Fire

3-26-13

No matter what problems I have, my neighbors have more this morning.

It was about 7 o’clock and the boys were out back on the swings. I went out to play with them a bit, and managed to injure Bobby in the process (he fell off the swing). But in the midst of his crying, we heard different wails.

Fire engines, and they were close. So close in fact that we then saw the lights.

The boys and I ran up front to the scene. Paramedics, multiple fire trucks and lots of activity. At first we feared it was the elderly great grandmother of Anthony. They didn’t go to their house, though. Instead, they went to Anna’s house which is next door. There was smoke coming from the house. The house was on fire.

The fire seemed to be contained in the back room, which resulted in the firefighters to have to go to the roof and cut in that way. They busted open the windows and sliced through the security screen door like it was butter. It was a terrifying few minutes trying to determine if the family was inside. Thankfully the family wasn’t home from work yet.

Anna showed up about 25 minutes into the ordeal. The fire was out by then, but the house was super smoky and there was cleanup involved. She was shockingly calm. She told me that luckily it did look like it didn’t spread past the back bedroom, but sadly, this was where her sister had been staying and all of her belongings were ruined. While we were talking, the fire chief then let us know that her sister’s cat had been found under the bed and had died from the smoke.

We were then worried about Kona, their little pup. Thankfully we found her ok. She had been hiding, but since she wasn’t in the fire room, she didn’t get the brunt of the smoke.

I took in Kona and gave her a bath since she smelled of smoke. We also had Anna’s kids come and hang out at our house. Jessie, Anna’s son, is a sweetheart. He is about 10, but he is like Bobby in his demeanor. He was very concerned and I ended up talking to him for about 15 minutes just about what had happened. He broke down crying when his aunt came over. Poor kid. It is a lot to deal with.

The boys and their kids watched a movie and Luna and Kona played a bit. Even Lucy was hospitable, making nice with the new pup. Jessie wouldn’t eat, but I did get him to accept a blanket while on the couch. His sister gladly had some dinner.

At about 10 when the movie was over, I let Ken know (he had been over helping Anna and her husband get things in order with the insurance people and helping them make arrangements for a hotel for the night) and the kids went to their folks and off to hopefully some semblance of sleep. It was a long night for all.

Kona is staying with us for a couple of days while the family regroups. Ken and the boys are home all day today, so hopefully they will be able to help out in some ways. The kids still have school this week, so this is good for Anna since it will be less for her to have to worry about while taking care of the house.

My day looks to be slightly tense since our offer on the house will be looked at today. I am crossing fingers, I am wishing on eyelashes and have called in every spiritual favor I have. If all goes well, our offer will be the golden ticket.

One nice thing about having all the kids in the house at night meant I was able to spend some time cleaning up. I had some kitchen cleaning to do anyway since one of the hoses on the washing machine came loose while we were helping next door. I came home to a flooded back area. Not too bad, thankfully, but just enough to encourage me to scrub the floor. LOL!

I also got my new computer yesterday. I didn’t expect it until tomorrow so I was quite excited. I got ambitious and opted to set it up myself. Sadly, I didn’t realize that I should have hooked it up to the laptop during the set up process. We are moving all of that data over and apparently it is easier to do in the initial set up process. Mind you, it isn’t impossible, just harder now. Either way, I am quite thrilled with the machine. It is really nice to have a fast Mac at my fingertips. I am loving their Magic Mouse, too. I look forward to having it all set up with the music and pictures.

I now will count down the hours until I get to go home and continue work on the house. I am in full packing mode. Now all I need is more boxes.