Blog Catch Up

Keep forgetting to write about this until after I sign out...
Last week there was a really strong smell of smoke in the house. I freaked out and went from room to room - checking the dryer, candles and lamps (anything that might cause a fire). Finding nothing I checked outside thinking maybe one of the neighbors was burning something. Nothing there either. Then I saw it.

What appeared to be three houses down on the backside of our property (next street over on the city block) there was smoke rising. The conditions were really dry and I was worried that a brush fire (what I assumed at the time) could easily spread to our house. I stationed myself by my trusty hose prepared to do action should the flames spread. I would protect my home, kids, and scrapbooks of course.

It ended up being a serious house fire about 6 houses up. When the firetrucks arrived the smoke started billowing and blowing directly at our house. I moved the kids inside because I didn't want them breathing anything toxic.

At that point I had a serious talk about fire safety with my three year old and we did a fire drill running to Mr. Snider's tree. I must have slightly freaked him out, because when I decided to throw the kids in the stroller to go check things out - Ryan began to bawl and beg me to take him to Mr. Snider's tree...

Evidently the homeowners had insulation blown into their roof that day. The fire started in the attic shortly after the company left... hmmmm.... Don't know anything final or accurate but that was initial speculation.

In the aftermath of all of this here are my realizations.
#1 - My family is completly unprepared for emergencies.
#2 - I need to backup my files more often and store them off-site
#3 - Thanks to Andrea I realize that my garden hose would do little to stem off a raging fire.
#4 - My husband cares nothing for our possessions because he laughed at me and told me to let it all burn so we could get the insurance money for the house instead of selling it so we can build. Men...