Connecticut: An Old Flame

Back when we lived in Connecticut, there was a wood burning stove in the family room.  Naturally, the ashes had to be removed on a regular basis and "dumped".  I mean "disposed of."  Now, as you can imagine, the task of cleaning the stove was a little messy but it was easy enough to do, so whenever it needed to be done, the ashes were placed in the appropriate bucket and set aside. 

  The pail of hot ashes was always placed in a certain place...away from anything combustible, to avoid fire, of course.  Remember, my husband, a fire fighter, was always careful about things like that!  He was actually fanatical about fire hazards.  And rightfully so.  I mean, come on...he was a "fire suppressionist."  (I once heard him refer to himself as that.  I like to use that word sometimes rather than "fire fighter".)

Are you ready?  Paint the picture in your mind.  It's fall.  The dried leaves are everywhere since our yard was very well treed...about 2 1/2 acres.  Now, way in the back of the yard was the garden.  Behind that was the patch of black raspberries that were used to make jelly.  Anyway, while I was at work one day, my husband, the "fire suppressionist", decided to empty the ash bucket.  What a nice guy, you say!  Giving the old lady a hand!

  He walked down to the garden and spread the ashes throughout the garden because, as you all know, ashes amend the soil.  He was in a hurry because he was going to meet his friend.  They were going hunting.  My husband loved to hunt!!  His nickname back then was "the Happy Hunter."  Meanwhile, back at the house... 

Yep...picture it...a raging fire...garden engulfed...trees ablaze!!  And, if it wasn't for the fact that my youngest stepdaughter drove by, we wouldn't have known about it!  How scary is that???? 

The Volunteer Fire Department arrived.  They all knew us, as it was a small town and my husband's family had lived there for years.  Pardon the pun, but "word spread like wild fire" and someone (thank goodness) knew where my husband was hunting so they went to get him.  Luckily, the house was unscathed.

 Oh, the ashes amended the soil, all right.  But A FIRE IN OUR BACKYARD...STARTED BY A FIRE SUPPRESSIONIST no less was not going to amend anything...especially all his friends on the FD!!!!  They teased him for years about that little mishap.  Poor guy.

Needless to say, there is a lesson here:  only empty the ashes after they're cooled...completely cooled! 

My husband and I laughed about this incident for years.  So, I guess it's really true what they say:


LIVE, LEARN & LAUGH