Kentucky Hills Home - Real Life Lesson or An Exciting Afternoon

May. 4, 2009

Real Life Lesson or An Exciting Afternoon

Well, I had an exciting afternoon starting when Elizabeth called and said , " Mom bring a fire extinguisher quick the truck is on fire!" I grabbed the one in the laundry room and sent Anna for the one upstairs. I raced in the car to where the truck was on the side of our road, envisioning flames leaping from the truck.

Now you may ask, "Why was the truck on the side of the road?" Good question. It was sitting where it ran out of gas while Mark was driving it to work this morning. The girls were suppose to have put gas in it last night. Someone forgot.

Your next question might be " How did it catch on fire?" Another good question. The girls were trying to start it by putting gas in the carburetor. Mark has shown them how to do this ( you have to teach some "boy" things to girls when you have all girls) The girl, who will remain nameless, evidently wasn't listening too well. She didn't hear the part about not getting any gas on the air filter.

So, one of the girls is cranking the truck while the other pours the gas in and the air filter bursts into flames. Elizabeth yells to Miriam to get out of the truck because it is on fire. Miriam remembered that we had a fire extinguisher in the van, which is parked a few feet away ( I knew that would come in handy one day!) They unload the extinguisher but it is still smoking. This is where the phone call to me comes in . When I get there they spray the extinguisher I had on it too. The smoking stops.

It didn't look too bad but the air filter was toasted. Now we needed to call Mark and tell him. Good thing he had just asked yesterday at church for prayer for patience with the girls. (seriously, he had) He handled it really well, not knowing how much damage it would have. The good news is it needed a new air filter and some hose but he was able to drive it home.

I am so glad the girls remembered we a fire extinguisher in the van- they are homeschooled, you know... of course they are the ones who caught the truck on fire in the first place, but most girls probably wouldn't try to pour gas in the carburetor to start it ... of course they are the ones who let it run totally out of gas... . Lots of lessons learned and nobody was hurt in the making of these lessons... my kind of learning- real life.