Playin' With Fire

When I got to work on Friday, this fellow was in my chair. Lookey, I got a date!

So today, we decided we should actually do some work around the house. I do mean around the house because I was inside, outside, under and actually on the roof at one point. (wanted to desperately to cry out 'I'm on top of the world!')

I have NEVER had so much fun with a leaf blower in all my life. We had one kid mowing, one raising cain over at the neighbors (two guesses, you won't need the first one), and the other two helping us. We got this huge pile of leaves together and I got to my most favorite thing this time of the year.....I got to start a fire. (insert high-pitched female sound of glee...)

This is while it was still small

Oh yeah baby! And on the first match, whooosh! Having been advised by my better (and often-times smarter) half to just do a small batch of leaves at a time, I got the joy of scooping, stirring and adding to this pile. (I now know where the phrase, 'stirring things up' comes from)

The boy came over to um.....er....help me some. We were told that we are just alike around fires. We both are fascinated and we both have to constantly poke at it. He, on the other hand, also likes to try to fall into them. And take my rake from my hands. And throw stuff in them. And tell Mom why she shouldn't be telling him no. (when you make the money, then you can tell ole Mom how to do things...)

"The boy must grow to be a man!"

We had so much fun! (childish glee inserted here as well) How much I love that smell of camp fire, burning leaves all in my clothes, hair and on my children. I sat sniffing his hair all night tonight. They all jumped in the leaves. We're looking around, there will be 10X's more leaves to fall before the trees are bare. How much fun will THAT be!


After getting things cleaned up..ain't nobody gonna believe this. Even the oldest couldn't believe it. I'm told to go up on the roof. (picture short little ole me standing by this ladder looking alllllll the waaaayyy up to the roof. gulp!)

Okay, must face fear to conquer. Up on the roof I go. Now mind you, the two of us installed our own satellite. He had down all the degrees and angles, I got to use the man tools and drill holes in the roof. Here we go again. Up on there, tighten some bolts. Put emastic (sp?) tape on wires and things. It was so funny....and sweet. I put my head right in the middle of it to look at something. He's all...."DON'T DO THAT! There's microwaves going through there.....!" Awww....he's afraid I'll fry my brain. So his last comment before he leaves me to do this is "Remember, what ever you do, don't put your head between these two things...I mean it."

Look closely by Bbug's elbow and you'll see Dink peeking up over the leaves

I tighten bolts, he and the kids do some things, he asks me if I'm through. Nah, I wanna clean out the gutters while I'm up here. (not relishing the thought of being so close to the edge with concrete that far away mind you) He says, "Hold on, I'll get you the leave blower."

Leaf Blower? For the gutters? You're handing me man tools? Alright! He gets to the top of this ladder and starts pulling the cord to start the thing. I'm trying not to be obvious that I'm holding the ladder so he doesn't fall backwards.

He hands me this and it was on! I have NEVER seen anyone blow out the gutters like I was doing. It even blew out the birds nest that was right over the downspout! I'm thinking to myself the whole time, I know my neighbors think we're wierd and rednecked, but how much more are their stories going to improve with this one!