Eliot & Benjamin

It has been an eventful month on our block. The most recent event involved the paper warehouse which is just two blocks south of us. On Sunday afternoon it caught fire. As you can imagine with a paper warehouse it developed into a HUGE fire quickly. It didn't help that it was over 95 + humidity on Sunday. Those firemen deserve significant awards - or at least better pay. I don't know how they kept going in this heat, in the gear and then the added intense fire. At first we were just intrigued. The boys loved watching the ambulances, firemen, large hoses and water. They even kept trying to call to the firemen who were walking around to say "thanks for keeping us safe!" Which was sweet, but I am not sure they heard. Most importantly, NO one was hurt in the fire. Thank goodness. Around 9pm, trouble started for us. The wind shifted and all the smoke headed our way. We had to turn off our air conditioners to prevent the smoke from coming in. In the 95 degree weather, this made for a hot night as all four of us camped out in our basement - which was hot, but not as bad as our bedrooms. We were grateful for our fan - some of our neighbors lost their electricity. By Monday the smoke was still spewing from the building, but luckily a little rain brought some relief to the smoke.