TheBanyanTree: Corn Moon 2023

[dale.m.parish at gmail.com]

My girlfriend Judy's son's home burned a few weeks ago.  We were at my house
when he texted her "House on fire," and she texted back "Whose house," and
he replied "MINE!" 

 

We got there after the 2nd fire truck.  They had all been out in the pool
cooling off, when she went in to get something from the kitchen and Alexa
was blasting, "FIRE! FIRE! EVACUATE!."  The bedroom door was too hot to
open, and they called the volunteer fire department, but the house had a
metal roof, and the bedroom fire had progressed into the attic.  By the time
the fire department could get the roof cooled down enough to walk on and cut
a large hole through the metal, most of the contents of the house were
cooked or melted.  The structure didn't fail, but all the interior walls,
ceiling and some of the flooring was compromised.  They had been planning to
remodel the structure soon, so now they are going to get to rebuild from the
ground up.  

 

No one was injured (well, I got a cut leg plowing through a barbed wire
fence in the dark, but other than that...) and none of the critters were
lost.  She breeds Australian Shepherds and had eight -- four adults and four
pups who had been thought to be under the house, but they had evacuated to
the woods and came back after the commotion and firetrucks left.  She got
her finger monkey, Harold, the flying squirrel, out first hand. Barn Cat,
who's normally fed on top of the shop came out of hiding the next day.
Horses and cattle stayed away from all the smoke.  

 

They had a lot of friends, who came out of the woodwork to bring food,
clothes, camper trailers, storage boxes, etc. They are going to live in a
camper trailer parked between the old house and the shop while the old house
is demolished and plans are formulated for the new.  The swimming pool still
gets afternoon use to cool off and wash off the soot as they steadily go
through the remains to salvage what they can.  Electricity has been restored
to the shop and there are fans still blowing to push out the smokey smell.
Since I'm only a few clicks away and Judy lives on the other side of the
county, and had her washer go out the week after the fire, we've been the
washateria stand-in for the clothes they have accumulated.  This weekend,
they took off recovery to go on a Labor Day Weekend vacation that has been
planned since early in the summer, to New Braunfels, in an attempt to float
the Guadalupe River, but the first picture they posted indicated that the
innertubes were too thick in the river to ever go downstream.  Still, hope
that they are recharging their batteries.  Judy and I have been feeding the
critters till tomorrow while they rest up for the return to the grind.
Since her daughter-in-law owns an insurance agency, we expect that she'll
get everything that she said was over-insured, but she's meticulous on
photographing and cataloging everything both salvaged and destroyed.  

 

Judy and I will visit the Guadalupe next weekend, hopefully after all the
crowds have gone.  Looking forward to it.  

 

Hugs, 

Dale

--

Dale M. Parish                                   For All Of Mankind'S
Supposed Accomplishments,

628 Parish RD                                    Our Continued Existence Is
Dependent Upon 20

Orange TX 77632-0264                   Centimeters Of Topsoil And The Fact
That It Rains.

Dale.M.Parish at gmail.com                                           --Toilet
Stall Wall

409-790-2352