Remington Family Blog

The other night we were sleeping soundly in our beds and at 4:00 AM the phone rang. It woke both Sariah and me up. When I woke up I immediately smelt smoke and my half-awaken, brain gears started turning wondering what the smell could be coming from. Sariah answered the phone and she yells to me: “There is a fire in the back!” The call was from a neighbor calling to alert us. If you don’t know, our house sits next to the mountain. There are photos in the gallery if you would like to see. I jumped up and ran out onto the patio that is off our bedroom and I could see the glow of a fire two houses up in a large canal that runs behind our home. I ran back inside to get dressed, told Sariah to get dressed and be ready to evacuate if needed. Once I was dressed, I went back outside to look again and the fire hadn’t moved. I told Sariah I was going to go and check things out but from the looks of things there was no emergency because the fire wasn’t spreading.

I grabbed a shovel and was prepared to fight a fire. When I got to the fire things turned out a little different than I had planned. There was a pickup truck in the canal that had caught on fire. The fire was not spreading in the grass thankfully. A young man in his early twenties was lying on the ground in pain. We pulled the victim further away from the vehicle and called 911. Police, ambulance and fire trucks arrived. They put out the fire, and took the injured person to the hospital. By 5:00 AM they were all gone.

I was a little confused as to how the truck got there and why it was on fire. Trucks don’t normally catch on fire when they drive into a canal. Later, I got the full story. The young man decided he wanted to commit suicide. He drove up on the dirt road behind our home and started a fire in the front seat of his truck with barbeque briquettes and lighter fluid and was breathing the fumes and smoke in hoping to kill him self with carbon monoxide poisoning. Someway unknown to the victim and everyone else he drove off the road and into the canal which tossed the burning coals all over the cab. The truck caught on fire. The man at this point got scared for his life (which is humorous since he wanted to die in the first place) and crawled out of his truck to safety. This is when we arrived. The young man was treated with minor cuts, bruises and mouth/throat damage from breathing in the smoke.

I wish I took photos during the chaos but I did take some when the tow-truck came and got the truck and some more after they left. You can see them in the gallery.

It was definitely a reality check to make sure that we are prepared if there is fire that is a threat to our home and family.

Sariah has finally decided to bite the bullet and get braces. Obviously this is not something that anyone wants to go through, but in the long run it will be worth it. She went to the orthodontist and had an estimate. Tuesday she had the braces put on and on Wednesday she had to have 7 teeth removed. Picking her up from the oral surgery was definitely an October event. I go to pick her up and there she is sitting in a wheelchair, with a monitor hooked up to her and blood saturated gauze stuffed in her mouth as if she is playing ‘Fluffy Bunny.’ As I was driving her home, the gauze would drip blood down her neck. I drove with one hand and the steering wheel and the other dabbing blood of my wife. I can only image what other drivers were thinking when they saw my bloody wife sitting in the car. I wish I had taken a camera to capture the moment. She will have to have the braces on for 2 and a half years. I keep telling her that the first month is going to take forever, but after that the rest of the time will go by very quickly. I am proud of her even if she is in extreme pain right now.

Sariah has been talking about dying her hair black for a week or so. She has been a little worried about the change. She went and bought the dye and wondered if it was the ‘right color’. I finally folded and told her that when she dyed it I would do it too. She was excited. I dyed my hair black a few years ago, well before I even know my wife existed so I knew what I was getting myself into.

Sunday night after the kids were in bed we got started. It was great fun. You have to see the photos in the 2007 gallery to get the full laugh. On the package it said: “Not to be used to dye facial hair.” Immediately I thought I should dye my facial hair. After it was done all turned out quite well. Go and take a look at the photos. Hope they give you a good laugh. The one photo with the dye in my goatee reminds me of the Dominos Oreo pizza.