Burnin' Down the House

Momma didn't raise no fool.

We finally found the source of the smoke.

A friend came over this morning and before I could even say anything about Saturday night's excitement, SHE could smell the smoke. She just happens to be married to a fireman. I explained to her that the firemen came out twice Saturday night and both said it was a fireplace from another location. We then phoned her hub and he explained more of what the other firemen said. Ok, so we both felt better.

The guys came by to buff out and put another coat on the wood floor upstairs. Sherrie and I were gabbing when one came inside and said "Mam, do you have a hose? Your mulch is on fire." --just as calm as could be! Our eyes must have jumped out of our heads! WE all ran outside and there it was. In the corner where I have been sleeping for the past week, mulch smoking like all get out. OMG! We got the hose hooked up and started dousing it and even more smoke came out. Well, you better believe I phoned 911 this time. (I don't know if I mentioned before, but the fireman in charge Saturday night didn't seem to like how I had phoned the firehall instead of 911.)

They arrived, I explained three times must be the charm because they were the third firemen to come out and we had finally found the source of the fire. They dug the mulch (which was put down about two weeks ago) and found that the mulch had covered one of our landscaping lights -- dun dun dun, the source of the heat. Our saving grace was that the base of our house is brick. It has been smoldering for at least three days! Today was a little more windy which explains why it had spread even more. (Oh and PS, did they come barelling down with lights and sirens? Nope. That's saved for 2:00 in the morning. Go figure.)

Are we not the luckiest people in the world? At any time, one of those bushes could have gone up. Do you think the firemen would have seen that? Fireplace from another location, my *$*&#$!

So, maybe tonight I will be able to get a little sleep. I swear, it's been like sleeping right next to a chimney, no smoke but a lot of smell. I have even been burning my Lampe Bergers in there to get rid of the smoke smell. Well, of course, rule of thumb, if you smell smoke, there is fire. Don't even let the firemen talk you out of that lesson. Geesh.

I tell you, after the firemen left, I called the company who put the mulch down and gave them a good talking to. They came right out and fixed that light and even threw some fertilizer down on the lawn, hehe. That better be a freeby. I told them they had better walk around and make sure no other lights are covered with mulch. Gee whiz. Looks like the one holly bush will have to be dug up too. It's charred all over the bottom, so I can imagine it's a goner. (No wonder the robins went across the street! Mine were on fire!)

I don't know if you can see the charred mulch in the picture, but it was RIGHT up against the house and burned all the way out to the holly's trunk, about the end of the picture to the right. Lord. We are so fortunate!