Yesterday, was exciting. My daughter showed up at our door with all her kids, soaked to the skin because she’d walked with them from across the road in a deluge.  The alarm for gas went off in her house. We dumped the kids, then went back across the road to see what we could do. We live in the country and 911 doesn’t respond to gas leaks here. I got, “Call the gas company.” We called the gas company and their lone emergency service guy said he was on his way (took him 45 minutes because, again, we live in the country). We turned off the propane at the tank. Then while she waited in the car farther down the driveway, I went to the house to check the appliances to make sure they were off and to open windows to reduce the fumes.

Since it was raining buckets, there was a huge mud puddle in front of her house that I chose to avoid. I, with my stubby short legs, attempted to step up onto the side of her porch, but my feet slipped and I began to fall forward. Kelly tells me I ran a few steps (trying to get my feet under me), started to go down and reached for one of the porch posts. I whirled outward, came around again, then momentum carried me out a second time, at which time my grip loosened and I flew, landing on my right side, face to hip in the mud.

No bones were broken. She thought I’d hit my head for sure I looked so confused. But nah. I have bruises this morning. My tendons inside my right elbow feel stretched (guess I’m not destined to be a pole dancer), besides some of my daughter’s first words to me after she stopped screaming were, “You looked like a really bad pole dancer, Mom.”

Anyway, I trudged back into the house and opened windows. The gas company guy finally arrived. He said she was damn lucky the house didn’t blow there was so much gas in the air. We found the problem. An uncapped gas spigot that a kid or an animal must have turned. A simple kick would have done it. Our dumb ass renovator failed to cap the line when we they put in our dry wall and we decided we no longer wanted the wall heater taking up space there.

So, since we didn’t have fireworks yesterday (Sorry. Bad joke!), we’ll be lighting fireworks with the kids in the yard tonight. We love setting up lawn chairs and blankets while the SIL plays with the explosives.

If you’re in the U.S., what are your 4th of July plans?