Bad, bad, bad day in my neighborhood

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In some weird atmospheric configuration it was nearly 70degrees today.

In my neighborhood. One big house(well the unfinished tiny house, too). A barn. A wellhouse. A shed or three. Just us ones. No neighbors really.

Son-of-a-wrek says “Hey, Ma I’m burning that trash barrel, lots of flies around it”

I handed him the BBQ lighter and told him get it done before the kids come here after school. And proceeded to my nap time.

Before this, I realize I have a itchy spot on my back where I can’t reach. As I’m slightly a hypochondriac, I’m worried. I decide to look online. Bad idea, for me. I have Ivy look. She laughed, nothing is there. I feel something. I had her take a picture. I accuse her of not trying. I had the Lil’wrekker take it. She says, “Ma it ain’t nothing”. Harumph. I know a itch when I feel it. They always turn to rashes, on me.
I fear shingles. I’ve had the vaccine. I don’t know,can you still get it, anyway? Aaaaacccckkk. I hate my phobias.

Somehow, I nap. Til I don’t. I heard a biggish boom. Not nuclear level. But Ivy jumped up. Chihuahuas yapped. Cats dove up to the top shelf of my book case. Bayliss just looked concerned.
Son-of-a-wrek, hollered, “I’m alright!”
Well, crap.

The burn barrel is just for paper stuffs and food scraps we don’t want the pets or varmints to get to. No cans. No oils. No bottles. I prefer no plastic. I admit some gets in.

It blew a can of coke to the moon. I bet the flies left too.

Someone, I won’t name names, cleaned her car out Sunday. Apparently she had a coke can she never opened and put it in the trash with other junk.

When my blood pressure goes down I’m gonna praise her for not drinking that soda. She resisted. Good girl.

My back has just started to itch again.

On the plus side I had a nice treat for my snack. 'Cept supper was not satisfying. I got no pudding time with the kids after.

Bad bad bad.

(Scratch)

2

According to the CDC it is 90% effective at preventing shingles:

I like those odds (an old nurse, I live in fear of shingles).

I hope you really wanted that question answered and I didn’t just make things itch more.

3

Well, I just did feel a bit itchy. But I do feel better to know about the report the vaccine is so effective. Thx

4

Phew. People have been killed by aerosol cans burned as part of a trash pile, I’m glad to hear it was just a can of soda. Though come to think of it, I don’t know the explosive force of a can of soda, so it might be similar.

Back in the 70s, when people were even stupider than we remember now, our neighbor tried to light a trash bonfire by dousing it liberally with gasoline. That ended very, very poorly, but he survived.

5

When I was a kid, my dad told me to burn a pile of cornstalks. I decided to pour a bit of gasoline on the pile to make sure it caught. Then I thought maybe I put too much gasoline on the pile, so I delayed ignition.

Meanwhile, my dad thought I’d blown off my chore. So, he poured gasoline all over the stalks and walked away to let it sit. Then I went to light the pile, not knowing my dad had doused it. KABOOM I got knocked down but somehow was not seriously injured.

6

Experiment!

7

Somebody already did it for me!

8

Well, in an effort to preserve Son-of-a-wreks thin grasp on a reputation (:thinking:), I left out the part where used accelerant to expedite the burn.

Hey, it is wet trash, he was in a hurry.

He does have his eyebrows today.

Lesson learned. I hope.

(I think he used diesel fuel)

ETA, we found pieces of coke can on the drive way, a fur piece from the trash barrel.

9

Hmm, maybe not? I don’t think diesel is that combustible, but I could be wrong…

10

Maybe I’m wrong. I thought I smelled it on him. I’ll asked when he gets home.

11

I dated a woman here in Arkansas whose brother (I HATE brothers, but I digress) used diesel to burn brush. Perhaps it is a Rural Arkansas Thing.

12

We used to love throwing aerosol cans into the burn barrel. It livened up an otherwise tedious chore.

We would lift up the grate, throw the can into the barrel, drop the grate back on the top of the barrel, then back off a safe distance. The grate would keep most of the stuff inside the barrel.

Barbecuing on a charcoal grill was part of our Independence Day ritual, so we always had cans of lighter fluid on hand. It never occurred to us to try gasoline or diesel.

13

Now I know where all those spray cans went to, around here.

14

On my very first day here in Arkansas I witnessed a family outside of a mobile home all gathered around a burning couch. It was magical. As far as diesel fuel is concerned, I’ve seen people use it to burn out stumps here.

15

Yep. Burning shit in the yard is an Arky specialty.

It’s why there are massive burn bans by cities, counties an communities.

My own grandkids get way too excited and get marshmallows out everytime the trash barrel is burned off.

How many times can you scream “No! You’re not roasting marshmallows over a trash fire, dumbass!” ?

16

Sweet Jesus.

I’m gonna blow up a can of Pepsi this weekend. Gotta find a burn barrel.

17

A metal trash can will work.

I think.
YMMV

18

Pepsi is bad, m’kay?

19

The fortunate thing here is that soda cans are pretty flimsy and designed to be easily opened. Aerosol cans are sturdy and well sealed by design. :grimacing:

20

Remind me tell you about Mr. Wrekker and the stump burning year.