Will loves to clean out the fireplace. He loves to take it from messy and full of ashes to swept nicely clean. We have a fire almost every night and anytime Will has an extra ten minutes, he cleans it out. This morning was no different, except I wouldn't let him do it because we went to church. After church, Will gets the trash can and cleans it out. He took the trashbag and put it in the outside trash. A bit later I notice the outside trashcan is smoking. I go out, lift the lid and sure enough there is a small slow fire with papers and the ashes. Apparently Will (in his autistic mode) didn't notice the heat of the coals or ashes and just scooped them up. I turned the hose on and checked with the local fire department to see if there was anything else I needed to do. I was told to turn the ashes into mud and fill up the can. And to call back if there were problems. He kinda thought it was funny, so maybe this happens fairly often. Of course, Steve was at work, so he missed it! AGAIN! Like just last week when the boys opened a second story window and hung out of it while wearing hard hats.
And just an FYI:
The Portales Fire Department has a response time of five minutes or less to my house.
The Roosevelt General ER only needs to ask me which kid it is anymore.
The Roosevelt County Sheriff's department knows not to leave their trucks anywhere near the boys and we have already had a lengthy chat about what constitutes criminal mischief.
