Local housewarming

After a weekend of unsuccessful bird-watching, including a trip to Gladewater to seek out the elusive bald eagle, I was wandering aimlessly around Chez Melina last night when I smelled smoke.

Since I hadn't lit the fireplace for several days, I began to wonder if my neighbor had let her barbecue get out of control. But then I realized that my cats were acting nervous. I looked out the back window and saw something equally strange: a frightened raccoon running full-tilt towards the back fence. Usually the local raccoons and opossums look at me with disdain as if to say "You just think we're not getting into the cat food".

But the smell was not my neighbor's barbecue, because when I opened my front door, I realized that the house across the street was on fire. Not just a little on fire; seriously on fire. The back of the house was already consumed, along with the adjoining wood fence and a large tree. And I heard fire truck sirens literally the same second I opened my front door.

Of course, this sort of thing brings out the neighborhood, with the primary concern being that nobody could contact the couple who lived in the burning house. But the firemen didn't find anyone home, even the couple's dog, so it was assumed they had left town for the holidays.

Initially I was concerned about the sparks from the fire, which were being blown directly toward my house, setting my lawn or house alight. So I stood outside until the sparks stopped - all the time with my front door wide open.

The upshot of all this is that my entire house reeks of smoke, and even after a longish bath and hair-washing, I'm convinced that I reek of smoke as well. And I woke up with a stinking headache that I'm attributing to neighbor smoke (can't really call it second-hand smoke).