Friday, April 25, 2008

Blaze of Glory.

This warm and sunny afternoon begged the Litton girls to come outside and play, and we happily obliged. While we were getting our dirt on, Poppy appeared, driving up in his backhoe. He stopped briefly to let me know he was going to do some work near the treeline on the back of our property. This made me happy because (a) it looks like crap back there, (b) Scotty would never have time to do this himself, and (c) Scott Sr. is a perfectionist, so I knew it would look pretty darn good after he'd finished. I mean, this is what he gets paid the big bucks for and how blessed are we to have such a profesional in our immediate family? Woo-woo! 75% of what's good/right/lovely on our land is due to him. So this is me, singing the praises of my father-in-law, whom I love dearly. And just so y'all know, he'll never see this so I'm not kissing booty here.


Moving on. After assembling a huge pile of various trashy items--NOT left by us, but rather from construction workers over the past few years--such as old siding pieces, plastic buckets, wooden crates, various construction castoffs, Debbie Cake wrappers (or to the unsouthern, "Little Debbie" wrappers), roofing shingles, bales of hay and Pabst Blue Ribbon cans (not ours--we have more discerning tastes) he asks for matches. I'm all, "Cool--a little fire. The girls will love this!" Less than 2 minutes after handing them over I begin to rethink my words.

The burning of redneck rubbish begins. Right next to a pretty Redbud tree. Oh well...
The previously breezeless day gives way to a bit of wind and the fire grows.
In less than 2 minutes we go from a little yard/rubbish burnage to towering inferno.

THEN, amazingly enough, SMOKEY (aka "The Smoke Monster") shows up. I completely disregard the climbing flames and begin searching for Ben. Darn him, he was controlling that thing the entire time. (And if this is Lost on y'all, too bad. You should be watching Lost!) I didn't see any flashes nor hear any clicking, so I'm certain my fate is safe. RIP Eko.


Meanwhile the Litton Girls decide they wanna catch this show sitting on the sidelines, totally heeding Mommy's incessant cries (yells) of, "DO NOT GO NEAR THE FIRE! POPPY IS NOT GOING TO DIE!!! THE TREES ARE NOT ON FIRE! YES, ONLY WE CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES! WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE ARRESTED! SIT DOWN!" And yes, the situation warranted all caps. Because as you can clearly see in the photo the girls were just as afraid as I. Ahem.

About 5 minutes later Daddy showed up and sprang into action, connecting a couple of hoses to the nearest spigot and getting his Volunteer Firefighter Action Figure on. He, too, was saying (not yelling), "Stay away from the flames, girls." Not in all caps, because he is calm like that. I suppose this stems from him being a physician and all...gotta maintain your cool in potentially frightening/stressful situations. Whatever.
Our blaze of glory was shot down in less than 10 minutes, and Poppy continued his work in the yard, completely nonplussed by the almost-out-of-control flames. He's a Young Gun. And yes, we've been singing the song all evening long...officially putting in our request for it on Rock Band.

7 comments:

Sarah P. said...

Have I told you lately that I love you? I can just hear your voice as I read your posts...I LOVE TO READ THEM!!! Glad you weren't the only one worried about the fire (ha ha). love you... thanks for the note the other day. Of course, my internet has been down but I woke up this morning and checked it and praise God it is working. Anyway...love hearing about you and the fam...miss you terribly.

Unknown said...

hawt.

Debbie said...

I am totally cracking up at the image of your FIL casually driving a backhoe down the street just to come and clear out a little debris. "Just thought I would do a little drivin to see my girls and do a little yard work." "Girls wanna make some smores? Lemme just start a little fire for ya. Oh would you look at that, the fire is ablazin. Put the marshmallows away and get the hose and some buckets before Smokey the Bear arrests us." "What else do you wanna do today girls?" "Oh, that's enough Poppy." That is how the whole thing has played out behind my computer while reading this...so very funny.

Unknown said...

I know all about the fire business. A few years ago, Bill cleaned out the fireplace and dumped the ashes in the woods and guess what...FIRE! He wakes the whole house up at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning so we could help. We borrowed water hose from next door and put them together and put it out! What a way to start a Sunday!

Ker said...

I wish I had known about the fire in advance. I have about 4 boxes of junk mail and statements that need to be shredded - a blazing inferno would be much more efficient. In fact, you have given me an idea. I wonder if it is illegal to have a contained fire in a backyard?? Hmmm...

Pinky Roth said...

Wow, what an adventure you had! I can just see you getting a little nervous about the fire and in rushes Scott to the rescue! I would have liked to have been there, but the pictures prety much made me feel the presence of heat...

Mom

Anonymous said...

I know I shouldn't be laughing...I'm sorry:D
I could picture it all & could see the fear in your little ones' faces...ROFL.
My husband's name is Scott, too. His dad has every attachment made for his tractor....and his dad is just like your FIL...a perfectionist. I love seeing him drive up to move around gravel and whatever else. Awesome.
Great pics of the fire...quick thinking getting those shots...glad hubby came home to water it all down before you got ARRESTED, though. :D