Just Call Me Pyromaniac

[sheepdog 10]

Another really pretty day, bad weather in the near forecast, so I got my butt in gear today and decided to burn off my flower bed. It was a perfect day for it, not too cold, clear skies, and most importantly, little to no wind. My better half got an early start too and fixed the flat on the mower so I could mow along the flower bed and blow all the leaves and dead grass on it to burn too. I hauled a big cart load of empty dog food bags up there and strung them out along the bed so there would be plenty of fuel to burn. Wanted to make sure I killed out any lingering funguses that have been wrecking havoc on my zinnias. Anyway, it was going real well. We have a line of 4 outdoor frost proof water hydrants along the bed, and I started soaking the ground down on both sides of the fence when I started the fire so it wouldn?t get away from me. ( I still remember burning down half the county when we tried burning off our garden next door.)I figured I had the ground pretty well soaked, so I disconnected it from one hydrant and was moving to the next one down the line as the fire burned in that direction. I had no sooner disconnected the hose and drug it off that the fire jumped my wetted down row, and headed right for our van! I ran back and tried stomping it out, but that wasn?t working the best in the world, so I ran back to the first hydrant which I hadn?t been using and it had another hose laying by it for watering the dogs, of course, I had to hook up up since we have to drain them in cold weather, and even then it was about 10 feet too short. Talk about SCARY!! Fire was burning all around the tires, and trying to run under the van. We don?t drive the van anymore, but it?s a nice van, and all my winter clothes are still stored in it, haven?t had a chance to get them in yet, so I sure didn?t want to see it go up in flames. I just knew those old dry weather cracked tires were going to ignite! Scared the holy living daylights out of me. I finally got enough mist out of the too short hose on the grass to put it out. That was way to close for comfort! Anyway, the rest of the burn was uneventful, a good thing as I can only handle so much of an adrenalin rush at one time. Now I have to go back over and pull up some of the stalks that didn?t burn and reburn them, but that won?t take too long, and then get the old man to till it up for me. Now that may take awhile. If I get it tilled this winter, I won?t have to wait on him until spring is half over before I get to plant it back again. And this way I can lay up my extra decorations and stuff during the slower winter months to take up some of the room that I will have due to my lack of seed to plant it back.