Rita clean up

21 bags of leaves, sticks and debris and I am finally done raking. It sure didn't look that bad! We drained to boat, the sand box, took the boards off the house and Todd moved the chiminea back and hung the swing. I am glad it was not too bad - geez! Also glad I have a son in law to help out when I need him.

There is a levee breach about 6 miles from us. The water is over the highway, people are on roofs begging for help. I have my scanner going and just kept worrying more and more. Finally, out of desperation, I had to turn it off. I went outside to survey the yard and pace raking again.

Then I decided to call Steve - I needed to hear his voice. Remember Rita is still blowing through the end of her fury. There is a hefty breeze still here... While outside on the swing chatting with Steve thousands of miles away, my wonderful back door neighbor lights a boiler under his patio by his door and WHOOOSH! The entire awning he had just built on the back of the house was lit like gas had been thrown on it! Even the plants and the eaves of the house were all engulfed in fire!

I told Steve FIRE! and immediately hung up and called 911. While I was on the phone with them, I remembered our fire extinguisher and ran back inside grabbed it and then outside with it in hand. By the time I got out there, his next door neighbor had brought his extinguisher and they were trying to put it out. The fire department arrived right away, and made sure the entire fire was out for good. Boy was THAT weird. I think that man has NO brains! Amazingly enough, and thanks to the OTHER neighbor, his patio sustained very little damage. Can you believe he was trying to put it out with a TOWEL... like flapping the fire? YIKES! He was actually FANNING it! This is not the first time this Einstein has done something stupid!

Oh, and yes I immediately called Steve back and told him it was our neighbors house - not ours on fire! I am sure he would have liked knowing that BEFORE I hung up on him :-(