Bottle + Drought = Fire!

Earlier today, we were woke up (late morning) by repeated doorbell rings, way more than door-to-door salespeople or even kids ring the bell. When we looked out the peephole, no one was there, so because of how many times it was rang, we peeked outside and saw our backyard neighbor coming from the side yard. She yelled: "There's a fire in your backyard! I've already called the fire department!"

I limp-ran through the house to the backdoor, rushed out to find a lot bigger fire than the last time I had a backyard fire! I grabbed the hose to reattach it to the faucet, while she said the fire dispatch said not to try to put it out. I replied that I had no idea how long they'd be, I had to at least slow the spread (there wasn't time for me to explain to her that I had minimum fire safety training back when I started working at the hospital, so I knew not to continue spraying water if it caused it to spread, like with an accelerant fire, or saw sparking like with electrical fires).

Meanwhile hubby is still putting on his shoes (I put my flip flops on when I heard the doorbell). I'd put out the flames close to the house, and had started on the tall flames in a different area by the time he came outside. He grabbed the hose from me and started on yet another flaming area when he handed the hose back to me and left.

A few minutes (or seconds) later, no more water came out the hose! I'm scream-babbling about where's the water, so he answered that he changed out the hose for the better, longer hose because the one I grabbed wasn't long enough (in my defense, the better hose was on the side of the house, not right next to the faucet where I started). The second hose did work much better and had a longer reach, which was great since by then the fire had spread to the neighboring field! I screamed again: "It's spread to the field - get the field!"

Apparently our awesome neighbor had run back around to her house, for she answered she was getting her hose over to where her property shared boundary with the field. She then yelled she thought the sirens might be the fire department. So I went up front to wave them to our house. By this time, I didn't see anymore flames in OUR yard, even though there was still many smoking areas (another thing I remember from my short fire training, as well as putting out my other backyard fire: smoking areas will reflame!) There were still a few flaming spots in the field next door though, so that trumped smoking areas.

As the fire fighters got out of of their truck, I told them we had the flames out in our backyard, but it was still flaming in the field, also we still had many smoking areas we couldn't finish off until we got the flames out next door. The head fire fighter had me show him possible ways to get into the field next door - they had re-fenced, so no more easy access using our now useless gate to the field, but then I noticed there wasn't any more flaming in the field, yay!

So me and the head fire fighter return to the back, and the other fire fighters were putting out the smoking areas in both our backyard and the neighboring field. Meanwhile we discussed how it might have started, but after I told them we hadn't barbequed in over a month, didn't smoke in the backyard, didn't have enemies or recent fights (see, I have been questioned by the fire department before, but this time they didn't get on their hands and knees and smell the ground for accelerent LOL). So they decided if we put the sprinkler out, moving it around every 10-15 minutes, we should be ok - watch it for another hour or so, which we did.

I'm guessing it was around 1pm when things slowed down enough for us to go inside to cool off a bit (thank goodness it wasn't in the 100's, high 90's was bad enough!) I drank 1 1/2 glasses of water while hubby said he was going to thank our neighbor and reassure her we were watching to make sure it didn't reflame, and I told hubby maybe he should drink a glass of water first LOL (he did).

Well that fire was a kick in the backside for hubby to finally get out the bigger yard tools he had hidden away in his scary shed I can't get around in. He had a power saw that's easier to handle than a chainsaw (which I'm not allowed to use), but bigger than a hedge trimmer. We took turns cutting down underbrush that had grown up. There's so much we couldn't finish it all before dark, with taking breaks because of the heat. I had to take breaks because my hands were tender, since hubby couldn't find my garden gloves he borrowed (they're found now, and will be used tomorrow!)

Later on, hubby told me he moved the small bottle outside in the middle of where he thought the fire started, so it wouldn't cause any more fire. I didn't even know it was out there, probably hidden under the underbrush. I just kept up my small exercise area and area around the picnic table - I couldn't get the lawn mower beyond my little areas.

Well last fire about 10 years ago, when the fire fighters were into arson investigation mode, we finally figured it started from a yard tool plastic wrapper left out, even though there wasn't a lot of underbrush back then. But it seems it's becoming a pattern now, so NO MORE clear plastic or glass in the yard, especially during droughts, or even just hot summers! For they'll magnify the sun's rays on the dry grass/brush and start a fire!

