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On the 4th of July this year, Terra had acquired some fireworks to play with at home. We took them out into the back yard and lit them off and watched the pyrotechnics as they were consumed. During the show there were two that didn't burn as intended. One the fuse went out and the other had the same problem, but we unwrapped it and ignited the remenants. After we finised we put the spent firecracker wrappers in a 5-gallon bucket. After about 1 hour I took the bucket and dumped the remains into the trash can. AJ and Brittney were down and we talked for a few hours then went to bed after the next day arrived.
Around 6:00 am the next morning, Terra could smell some smoke and looked around but found no source for it. Maverick noticed some smoke out the back door, and low and behold, both of the trash cans were reduced to melted plastic and the house was a little worse for the wear. AJ grabbed the hose that was next to them and helped extinguish the flaming remains. I assume that when the sun hit the cans the next morning the temperature increased inside of them until the remaining flamable material was ignited.
Some of the stucco was damaged due to the heat, there was smoke damage on the paint above the trash cans, and the vynal soffet was melted. This necessitated some repair work. I don't know that much about stucco so we contracted the stucco repair out, but we did the remaining repairs to the house.
I had Ethen help me perform the repair. He was to paint the house, and help me with the soffit. I have never built or repaired a soffit, but it didn't look that hard. I asked Karren to see if she could find me a roofing place the sold the soffit material, and she did, and ordered some that was close in color. The color was disconntinued, and she got all that they had left. The trim material color was already gone, so she picked up some cream colored soffit and Terra painted it and it came out pretty close.
Ethen was helping me, and one of his friends, Caden Barney, came over because he was "bored". Caden stayed around for a while then left. I asked Kyle to come out and take some photos of the repair, and he did. What I didn't know was that Ethen was posing for all of Kyle's photos. When I found all of these photos, I couldn't help but share. I hope that it is obvious to the reader all of the incredible help Ethen was. This should really be obvious by the photos.
The repairs actually turned out well. I was very suprised. I pulled out all of the nails, and used screws when reinstalling. I figured they wouldn't back out with expansion and contraction cycles and I could leave them tight enough to hold the material without smashing the extrusions all the way to the underlying wood sub-structure.
I can't think of anything to write here, so this is blank space.
In other news, Serra has has not only learned to walk and squawk, but she can also open doors. She has up until about 3 days ago just opened internal doors, but now she is expanding and can open up the front door and go for a walk down the street. She has gone for a couple now, but hasn't, so far, made it past the porch. And if you were wanting to know, she doesn't close the doors she opens. Some work is still needed.
Terra and I (and usually Serra) often go for a walk in the evenings. Not every night, but about 5 nights a week. The walk is relatively short, >1 mile, but about 30% of the time Serra will fall asleep on our walks. The other night we were able to see a nice sunset with the monsoonal moisture present. Terra took the photo and I include it here.
| On the 4th of July this year, Terra had acquired some fireworks to play with at home. We took them out into the back yard and lit them off and watched the pyrotechnics as they were consumed. During the show there were two that didn't burn as intended. One the fuse went out and the other had the same problem, but we unwrapped it and ignited the remenants. After we finised we put the spent firecracker wrappers in a 5-gallon bucket. After about 1 hour I took the bucket and dumped the remains into the trash can. AJ and Brittney were down and we talked for a few hours then went to bed after the next day arrived. |
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Around 6:00 am the next morning, Terra could smell some smoke and looked around but found no source for it. Maverick noticed some smoke out the back door, and low and behold, both of the trash cans were reduced to melted plastic and the house was a little worse for the wear. AJ grabbed the hose that was next to them and helped extinguish the flaming remains. I assume that when the sun hit the cans the next morning the temperature increased inside of them until the remaining flamable material was ignited.
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| Some of the stucco was damaged due to the heat, there was smoke damage on the paint above the trash cans, and the vynal soffet was melted. This necessitated some repair work. I don't know that much about stucco so we contracted the stucco repair out, but we did the remaining repairs to the house. |
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|
|
|
|
|
I had Ethen help me perform the repair. He was to paint the house, and help me with the soffit. I have never built or repaired a soffit, but it didn't look that hard. I asked Karren to see if she could find me a roofing place the sold the soffit material, and she did, and ordered some that was close in color. The color was disconntinued, and she got all that they had left. The trim material color was already gone, so she picked up some cream colored soffit and Terra painted it and it came out pretty close. | |
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| Ethen was helping me, and one of his friends, Caden Barney, came over because he was "bored". Caden stayed around for a while then left. I asked Kyle to come out and take some photos of the repair, and he did. What I didn't know was that Ethen was posing for all of Kyle's photos. When I found all of these photos, I couldn't help but share. I hope that it is obvious to the reader all of the incredible help Ethen was. This should really be obvious by the photos. |
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|
|
|
|
The repairs actually turned out well. I was very suprised. I pulled out all of the nails, and used screws when reinstalling. I figured they wouldn't back out with expansion and contraction cycles and I could leave them tight enough to hold the material without smashing the extrusions all the way to the underlying wood sub-structure. |
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| I can't think of anything to write here, so this is blank space. |
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In other news, Serra has has not only learned to walk and squawk, but she can also open doors. She has up until about 3 days ago just opened internal doors, but now she is expanding and can open up the front door and go for a walk down the street. She has gone for a couple now, but hasn't, so far, made it past the porch. And if you were wanting to know, she doesn't close the doors she opens. Some work is still needed. |
| Terra and I (and usually Serra) often go for a walk in the evenings. Not every night, but about 5 nights a week. The walk is relatively short, >1 mile, but about 30% of the time Serra will fall asleep on our walks. The other night we were able to see a nice sunset with the monsoonal moisture present. Terra took the photo and I include it here. |
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