City Family Turned Country Family, Take 1

I always look forward to the first fire of the year, there is just something about that crackling fire in our wood stove that just makes my home really feel cozy!!!! We love sitting by the fire in the morning while we are working on our school work, it's just one of those "perks" of homeschooling, in our jammies, curled up with our history books and hot chocolate!!! Well, on this particular morning we had exactly that....a cozy fire, the girls were curled up in their blankets and reading away with their hot chocolate! Last year I had finally, after a lot of coaxing, convinced Marissa that she "wasn't going to die or burn the house down" if she added wood to the fire as it needed it. This year, I would regret that!!!! Anyhow, back to the story, I decided I would take this opportunity to take a shower since everthing looked under control (or so I thought). Keep in mind that although the living room is very warm this time of year the rest of our house is very difficult to keep warm due to some air flow issues (yes, we are working on that, along with EVERYTHING else). Ok back to the story, I came out of the bathroom and thought the hallway felt very comfortable. I then went into the kitchen which was also feeling a bit toasty!!! That is when I saw it....the wood stove, through the glass I saw the raging fire!!!! I must admit it glowed a nice shade of red!!! I said to Marissa "did you add wood to the fire?" she replied "yes and mom it's a bit warm in here don't you think?". Now, let me set the stage a bit more for you....we have been working on our siding on our house (replacing it that is) along with replacing most of the side of the house (that's another story) and as we are removing wood some of it we kept (2x4's), cut in a nice size and decided to use it for kindling...which we ALWAYS run out of (again, another story....I have a nice scar for that story). Okay, so you got the picture right??? VERY dry (30 years dry) 2x4's!!!! We all know how well those burn!!! If not, you will soon! Back to the story....I then asked her "how much wood did you put in there and what wood?" she replied "about 5 or 6 pieces of 2x4's all I could fit"!!!! Okay so we have a temperature gauge on our fireplace and it read 500 degrees (translation....VERY HOT). So, being that it's early in the season, things are not real wet outside so my concern (among other things) was that the chimney that went outside would catch the trees above it on fire!!! So, I continuously went outside to verify that we weren't causing a forest fire and inside to check the rising temp....now approaching 700 (translation....it doesn't go any higher, you can figure that one out). Okay, so to make this VERY long story shorter???? I ended up removing flaming pieces of wood, took them outside, buried them in the dirt and threw water on them. Meanwhile, my smoky the bear dog was nervously circling it as he always does with our fires (the ones we are allowed to do) and our new kitty was walking through it!!!! Our animals are a whole different story!!! So in the end, I was sending smoke signals and praying the neighbors didn't call the Fire Dept to save me!! It all worked out, but was just another story to add to my collection!!!!! Why is it I am hearing the tune "Green Acres" in my head right now??? Just another day in the life of the Dossers...city family turned "country family" or trying!!!