Big thanks to HFD Station 52! I'm deciding what I should give them as a thank you gift - I'm thinking fruit, since there's not as many allergies/sensitivities with fruit, and no big reports of food poisoning. Organic for sure!

Saffir-Simpson Scale OR Surge - Why not BOTH?

Houston's ABC Weatherman, Tim Heller, blogged:

[T]he National Hurricane Center has removed all references to storm surge from the Scale. I think they should reconsider that decision. Since the public is familiar with the Saffir-Simpson Scale, NHC should leave the Scale alone, but change how it is used: rank hurricanes based on the wind speed OR storm surge, whichever is the greatest threat.

Using this method, Hurricane Ike would have been ranked a category four hurricane based on storm surge.

It's Tim Heller's second post; I had already commented on his first post on this subject, but when he posted the above again -- clarifying that under the proposed new hurricane rating system -- Hurricane Ike would have been classified as a cat4 hurricane. I didn't fully understand that at first, so I commented on the original post again. Below is what I commented the 2nd time:

---

I commented on this post earlier, but didn't fully understand the "OR whichever's worse part", but Tim explained it again in the 2nd related post:

"change how it is used: rank hurricanes based on the wind speed OR storm surge, whichever is the greatest threat.

"Using this method, Hurricane Ike would have been ranked a category four hurricane based on storm surge."

I will explain why I think Ike as a Cat4 would have been stupid, and caused another Rita Evac mini-disaster:

I live in SE Houston, in Zone C, which is only mandatory evac for cat4+. I am well above sea level and did not get any water in my home during Ike.

But if Ike had been rated a cat4, our entire Zone C area would have been mandatory evac for no other reason than this new proposed method of EITHER/OR.

Need I remind ANYONE that more people died in Rita's evacuation than the area that Rita actually struck?

SURGE is for people close to the coast and large-connected waterways.

WIND is for people further inland.

With as much technology as the weather folks have, and most have very high degrees, I find it VERY difficult to believe that having BOTH surge and wind categories to be too difficult, especially when the occasional weird storm like Ike would cause unnecessary evacuations.

We need BOTH, not either/or.

Thank you.

What to scan for Emergency USB

An extremely well-written Katrina memoir includes a list of great suggestions to keep handy for bugging out. Most of those could be scanned and stored on an encrypted USB (or two).

LISTENING TO KATRINA - HYST - Documents

HYST = Have Your S*** Together

Take a peek at his entire memoir too. It's amazing he's able to write this so humorously about such a dire situation as Hurricane Katrina. But he pulls it off. Two pages prior to this page, he wrote about large populations trying to evacuate all at once. Been there, done that! Yes, I was in the Rita evacuation, and completely agree with him that bugging out/evacuating is dreadful -- we saw so many serious car accidents, so I really shouldn't complain, but it wasn't something I'd repeat unless my life were actually in danger, instead of possibly. More people died in the evacuation than died where Rita actually landed.

PS: We don't have a laptop, but hubby removed our hard-drive to bring with us during our Rita evac. Yes, we realized we couldn't just put it into any computer and have it run, but we would be able to access our saved files.

Storage order

My order for Walton Feed supplies:

• Pak-Main Course Pack


• Pak-Imitation Trial Pack (various TVPs)


• Pak-Soup Starter Pack


• Pak-Fruit Pack


• Mountain House 72 hour meal kit


• Case of MREs


• #10 Whole dried eggs


• #10 Butter powder


• #10 Non-fat milk


• #10 Sample Pack


• #10 Garden seeds


• 2 Blue 55 gallon water barrels


• 1 spigot


• 1 pump


• Aquamira water filter


• Aquamira replacement filter


• Wonder Junior Deluxe wheat grinder

Adding these items to my canned goods, dried beans, rice, powdered milk (grocery store), pastas, and 100 lbs wheat should be enough to get the two of us through a hurricane or quarantine, even if we have to feed others. I wish I was a better gardener, but I can still grow some food. I don't kill too many perennials at least, so there's hope for the Chaya and Chayote. And there's always Nopales, if I ever learn to make it so hubby will eat it 8^)