Burn baby burn

Today will largely be photographs and few words as few things happened but I have lots of photographs of them happening. If you see what I mean.

This feels like years ago now

After such a busy day yesterday we were both in need of a more relaxing one today and the morning was super relaxing with no hurry out of bed at all. I slept pretty well with few disturbances and it was only the thought of a cup of tea which finally caused us to surface. It was a lovely morning when  I went out onto the balcony for the requisite morning photograph and the boys were very definitely ready as they took to barking (Ralf) and howling (Rambo) as soon as they saw me. Typical.

Fire safety equipment

Brews were made and then it was time for A to go out and feed them while I filled as many receptacles as I could find with whatever and hefted them up to onto the bank above where the fire had been stacked. It may seem like overkill but I would rather have too much water than too little near a large fire like we were planning on burning.

The match is applied

With the dogs fed and the water arranged in a loose circle around the fire it was time for us to set a match. I pulled a couple of the plastic sheets that had been around the tiles and set them inside the wood then A got the pleasure of striking and setting the match. We lit in two places but as it happened we only needed the one match which you see here.

First tiny flames...

.... and six minutes later

After lighting the fire A went to have a shower and I stayed to watch as it caught. The two pictures above are taking six minutes apart; this side caught so fast and was shooting flames so quickly it was quite amazing. The plastic sheeting used as an accelerant was really doing its thing and I wished I'd had my video camera to catch the way it was on fire and flowing as liquid over the wood. Amazing.

Two more minutes and they are rampant

Another couple of minutes and the flames were shooting out of the top and the heat was so intense I had to step back from where I had been able to watch the dripping plastic.

Fully on fire and roaring

Only one more minute and the tall wood leaning over the top of the fire had caught and smoke was shooting high into the sky; the flames were now up to 15 feet or more and the heat was getting worse; I still hadn't had to use any water for side fires yet but I really was feeling good about having so much water available.

Flames on earth, moon in the sky

As I was taking these pictures I noticed that the moon was out so I couldn't resist and arty farty short of the flames shooting up past the moon in the daytime sky. Lovely.

A watching the chimney effect

Shortly after this A came back out from her shower and was amazed at just how on fire it was already; we had started this burn super early in the day expecting it to go all day and even into the early evening (we had invited S and S to come over to see the end of it) but it was clear from the speed it was burning that this plan was not a well made one. While we had lit both sides of the pile it was the first side that was burning (with the prevailing breeze coming from that direction) as the chimney effect, seen clearly in this picture, caused massive updrafts and drew the fire hotter and higher.

With A back out I headed inside to make us bacon butties for breakfast and while I was doing this I headed onto the roof to get a video of the fire from up there. It turned out that the fire had started to spread and spark up the surrounding grass so A was running around with the bottles and the watering can snuffing out little fires as they occurred on all sides. This is why so much water was needed, as with how dry the grass is the whole thing could burn if you aren't careful.

The chimney wood is now blazing

20 minutes later, and with the bacon butties eaten, here is how the fire was looking. The one side is almost down to embers already while the chimney side is just starting to catch. This picture was taken 30 minutes after the first match was put into the pile.

Furnace

This is the side of the fire which we lit first, completely consumed now and turning to embers.

We need to pour water on these flames

Shortly after this there was a large bang and burning embers flew out of the fire and landed in the grass, causing sub fires to start and spread; I got the watering can while A snapped some pictures of how it spread. Fortunately as the grass is so sparse up there (and I had scythed most of it down yesterday) it did not go that fast and so it was quite easy to stay on top of it even when it spread over a wide area as this time. We were trying to work out what would cause the bangs (we knew there were no aerosols in the pile) and figured it must be wet wood that was exploding to steam.

Swirling whirling flames

The wind was mainly blowing in the one direction but it did change a couple of times and when this happened the flames were twisted almost into a whirlwind effect. It was mesmerising to watch; I do love fires.

Very hot in there

The big bangs kept on happening and were getting more regular as the fire burned hotter and lower; it was occurring to me that it couldn't be wet wood (the wood was pretty much all on fire by now) and then I noticed that there were bits of rock laying around that hadn't been there before. It suddenly became clear that the fire was heating up water in fractures in the bedrock and as it flashed to steam the actual bedrock was exploding up through the fire. Wow. The "whumps" and big plumes of black smoke were really awesome but obviously it was too quick to dissipate for a photograph. You can see why it was happening when you see just how hot the base of the fire was and the embers.

Finally sat on the chair relaxing

It was only now, about 50 minutes after lighting the fire, that I felt comfortable to go and sit on the chairs we had brought out in the mistaken belief that we could sit all day and watch the fire burn. I still had to jump up every now and then to take the watering can to put out small fires around the edges but mostly the grass near the fire was burned away so even when embers did get blown onto the edge, they just burned on their own with no problem.

