Fire, fire, burning higher

I almost proved Hubby right. I nearly burned down the woods while I was burning off some brush and briars at the edge of the woods. It's far easier(and MUCH more fun!) to just set the unsightly crap on fire and let it go. Fire clears everything in its path.

Boy, does it ever! This sucker went up, fast, turning everything in its path into a smoldering mass of blackness and scaring the living crap out of me in the process. Ever hear a fire just take off? From one flickering little leaf to a blazing inferno in 10 seconds flat. It makes this huge "WHOOSH!" sound and feels like it's sucking every last bit of oxygen out of the surrounding atmosphere. For a moment I stood there dumbstruck, admiring the flames and asking myself "Oh hell...what did I just do?" I had no idea it would catch so fast! I've been trying to burn off one of the pastures since last fall and I practically have to keep feeding it handfuls of dried grass and doses of gas just to keep it going. I figured this brush would be just about the same...everything has been SO wet lately.

Apparently, not quite wet enough.

When the fire at the edge of the woods went "WHOOSH!" the only thing I could think was "If I can just get this side stopped, the creek and the drainage ditch will stop the rest. It's a little bigger than I wanted to burn, but, hey, it needs done, too." A little bigger is about an acre, maybe two. Not a small area and all wooded with plenty of dry underbrush to keep the fire gods busy.

Of course Unruly is running back and forth near the house yelling at me "Are you trying to KILL US MOMMY? ARE YOU!?" I sent her to grab a bucket of water and she brought back the dog's water bowl with maybe a half cup of water in it. It didn't do much to quell the flaming beast, but hey, it was a start. I managed to get a couple of buckets of water on the worst side and put the fire out before attacking the other sides with a shovel and rake.

Yes, I contained the darn thing, finally, but not before I wondered how the hell I was going to explain to Hubby that his admonition of "Yeah, famous last words," to my assurance "Don't worry honey, it will be fine, it's not going anywhere," before I started burning almost came to fruition.

I knew he wouldn't let me live it down, I knew I'd have to listen to his "I told you so's" on an almost endless track.

I was right. He told me so. Over and over. But at least I didn't burn down the WHOLE woods. Just a little bit. Next time, I'll bring the fire extinguisher.