BURN

Is there anything better than gathering a giant stack of debris and setting it aflame? Hmmm, maybe only doing it legally, calling the Fire Dept and saying "yeah, so I'm going to set a pile of dead trees ablaze today, just an fyi." And they say "great, just have it out by 4pm!" aaaaahhh, country life. It just doesn't get any stranger than this.


I set the pile up in front of the old town fire engine control panel out back. My dad and I found it a few years ago at the dump--clearly, it had to come home with us. This was the first burn my mom and I attempted without him. I went to Ashfield Hardware for some kerosene. Nancy handed me an old Powerade bottle with KEROSENE scrawled across the label in sharpie. It was left over from the ice storm power outage, she said.



We put all our hoses together and ran them down the hillside and started the blaze. Good times! My mom singed off her eyelashes and I burnt a hole in my shirt. But there's nothing more satisfying than totally annihilating a pile of debris. Success!

PS: this just in--after 7 hours outside today in the (totally non-scorching) 48 º F sun, I am now the proud owner of a March sunburn (farmer-tan-style, all face and 1/2 neck and forearms). Boooo-ya! Of course, it could be a combo *actual* burn + sunburn....