This little aloe plant was gifted to me by a wonderful lady whom I share a work place with. In the few different places that I read about aloes, most of them recommend a wide shallow pot for the aloe. So, I took myself out to Lowes on Friday the 13th (March 2009) and found this pot, saucer and cactus potting mix.I cleaned it all up Friday night... woohoo BIG Friday night... and assembled. Here's to hoping that the little guy grows.
Ok, so the story goes like this...
Anyone who has ever been near a sudden ignition knows that there is a whoosh just before the boom. The whoosh is the air trying to get to the source of the boom. Fortunately for me, I know this and was able to get partially turned before the boom engulfed me. No real damage, just some burnt hair, some cooked flesh (all of which is healing with no scars) and some badly bruised ego. To this day, I am thanking God that it was no worse than it was. I was tremendously fortunate. And, BTW, if someone had been available with a video camera, I would probably still be viral on Youtube.
Now, for the reason behind the whoosh --- boom. I have been meaning to get out in the back yard and clean up the felled brush, raked up pine straw, last year's Christmas tree, etc. This, of course, means making a small pile and burning it. Let me pause and make this comment... gasoline and pine straw (even if it is soaking wet) is a very combustible mix indeed.
Let me further set the scene with this bit of information. I quit smoking a couple years ago, so I have no lighters, etc laying about the house. I also quit taking the Birmingham News a couple months ago, so I have no real supply of combustible paper products around the house.
A couple of tries with wadded up paper towels and kitchen matches only served to frustrate. So, I say to myself, Self, you have a bunch of stuff to get done today, you had best get at it. I then proceed back up to the garage, fetch the can of gas (back of my head screams that this is a bad idea, I shush it with, I got stuff to do today, it will be alright) and head back down to the pile.
Now, I proceed to pour said accelerant onto the pile. I walk away a good 50 feet with the gas can, would not want it to catch fire. I put it down, walk back and lean down to light the spot where the gas trail stopped. Yup, what little wind there was, switched 180 and picked up right as I struck the light and whoosh --- boom. I know enough to slam my eyes shut, stay ducked down, turn and walk away from the fire.
As soon as I had walked far enough that my back was no longer hot, I was able to open my eyes and begin feeling about my body for signs of damage. Fortunately, I was dressed as if I were going to work, so I had on fire retardant clothing and a baseball cap. All of this kept the singed hair to a minimum... bad stinky, but a minimum. My lips, tip of my nose and right cheek caught the worst of it. But, no real swelling, discomfort, charring or blistering. Thank God, I was very fortunate that day... That day, of course, was Saturday a week ago.
To make matters worse, I now had a much larger fire than I wanted, so I had to stay put to ensure that it did not get out of control. I was not able to run in the house, do an inspection and begin the treatment option until about 45 minutes after the boom. Fortunately, it was not as bad as it looked and the boom, as booms go, was pretty tiny. Matter of fact, to anyone not in it... it probably sounded more like a woof.
So, armed with all of that information we can now progress to Monday morning at work. The first question was, predictably... "What happened?" Insert previous story here. Then comes the... "You should have put aloe on it." Insert commentary on how my previous aloe met its demise just a short while ago. Now... "Would you like a cutting from one of mine?" Answer... of course, I would.
So now, I have a new baby aloe planted as appropriately as I can muster to forever remind me that I was a dumb@ss. ;)
Thanks Diana, I do appreciate it.
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