It looks cold, it isn't

The fire was mostly out and we were laying in the sun on the rug reading and enjoying the lovely weather, while ignoring the regular booms as the bedrock erupted. There was some strange green substance over the top of the hot coals which A suggested may have been from the paint on the window frames that had made up a lot of the burnt fuel. I grabbed a piece of wood that was laying on the ground from when T was doing the fencing and chucked it on; within a minute it was fully alight showing again how while the fire looked out, it was still super hot.

Ralf not being scared of the explosions at all

The boys had been around most of the morning with us; Ralf had come out first thing but it was too hot in the sun for him so we put him back inside while Rambo was in his house (for being naughty at breakfast) and then as we were expecting the window men to arrive we left him in there as well. A let him out after a while and he stood over us while we tried to relax so much that when I went inside to get something or other I took him by the front door and left him in the porch and he is so dense he stayed there waiting for me to return, while I went back onto the bank from the back door. Ralf also rejoined us and he was happy sitting in the shade by the fence this time.

Strange creature

While I was lazing around as A went inside for some reason something made me look up and I saw a caterpillar type creature crawling across the rug but its back half was inside a seed. I watched it for a while then picked it up to move it off the rug so it wouldn't be squashed and it retreated back inside the seed. How strange looking is that. Sadly, later, when I looked for it again I found that it had died though it had been moving around happily after I shifted it off the rug.

Our glass arrives

With the fire pretty much done with, and the heat getting up from the midday and later sun (we stayed outside quite a long time after the fire finished determined to make the most of this late summer day) we went inside for a cuppa and to cool down. We had some choc ices and were relaxing when I heard a call and saw that the window fitters had arrived. The three usual ones were walking in via the side gate so I went down, greeted them, put Rambo away (I had thought they wouldn't come now as it was late in the day so he had been let back out) and then made them a coffee while they waited for the truck to arrive with the windows. Shortly after it did and they unloaded and started to put the glass into the frames.

Sassy's escape, and fixed

I really am not able to have a full day without achieving at least one thing (and watching fire burn isn't enough) so with the window fitters here again I decided that I would resecure Sassy's cage. I had come up with the idea of putting some lightweight wood around the bottom half of each panel to stop her forcing through but before doing this I wanted to see if I could twist wire to make the grid solid enough to contain her. She had really burst through the wires as you can see, from hopping in and out all last night, and I had to twist each joint with the wire, the clip the sharp edges off. A came with the staple gun and put some staples in around the damaged area and if this holds we'll go round and put more staples around the bottom of each panel to reinforce its strength. As I type this, later in the evening, she hasn't got out yet. We'll see if the morning.

I really like this privacy glass

I had woken up with a headache from the beer the night before (I think) and it had not improved through the morning and early afternoon despite all the cups of tea and pints of water so I headed through to bed while the fitters where in and read then dozed off and woke up with jumping limbs; not nice and they still feel a bit restless now. When I woke I found that A had dropped off on the sofa so its a good thing the fitters didn't need either of us. It was lovely to walk around and see all the glass in (and particularly in the guest suite where the tilt and turn windows for the bedrooms were brilliant, as was the frosted glass in the bathroom) but as they were leaving they showed that some of the glass panes had been made too big so they needed to go and trim them and the final fitting would be Monday. This means that down stairs we have two out of three panes of glass in. Never mind.

Broken up bedrock

I had a shower and then headed back outside with Ralf and the camera to rest a bit and wait for S and S to arrive. A was on the phone with her mother. The fire had cooled by now enough so I could get close to take a picture of the fractured bedrock that had caused so many bangs and booms and scared Ralf so much. Tomorrow or Monday I will dig this out and see if we have a deep enough hole for a plunge pool.

View from the rug

As I was laying on the rug I looked over towards the Silver Birch and the Zinnias and the splash of colour from the Zinnias below the stunning Silver Birch demanded a photograph and this demanded to be shared.

Fun with a longbow

There had been three reasons for S and S to come over. The first was the fire (long gone out) but the other two remained valid. First of all S had seen my pictures of me shooting my longbow and wanted to have a go himself. When they arrived we did the requisite tour of the progress that had been made since their last visit and then we headed onto the bank and I shot three arrows to show him how it was done then handed it over. He did so well I was really impressed, his first arrow (shot with a lot of elevation) went all the way to the fence. He seems a natural and he really enjoyed himself as well.

Good food, great company

After this we went to complete the third aim which was food. We went down to our favourite restaurant and picked a table overlooking the river. It was a really lovely meal and we had good conversation, good food and a lot of fun. Next time we do a burn (and we will have to, as we now have loads more wood from the windows to go, as well as a load of scrub that we never collected this time, and I loved the suggestion in the comments on yesterday's post) we'll start it later and invite them earlier.

So I sit here with the vestiges of the headache from earlier still tickling my head, my limbs feeling slightly restless and everything pointing to the headache being a slight migraine rather than a beer-thing and I'm looking forward to another lie in tomorrow. I hope to have a less lazy day however if this migraine persists I'll of course do the sensible thing and recover. Honest.