...aaaaand since that last post, I haven't written in almost a month. The past few weeks have been super busy, but also, I haven't been inspired to write since then. Until our near-death experience, that is.
Ok, let me back up. We are all fine. Near-death may be way too strong an adjective, but it could have been near-death if just one little thing in our scenario was different. It could have been just plain old death, but we won't dwell on that. All mammals in our household are alive, well, and healthy.
Let's back up to buying this house earlier this year. We immediately fell in love with this unique house built in 1970. It met our needs more than any other home we had looked at, and had some cool bonuses, like a pool and some high-end upgrades.
The previous owner clearly put lots of time and love into her landscaping here. It's absolutely gorgeous and quite self-sustaining with just a little care and maintenance. I was excited to become the new caretaker for this beautiful yard.
There was only one primary problem with the landscape - a completely dead 25- to 30-ft cypress tree had been choked and taken over by errant wisteria vine. The house had been empty for over two years, so there's no telling exactly HOW dead that tree was. We knew it needed to come down soon, as it stood right next to the corner of our fence. Earlier this summer, we severed the wisteria vines that were attached to the tree so they'd have some time to die before we took down the tree.
And then my dad died. Not because we took down the wisteria vines...that was just bad timing. And then we had a massively long heat wave. And my sister and I had to figure out a schedule to visit and help my mom. Life has been more crazy that usual.
In early August one Sunday morning, I was sitting on the porch staring at that dead tree and mass of dead wisteria vines. I was becoming obsessed and worried about it catching fire in this heat wave and killing us all. I hand-watered the mass of dead wood regularly, but it wasn't enough. That morning I thought I'd just saw off one more branch before it got too warm out. Anyone who knows me knows that I am bad at stopping at project once I've started something. Thankfully, Brooks walked by inside the house and saw me outside hacking away at a big dead pile of wood, probably barefoot, which is my usually MO. Definitely gloveless. He came out and helped me get it the rest of the way down. Obviously, our calculations and combined lack of physics knowledge meant it ended up in the pool instead of alongside the fence.
We and our son spent most of that Sunday breaking down the tree and cleaning out the pool. Since then, we'd cleaned up some of the branches, but had left a very large pile of dead leaves and branches stacked in the corner. 6 feet of cedar stump was also still in the ground. It was still a big fire hazard, and the heat wave hadn't let up. So, just last weekend, we broke down and cleaned up all of the loose dead branches and leaves. We filled the bed of our pickup with logs and branches to dump later and also filled 6 or 7 jumbo yard trash bags with debris. Except for the bare stump, the dead tree and wisteria branches were gone...we were much safer from fire, and rain was forecast for later this week! I even managed to save a few cannas that had been buried under the branches.
Tuesday night, we went to bed early, maybe 9:30. About 11:15, I woke from a deep sleep to Brooks yelling something. Our fence was on fire! I peeked out the French doors in our bedroom, and sure enough, that corner was FULLY ablaze. Our backyard was lit up like daylight! The sound of crackling wood woke Brooks up - he thought it was raining outside! It took me a minute or so to register what was happening. I said I'd get the pets, our son, and friend, and Brooks called 911. Apparently, our neighbor had rung our doorbell a few times at the same time and called the fire department before we had. We didn't even notice someone at the door. I walked down the hall to tell our son and his friend we had a fire and asked them to get the cats in carriers. We also realized that we had one cat carrier for two fully adult cats. We'd figure that out next. I got Duke out of his kennel in our bedroom closest to the fire and put his harness on him. By then, the firefighters had arrived. A police officer had heard the first call and got into our backyard. He turned on our hose and started spraying down the flames. I was about to take Duke and the cats and put them in our car parked in the front of the house (never mind how that was going to work when Duke and Khosheck are not friends) when the firemen came through the front door. Before we found the car keys to take the animals outside, they had the fire just about extinguished. I changed course and put Duke in my office and told Anders to keep the cats in his room.
I hadn't realized until then that Brooks had thought to get in the VW and move it away from the fire to the street. While I had been scrambling to wrangle 2 adult kids and 3 fur babies, he found car keys, dodged flames, and drove through heavy smoke in the alley, barefoot and wearing baggy shorts and no shirt.
The firefighters sprayed down the flames a bit longer, still with our backyard water hose. The police officer and the firefighters commented how strong our water pressure was. Umm, thanks!? Thank goodness they DIDN'T ask why one of us didn't think to turn on the hose. Or grab one of the two brand new fire extinguishers we bought when we moved in here in May. Everything was happening so fast, and it was such a big flame...not one of us thought to fight the fire. Brooks thought to move the flammable car, which was right between the flames and our garage and house. He saved our lives. Anders and I thought to save our animals and ourselves. And before we even had a chance to think of putting out the fire, Richardson PD and Richardson FD had it taken care of. They did thermal readings to confirm we had no hot spots, swept up the debris from the alley, took a report, and went about their way. MASSIVE THANKS to the neighbor who called 911 and knocked on our door - I don't know your name or which house you belong to, but I've been keeping an eye out for you to say thanks. MASSIVE THANKS to Richardson's first responders for getting here quickly and taking care of business! Once I realized we, our pets, our vehicles, and our home were safe, I was able to stand back and watch you all be calming and professional while still joking around with us. We are new Richardson residents, and while we never want to need to call you, you were there when we did!
