An Adventure on the Way Home

I had quite the interesting drive home from work this evening. Let me preface this by saying that I typically take the same route to and from home every. single. day. Unless of course I'm stuck behind the random horse and buggy or errant combine. Then I detour because I like to avoid confrontation. And by confrontation I mean waiting till it's my turn to pass.

Anyway, with that being said, this affords me the lovely opportunity to recognize things about the area. Like two houses on the way have matching lighthouse sculptures in the front yard. Or that little boy who gets on the bus always waits with his daddy. And sometimes his grandpa. I've even named the dog that will sometimes chase my car in the evenings. It's Butch in case you're wondering. (What can I say, it's a long drive.) Today I notice something very unusual. Smoke! Wrapping around someones house!

Now, being the wife of a firefighter I sometimes hear messages from 911 dispatch and scoff at those people who call in bonfires as out-of-control fires. So I slowed way down to inspect what appeared to be a fire and looked to see if anyone was around. With, you know, a purposeful look on their face and a garden hose at the ready. Nope, no such luck. There was literally nobody around and orange flames were curling around the base of the house.

I stopped (thankfully so did other motorists) and ran toward the fire. This was quite the surreal experience for me because nothing like this had ever happened before. I mean here I am with my car pulled over on the side of the road, getting out of my car, and running towards a stranger's house that happens to be on fire. By the time I got out of the car, some neighbors came out of their houses and came running. Someone called the fire department and other people began using rakes and shovels to beat the fire out. I started to help by grabbing a shovel but other people were able to get it out.

After I left (the fire appeared to be out...but the cause was unknown) I passed the fire department on their way to help. I'm curious to see if there was any more damage to this humble abode when I go into work in the morning! I was happy to see that no one was hurt and that it looks like everything was properly contained.

And yeah, as an aside...I totally realize that the color of some of the font on this blog is totally impossible to read. But, unfortunately, I can't for the life of me figure out where the option to change the font color is. So, if you can help I would be very appreciative!