Fire

It seems as though most of my boys have some kind of fascination with fire. I am a city girl and although I know how to start a camp fire I wouldn't consider myself any kind of pro at it. When we first moved to Idaho we would burn our trash. In my entire life the closest thing to burning trash that I have ever done was throw my paper plates in the camp fire, and maybe an occasional plastic fork. Tyler told me that to get the garbage really burning you need to put a bit of gasoline onto it. He did caution me to put the gasoline on before I start the fire. Well our trash was pilling up and I decided to take the initiative to get it burning. I poured a little bit of gasoline on and started it. The trash wasn't burning as well as I thought it should so I decided to pour just a little bit more on. The flames were small so I didn't think anything would happen. Also, I should mention that I was pregnant with Ethan at this time and had Spencer, Austin, and Hailey standing there watching me. I attempted to pour just a bit more on but as soon as I had tipped the gas can and began to pour I hear a huge woooshing type noise. I look down and notice that the gas container is on fire. I sort of freak out and throw the container. It lands a short distance away in the potato field, the dirt was soft from being plowed recently and the soft dirt landing put the fire out. After this incident Tyler decided we should find a garbage service. When Tyler and I moved into Student Housing at the University of Utah we had stacked some food and boxes on the stove. Spencer wasn't quite 2 at the time and he turned the knobs on the front of the stove and we soon started smelling smoke. We discovered a box of ramen noodles on fire. In this same apartment I was pregnant with our third child and taking a nap on the couch. I awoke to the smell of smoke. Tyler was supposed to be watching Spencer but I guess he was a bit distracted by his computer. Spencer was trying to cook himself a cup of noodles but forgot to put water in. This fire was bad enough that we lost our microwave. A few years ago Tyler and I were Mythbusters junkies. We would watch every episode and love it. In one of their episodes they put some Methane in a bucket of soapy water, the bubbles then climb quite high and they take a small torch and the bubbles go up in flames. Here is a small clip of the episode A few days after we watched this episode I go out to the shop behind our house to tell Tyler that his lunch was ready and I see him with a large soda mug filled with soapy water and the acetyline tank making a huge tower of bubbles to light on fire. It also made a woosh similar to the one on mythbusters. He had to expirement a few more times before he would come in for lunch....lol A year ago there was a huge fire in the mountains not far from here. It was caused by lightening. Some of the people in our community had ranches and homes that were threatened. Tyler, the kids, and I all had to go right up to the very front line to check it out. When I got out of our car near the fire and could smell the rubber on my shoe melting from the spot I was standing on being so hot I decided perhaps we were a little bit too close. When Brigham was preschool aged I had him screened for speech at the district. They asked him "Brigham, if you saw that there was a fire inside your house, what would you do?" I listened intently wondering what he would say. He said "I would find more stuff to throw on the fire." This response concerned me a bit since I didn't really want our house to burn down. Good news though, Max started a dish towl on fire a few months back and Brigham came and got me to put it out. Another funny question they asked him was what you would do if a stranger tried to get you to go with them. He said "I would shoot them with my bazooka." LOL...don't worry we don't own any bazooka's. At the end of each school year we let our kids have a small bonfire and burn all of their school papers. I can always tell when they get to close because they will singe something. I think this last year Austin burned his eyebrows and eyelashes. He also started the gas can on fire. Yes, I tried to warn him, but sometimes they just have to find out for themselves. Here are a couple of pictures from the 2012 fire the first one is from our house.