The Great BBQ Fire of '06
For those of you who don't have ebenbrooks friended, I should report that we had a barbecue this weekend. The food was great, the company was admirable, and the damage to the house will take a few weeks to mend. We cooked pork chops, chicken thighs, carne asada, and the rear wall. Luckily the fire didn't have time to spread into the attic, as the fire chief told us, because it would have gone up like a torch, probably getting bad enough to take a good part of the house with it.
Don't trust BBQ's up against the house. This one was original to the house when Eben bought it, but the wooden cabinet enclosing the grill only served to hide the flames licking away at the siding. We probably would have caught it a lot sooner had that cabinet not been there. Well, now it's a pile of lumber on the deck after the firefighters tore it to pieces and ripped out the siding, so it shall haunt us no more. Here's some pictures.
As grateful as I am to our neighbors for helping to alert us to the fire (smoke coming out of roof vents and such), I suspect that they only made the damage worse by jumping on the roof and shoving a hose down said vents. Water poured down out of the light fixtures in the kitchen, as as some may know, we've had some issues with moisture damage in the recent past. Now we have three industrial fans and two dehumidifiers in our kitchen and dining room for the next three days. They make a prodigious roar so we'll be spending a lot of time downstairs and outside me-thinks.
The scariest part of the whole ordeal was catching Tessa-Bella (who is happily, and safely, blocking my view of the computer screen and vying for attention at this moment). The front door was open and people were running in and out of the house. Eben scooped up Hannah and dumped her in his car, but as soon as Tessa realized that we were trying to catch her she ran around avoiding us. Then she almost made it out of her carrying case once we had her outside. I really felt a huge surge of adrenaline/panic at the thought of all of the people and fire trucks scaring a confused Tessa into running so far away that we couldn't catch her. Dad didn't help my manic urge to protect my baby when he left the front door open this morning. She was out on the porch and ran from me when I tried to catch her. Lucky for me she scampered back into the house. The house could be burnt down, but if my Tessa-Bella was lost from me forever I would be heartbroken.
I've spent the day at home cleaning, gardening and herding insurance adjuster, inspector, and flood control people around. I don't feel too bad taking the break from work as it allowed me to be supportive of my Mew. We didn't get around to cooking the buffalo-burger patties. I suppose we're just going to have to have another BBQ!
Don't trust BBQ's up against the house. This one was original to the house when Eben bought it, but the wooden cabinet enclosing the grill only served to hide the flames licking away at the siding. We probably would have caught it a lot sooner had that cabinet not been there. Well, now it's a pile of lumber on the deck after the firefighters tore it to pieces and ripped out the siding, so it shall haunt us no more. Here's some pictures.
As grateful as I am to our neighbors for helping to alert us to the fire (smoke coming out of roof vents and such), I suspect that they only made the damage worse by jumping on the roof and shoving a hose down said vents. Water poured down out of the light fixtures in the kitchen, as as some may know, we've had some issues with moisture damage in the recent past. Now we have three industrial fans and two dehumidifiers in our kitchen and dining room for the next three days. They make a prodigious roar so we'll be spending a lot of time downstairs and outside me-thinks.
The scariest part of the whole ordeal was catching Tessa-Bella (who is happily, and safely, blocking my view of the computer screen and vying for attention at this moment). The front door was open and people were running in and out of the house. Eben scooped up Hannah and dumped her in his car, but as soon as Tessa realized that we were trying to catch her she ran around avoiding us. Then she almost made it out of her carrying case once we had her outside. I really felt a huge surge of adrenaline/panic at the thought of all of the people and fire trucks scaring a confused Tessa into running so far away that we couldn't catch her. Dad didn't help my manic urge to protect my baby when he left the front door open this morning. She was out on the porch and ran from me when I tried to catch her. Lucky for me she scampered back into the house. The house could be burnt down, but if my Tessa-Bella was lost from me forever I would be heartbroken.
I've spent the day at home cleaning, gardening and herding insurance adjuster, inspector, and flood control people around. I don't feel too bad taking the break from work as it allowed me to be supportive of my Mew. We didn't get around to cooking the buffalo-burger patties. I suppose we're just going to have to have another BBQ!