And to add to the fun, company. The Mama of House #2 stopped over for the evening. Chewed the fat, and the brownies, for the evening.
As we were walking her out at the end of the evening, shivering in the chilly air, we smelled something odd in the air.
"It stinks out here," she said.
Walt Kowalski said, "That's a fire, but that's not our fire. We burned sweet smelling apple and cherry wood. That smells like something bad."
Something bad that shouldn't be burned. Someone burning something they shouldn't be burning in the cloak of darkness.
"That's wire," Walt Kowalski said. "Look, through the trees. Next door at the abandoned house. There's the fire."
The house on the next lot over has been abandoned for over twenty years. There's a hole in the roof that grows every year. We think that's where some of the wildlife are living. The Scooter Gang in the neighborhood has looked inside and in the windows. They say it's full of furniture. Someone just walked away from it.
Sad, but no project I wanted to undertake.
Recently, there's been a flurry of activity around the house. Rumor has it there was someone interested in purchasing the house. We've seen lots of traffic to the house, but very little repairs. The brush around the house is high. So high you can *just* see the top of the house. 20 years is a long time to let a house sit. Nature will take over and it has.
Just this past week, we heard pounding coming from the house. Wow. Someone is fixing up the house. Pounding all day. Then, a shipment of supplies. Shingles! GREAT! More pounding. they are repairing the roof. It's s start.
So imagine our surprise last night when we saw someone at this house having a fire after 11pm on a Monday night. Wow, I can't believe they are working this late because there is no way they are living there yet. We looked and watched. Lots of flames, no people, no voices. Strange.
It was a clear and calm night, but it's also been dry. An unattended fire in the middle of the forest is not a good thing. We put our shoes and jackets on and walked down our driveway and up the lane to the house. No trucks or cars in the driveway. Nobody around at all.
Large flames behind the house. The weeds around the house were too big for us to get back there. We were not dressed to walk through weeds and poison.
Walt Kowalski was mad. We might have fires that extend past the "legal" burning hours of the township and become recreational fires, but we never leave our fire unattended and always have a fire extinguisher or garden hose close. Our fires are always in the big, deep fire pit or the patio pit with a lid. Everybody in the neighborhood is responsible about their fires.
The smell of this fire also made us think it wasn't a planned fire. The last I saw someone at the house was around 4:30pm and Walt Kowalski was outside splitting wood until 6pm and didn't smell a fire.
Two choices. 1. This fire was accidentally set and is getting larger. 2. This fire was intentionally set and abandoned.
Neither options were pleasant. The second option made us angrier than the other. We are trying to improve this neighborhood, not burn it down. No way I could sleep with either of these options just yards away.
"Make the call," Walt Kowalski said.
"But I don't want to make the call!" I said.
"Make. The. Call."
"Stupid fire. Stupid remodeling. Stupid new neighbors."
Beep. Beep. Beep. "Hello, emergency services?"
They came. Sirens and lights blaring. I am thankful for volunteers who don't mind leaving their warm beds to save the day. I wonder if they put their protective gear on over their jammies?
They brought a medium sized truck, a foam truck, two chief pick-up trucks, and an ambulance. With the foam, the fire was out in a few moments.
The lights lit up the neighborhood. Apologies neighbors if the lights woke you. Not a good welcome to the neighborhood.
Never a dull moment at the Cat Ranch.
WOW! I'll be curious to find out if it was accidental or intentional. I hope accidental, if one can hope for a fire...?
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