Swampland:Smoke on the Water, Fire in the Sky: Mother's Day Weekend on ER

Smoke on the Water, Fire in the Sky: Mother's Day Weekend on ER

Posted: May 10, 2009

"No matter what we get out of this
I know we'll never forget
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky "
Deep Purple

"No good deed goes unpunished." Clare Booth Luce

"The shed is on fire!" my sister yelled as I picked up the phone at 4 pm on Saturday. From the back door of my house, I could see that the hillside next to the tennis court was an inferno. The tool shed, in spite of being soaked by the incessant North Alabama rains, had gone up like a match box. Flames were leaping as high as the surrounding trees.

With great difficulty I dialed 911 and struggled to talk with the operator while simultaneously screaming "Get the garden hose" and "Stay away from the fire." A few minutes later, the Clements Volunteer Fire Department arrived in a series of pickup trucks and flashing fire engines. Chaos reigned for the next two hours.

Just prior to the fire, I had been preparing beef stroganoff for a dinner party while my beau Randy mowed the lawn. Randy had parked my riding mower back in the shed and was cleaning up for supper when the call came from my sister that the shed was on fire. Apparently, the mower had combusted, igniting the shed and everything around it.

I quickly phoned our dinner guests to tell them to park next door at my sister's when my silver-tongued daughter, who was here with her husband for Mother's Day weekend, quipped, "Ask them if they got our smoke signal that dinner was ready?" After I hung up, my sister Peggy called again and I joked, "Come on over, we're grilling."

My sister arrived just as the fire department had extinguished the last of the blaze, and then immediately disappeared. When I asked my daughter where Peggy was, she responded, "She and Randy are viewing the corpse." And in the next breath she added, "Yup, that's John Deere. RIP." I was laughing hysterically. (Photo of sister Peg on the riding mower)

By 6 pm the fire fighters had departed, and the seven of us were sitting down to dinner. On Elk River no catastrophe interferes with a good time.

This morning my daughter wished me a Happy Mother's Day. I looked toward the charred remains of the tool shed and announced, "Guess what I got for Mother's Day? ". She quickly responded, "You're just so hard to buy for these days."

I wrote my son about the mower and the fire and he emailed me right back:: "No good deed goes unpunished." I know that for a fact. Just ask Randy.

---Penne J. Laubenthal

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fattymoon says...

The harmonica is to blame.

chi-chi says...

Never a dull moment!

Walt H says...

You couldn't have simply sent a "Deere John" letter? Seriously, though, I'm glad the damage wasn't worse or this could have been the setting for "Apocalypse Mow."

michaelbuffalo says...

Oh, and quoting Deep Purple? Now I know I love ya!

michaelbuffalo says...

What a story. Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Just like an Alabama girl not to let a shed fire and a burned up tractor put a stop to a good cook out and a bottle of merlot! LOL.

TeachBES says...

What more can be said??? I heard about a fire located on Blue Springs Road on the news, but I thought Nahhhh...couldn't be. I'm thankful it was just the shed and not one of your homes hit by lightning...my first thought. I'm glad you're all OK and you had a Happy Mother's Day after all. Love and huggggs to YA'LL. ; D

clements says...

Moweth the Deere "Nevermore"

pegfarlow says...

I surely will miss the old guy!!! We had some good times together! Sister Peg

PenneElk says...

Re: pig. Exactly what I was thinking. The incident reminded me of Charles Lamb's brilliant essay on the origin of roast pig :"A Dissertation on Roast Pig." But we have no more sheds to burn.

plutz19790 says...

A shame you didn't you have time to get the pig.

ruth whitten says...

And some people think all the action is on the Tennessee River! Seriously, I'm glad we had had all that rain so it didn't spread. Ruth Whitten

SouthPaw says...

How done do you like your Deere??

elkriver1 says...

Blazing saddles rides again!

CAFIELD says...

"Is it funny yet?" Of course, this is Elk River ! Comedy and tragedy was had by all. Loved it, Penne.

jlaubmd says...

Happy Mother's Day- (LOL)... If you wanted a new mower (or new shed), why didn't you just say so... Glad to see y'all didn't let a little thing like a fire interrupt an 'Elk River Saturday Night'...

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