Things I have learned in the past two days

Do NOT let your husband empty the bucket of ashes!!!!!!!

Yes, Dear Mr. Myrtle started a fire outside our house yesterday after he emptied the bucket of ashes that I'd placed outside only a little earlier in the day and that had some hot coals in it.

Do yell "Fire" in the house, to get all volunteer fire fighters to respond to said fire outside the house. They did respond quickly.

Do NOT believe fires are obvious to 14 year olds. Said fire had grown from maybe a 2' diameter circle to over a 6' diameter circle next to where I plant my garden and my second son did not see it or the smoke which was easily seen from our porch.

OK, I'll give him a break. He'd set a grass fire in our lower pasture in early January after throwing a firework into our fire pit and thinking the pit wasn't hot. The rocket launched and set the pasture on fire and burned a 50' strip down the pasture. So instead of looking near the house he was looking at the fire pit area and trying to figure out where the fire was.

Do have your spouse and children become volunteer fire fighters. This is the third fire that has been set since we bought our property 11 months ago. Twice my Dear Mr. Myrtle and once by second son. This way they are able to put out the fires they start. Luckily for me they don't do it on the worst wind days, or we might not have a house left.

Oh, and for a good learning experience, I have to say I now have my new drivers license and will have a son most likely getting his learners permit tomorrow. When you allow your children to choose the time they want to start learning, instead of pushing them, they think about it and choose a point in time that they are ready to handle it. DS1 could have gotten his learners permit 2 years ago in NM, but didn't want to because he didn't feel he was ready. A month ago he started talking about finally wanting to explore the idea and today he decided he was ready for the written test. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

-Myrtle