Latest Adventure

I thought I would give you an idea of what happened this afternoon, from the eyes of Andrew, our 9-year-old:

"WELL...... It has been a interesting afternoon we went to Paulette's again and did some transplanting and when we got back Mom went into the house and said that she smelled smoke just then Peter yield FIRE!!...
I ran out side and Jonathan came running to get the fire extinguisher and I'm glad he did.
Dad kept the fire in control while Mom, Jonathan, and I filled up some buckets and brought them over in the van.
When the buckets were empty we went back and filled up them agene. by the time we got back the fire was out.

Jonathan was the hero!!!

Love Andrew B.

P.S.
After Jonathan brought the fire extinguisher
over he had to lay down because he was
coughing so much. "

We have a burn barrel, and while we were gone, Jonathan decided to burn the paper garbage. By the time Peter, Andrew and I were back from transplanting at Paulette's health center the task was finished -- or so we thought. I had just gotten into the house when Peter discovered the dried grass around the burn barrel was on fire! Just as I heard Peter tell us about the fire, Jonathan ran in and grabbed the fire extinguisher.

I have two 7-8 gallon water carriers that I keep full at all times in case our power goes out, so I ran into the bathroom area to get them to take in the van. Andrew was outside filling some buckets with water, and Peter grabbed rakes and a shovel. By the time we got over there (it's located across one of our fields) Jonathan was laying on the ground and Jim had slowed down the progression of the fire with a fire extinguisher. We used the water to put out the fire that was burning around the perimeter of the burn area, and then Jim raked the burned area to make sure it was out. Whew!!

I was very worried about Jonathan, as in spite of not having a lot of ability yet to breathe deeply due to his lingering flu symptoms he had run at full gallop to the house to get the extinguisher, and then ran back across the field carrying the thing. No wonder he was laying on the ground; he was very winded. I had him get into the van and recline the seat so he could rest. He is fine, but tired. When it was all over we drove back home and debriefed on how we responded to the incident. I thought we all did well, but need to remember to always keep our garden tools (hoes, rakes, shovels, etc.) in the same place so when/if something like this ever happens again we will know exactly where to go to get them. Peter had to hunt a bit to find the rake, but thankfully he did find it. We will also keep at least one bucket of water handy in case a spark ever escapes from the barrel.

There sure are a lot of things to think about when living in the country! Even though the burn barrel was covered, something somehow was able to get out and start the dead grass on fire. From now on someone will stay over there until the fire is completely out. I'm so thankful that Peter spotted the fire before it got out of hand.

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I also want to report that last night at supper we spotted our first woodtick; the thing was crawling around on Jonathan's sweatshirt. Tonight when we looked at the window screen in the bedroom area we noted that we were being swarmed with mosquitoes! Not fun -- it's too early! I guess they too are part of life in the country.