It was going to be an exciting day, but turned out to be even more exciting.
The Taylor Rodeo started yesterday, Friday, July 14th. Janis and Ashleigh rode their horses in the Williamson County Sheriff's Posse Mounted Drill Team to start the festivities. All of that, plus the rodeo itself went as planned.
I had invited Evelina and Kostya Petrenko along with their friends Dennis and Natasha to join me for dinner before and then for the rodeo itself. Evelina is the eldest sister in a family of six siblings, out of which I had met two -- Andrey and Ludmila in Moscow in June at Nathan and Masha's wedding. And having found out that Andrey and Ludmila have a sister in Waco studying along with her husband at Baylor, I got in touch with them. Their friends Dennis and Natasha are from the Ukraine.
Here's a picture of the four of them (from the right, Dennis, Natasha, Evelina, Kostya) -- also notice Kelsey with Adreyene and Kelsey's friend Bobby off to the left. Evelina also posted on her blog some pictures from the rodeo and from visiting our "farm" beforehand.
Near the end of the rodeo we got a cellphone call from Ashleigh, who had gone home already -- the fire department had just left our house. It seems the charcoal grill with hot coals still in it had gotten tipped over onto the wood deck and started the deck on fire--while no one was home. This might have happened shortly after we left for the rodeo at 7:15. Sometime around 8:30 a passing motorist, who just happened to be a firefighter for the Sam Bass Fire Department, saw the fire and took the initiative to stop and investigate. Finding nobody home, he got the garden hose and was able to extinguish the fire. He also called 911 and the Weir VFD responded right about 9:00.
Our passerby, we learned, is named Jason Pierce. Check his page on the Sam Bass Fire Department web site.Thankfully, the fire did not reach the house! There is a 6x6 foot hole in the deck now, and of course the grill is destroyed -- but, oh my, how much worse it could have been. The insurance adjuster will come, I hope, on Monday and then we can get on with rebuilding the deck.
Friends, festivities, and then fire. What if it had been Friday the 13th and not the 14th?