No, I did not take any photos until it was clear the firefighters had everything under control and we were all safe. The flames at first were quite large. I'll keep that image in my head for quite some time. It took a few hours to settle down and convince myself that dead tree stump wasn't going to spontaneously combust again. Near-death DID dance through my mind after the firefighters had gone, the house was quiet, and everyone was asleep. What if we hadn't chopped down the tree? What if we hadn't cleaned up the branches and leaves just a few days ago? What if Brooks hadn't thought to move the Volkswagen? That corner of the fence is next to our driveway and garage, so if flames had advanced any further, it would be the garage full of flammable vehicles up next. What if the neighbor hadn't called 911? Or Brooks hadn't heard the crackling dry fence?
I have learned in my ventures into self-discovery, sobriety, and counseling that I NEED to walk through the absolute worst possible case in any given stressful situation like this one. To keep calm and carry on, as they say, I need to imagine the worst thing that could happen, in as much detail as possible. And then I can truly see how insignificant and small this particular inconvenience is. So I spent a few hours sitting silently in the dark living room, one eye constantly scanning back to the now-scorched corner of our fence, as I imagined the absolute worst-case scenarios that could have happened. And then I peacefully went to sleep for a few hours at least.
The light of day the next morning was a bit shocking, but I had already been to the darkest place in my head. I was just fine - file an insurance claim, find a way to cover the hole in the fence to keep out curious kids, and find someone to repair the fence.
Here are the cannas I had just uncovered a few days ago.
And some more pics from the day after. I found an old tarp that my dad had used over an old BMW he'd been rebuilding and managed to tie it to the edges of the fencing. Good enough to keep curious kids from trying to climb in for a swim at least.
When we first moved in, we used the tall, dead cypress tree wrapped in green and happy wisteria vine to remember which driveway was ours on the alley side. Since we took down the tree, we'd missed that. And our driveway a time or two. Now it's SUPER easy to find our driveway!
Yes, I could let myself focus on my fear of that tree bursting into flame actually happening. Premonition? What does it MEAN? Are we cursed? Is the house cursed? Can I see the future? No. It means that we had a very dead tree and a very hot, dry summer. My imagination came up with a very real and possible situation based on context clues.
It does mean my family needs to have some family emergency meetings - something we haven't done since the kids were in school and they had home safety projects at school every year. After we had a dryer fire in 2007 in the 2-story house we owned in Little Elm, we were a little more aware of fire safety, but memories fade. We need to review what to do with the animals; know where the fire extinguishers, first aid kit, flashlights are; know where to meet. And also unstick several windows - something I discovered this week when our AC was out but it was in the 70s. Only a few windows open. We were very lucky this time, but we weren't very prepared. We had all the right safety stuff, but didn't use any of it! As a side note, if you choose to sleep, shall we less, immodestly? Make sure you have easy-to-put-on clothing right next to the bed so you don't have to stumble around in the dark trying to find the neck hole of a dirty t-shirt from the floor and then try not to trip as you hop around shoving one foot in some leggings you tripped over while simultaneously looking at the sad-eyed dog trapped in his kennel only yards away from the licking flames of death.
Meanwhile, Brooks is leaping through 6 feet of flames to slide across the hood of my Dad's VW SUV Dukes of Hazzard style and expertly maneuver it to safety through the smoke-filled alley of death, his bare chest and arms sweaty and smeared with soot. Oh, wait, sorry...I didn't mean to slip into trashy romance novel there for a second. It must have been all the handsome men in uniform in my back yard...certainly NOT the pool party with a bunch of firefighters I had imagined previously....
I digress.
So yes, it could have been a near-death experience if any one of a number of factors happened differently. But they didn't. Except for perhaps a few cannas and probably a few bugs, we didn't lose any living things. I suspect that strong-as-heck wisteria will regrow after we trim it way back for the fence repairs.
Now begins the very boring and annoying, usually expensive process of vetting service providers...because of course the tankless hot water heater has a leak, and the AC has a significant leak when it's running. I am very grateful to be asking for recommendations and hiring service people this week rather than being in the hospital or worse with my family or trying to find a new place to live.
After all, life itself is a series of near-death experiences over and over. Why do people jump out of airplanes (a firm NO) and ride motorcycles (heck YES)? Sometimes that little tinge of fear and moment of panic is my memento mori. Near-death reminds me to swing WAY back to the other side of the spectrum and LIVE while I am still here.
By the way...it started raining on Wednesday. :-D
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