BLAZING CARS IN MY FRONT YARD: THE 72HR RULE FAILED

Last Thursday (11/5/09); a seemingly run of the mill evening. The wind was gently breezing. It was a great evening to turn in early, or watch bad TV to wind down from a hellish day at work.

But, as I had put on my cozy PJ's and was about to settle in for a short nap, what to my wondering ears did I hear. I thought I heard a bottle rocket explode. It is a unique sound. It sounds like some has pop'd the cap off a full bottle of soda. Well I thought maybe some pesky kids were shooting illegal fireworks. I decided to look  through the window. I saw a neighbors car "smoking" and "glowing" under the hood. And then it blazed up, literally, and burned the entire front of the car. The tires were burning and popping, and the battery had burned and exploded. I had a feeling the engine was going to blow soon. ( I saw it in a movie). I called 911. I had to answer quite a few questions before they would agree to send a fire truck. Meanwhile, the car was burning up and amazingly, none of the neighbors came out of their houses. Not one person, except a strange man, who walked up to the car while it was in full blaze. I thought he was going to stick his head in the middle of the blaze. After he looked at the car, he slowly turned around and walked away. Strange, more about him later. I went out and moved my car and as I was driving around the development, no one was coming out of the houses. Strange. It was like the Twilight Zone. Now how has the 72 hour ruled failed. Well, when I hung up the phone, I grabbed my car keys, put on a sweator and ran out to my car. What wrong with this scenerio? I didn't have an emergency plan. I did not have an "emergency pack back" to grab in case my house was on fire. I left the dog in the house. So many things. I called a "good friend" of mine and I told her blow by blow what was going on and she thought I was doing Stand up Comedy. She told me I should move to a better neighbor hood. Better as compared to what? Accidents and life happens. I noticed that after we hung up she didn't ask me if I was ok or needed anything.I called my husband at work. Of course, I had to repeat myself 3 times before he could comprehend what I was saying. I am sure he would have come home if the house were burning down. But, my husband is not a proponent of Emergency prepardness or any type of prepardness. His special form of rebellion is to eat the food storage.(And not let me know to replace them).  

So, back to the fire; the truck finally came; 15 minutes later. The 3 (stooges) fireman fell out of the truck. 1 sleepy fat guy and 2 rookies? I saw them struggling to find the water attachment for their hose. They finally got themselves together and noticed that the car was burning.The owner of the car finally came out of his house. It seems that the car was borrowed from his boss. His boss did mention something about an  electrical problem. He didn't seem too upset. But I did see him 2 days later waiting for the bus.The moral of this story is that I did not initiate my 72hr plan. I think that I got caught up in the food storage which is way behind.The paperwork part is daunting. I have to overcome these obstacles. And for some reason I volunteered to be a Provident Living Representative at church. What irony.