We came home from services and as we crossed over the creek we saw the sky glowing bright orange. We knew that our fairly new neighbor across the street had been attempting to perform a "CONTROLLED BURN" earlier in the day...In which the fire department was called and asked to come over because it had gotten a little out of hand. So, we knew it wasn't our house...or at least not yet.
But as we got closer, we were a bit alarmed to discover that maybe this guy was a pyromaniac. I'm not the best judge of acreage but I would have to guess (my husband would probably disagree) maybe 30+ acres on FIRE!!! Is that considered a "CONTROLLED BURN" when you have one man manning a brush fires of 30+ acres????!!?!?!?
We drove down the road and discovered our neighbors that live behind our home were all outside at their barn watching with a bit of concern as well. I doubt we all got much sleep last night. At the time the wind was blowing South(away from our house). But, the wind did change and began to blow North and it was an eery sight to see the flames were now working their way over the hill, now down to the road that divides our property. Jonathan's concern was that a tree would ignite and fall across the street, catching our property on fire. He spent most of the evening, until about 11:30pm with the water hose ,trying to kill the fire and wet the grass and trees down. SOOOOOOOO glad that we to pay that water bill! Numerous trucks pulled over to make sure everything was okay because like I said earlier it was Alarming and looked a bit out of control.
We did get the camera and video camera out for "DOCUMENTATION" just in case something were to go HORRIBLY wrong. Our crazy neighbor then pulled out of his driveway around 11:30ish and saw us outside and stopped to have a chat (I quickly hid the camera). He didn't seem to be concerned but it made us feel better that he was there and was awake and not sleeping. He then proceeded to ask us, "Do ya'll have a gun?" Jonathan replied, "Not on me." Then he said that he received word from the Fire Chief (he'd been checking in with him every 30 minutes...what a relief) that there was a woman who was being held hostage by her boyfriend...down our road....holding a gun inside her mouth and law enforcement had been notified. He apparently got scared and fled her house on foot and there was a manhunt looking for him. Needless to say, we decided to come inside and lock the house down...bring the dogs in... and Jonathan loaded his gun and placed it beside our bed. How do you think we slept last night?????
Good news is that God heard our prayers. We still have a home and we woke up to a usual Monday morning. However, I did wake up extremely nauseous around 4am. The smoke must have been seeping its way into the house and I felt like I was in the process of being poisoned. And, Jonathan woke up seriously tired. He wondered what heavy smoke can do to your body? However, Jonathan wakes up EVERY morning SERIOUSLY tired. So that could be just part of our usual Monday morning. :>)
Did hear on the morning news that they still haven't caught the boyfriend. I think I will proceed with caution and keep all the doors locked just in case. THE JOYS and ADVENTURES that come with living in the WOODS! :>) Anyone up for coming and staying with us for a weekend? ha. It is probably stories like this that keep our company level down.
