The Lightning Strikes...

....and the thunder rolls...

We hardly ever open our windows. We get zero circulation inside our house, so if we open the windows usually it lets in the humidity, but the temperature doesn't change. It's great (not, really. that was sarcastic.). Well, tonight I thought I'd give it a try. It was raining and I do love rain. So, we were just enjoying the nice thunder storm with the windows open and, of course, just the world's loudest thunder had to come along and scare the pants off of my daughter. We were still calming her down a few minutes later when I heard sirens getting really close and loud and almost annoying, but then thankfully they turned off. Then a minute later some loud trucks pulled into the parking lot outside. I threw up my hands - just threw them right up - and went to close the windows. Apparently that's another reason why we never open the windows. It's so dang loud outside! Then, that's when we smelled the smoke. And noticed that the big, loud trucks outside? Yeah, they were fire trucks. And no less than three of them. All of the sudden our whole little loop was abuzz with big yellow raincoats and big black galoshes running here and there twisting nobs, hooking up hoses, climbing up ladders. It was all business. Serious business.

Dave has no interest in such things, but my curiosity won't let me leave them alone. The fire was apparently a building away. We couldn't see it, just the ladder truck that was spraying water over the rooftops somewhere in the direction. So, I grabbed my camera and went over with the rest of the neighborhood to see what I could see.

There were fire trucks from all over the place! Seriously, like five or six, and more coming. They just kept coming.

Do these guys look young to anyone else? Maybe they are training. Maybe that explains why there were so many of them. The place was crawling. They sure look cool in their outfits though. (Outfits?)

See, check out this guy. A camera phone? Have you never seen a fire before? You are inside a fire truck. And really from where he was sitting, I'd be surprised if he could see more than a little smoke stack. Posterity. They need to see these things. Thank goodness for camera phones.

So, it turns out... that world's loudest thunder that I mentioned before? Yeah, it hit our neighbors house a couple of buildings away. A little girl from Evie's dance class's house. And so the melee. They were just about to move out, but all their stuff was still inside. And it wasn't a huge fire, but I'm pretty sure everything in or near that residence was soaked to the bone. In a building like that, I would guess that firemen, er... firefighters don't like to take chances. Actually, they probably don't take chances anyway. I'm just saying that not only are there sprinklers inside, but those guys, they watered away at the place for four hours. Four hours. Not only is everything inside wet, but it's probably all pruny too. But all the people are safe. Don't worry, I wouldn't make jokes if everyone wasn't safe. Sad, but safe.

That could have been my house. Even though I don't smoke, I don't own a barbecue, I unplug my iron religiously, I clean out my dryer vent (well, pretty well at least), I don't play with matches... that could have been my house. And the lightning strikes...

And the thunder rolls.
(forgive the cheesy lyrics. it was Dave's idea.)