Woke up to my neighbor's barn burning.

holy shit, was there anything inside? DDDD:

I'm not sure, but I do know that I can't see the roof over the trees anymore. I called 911 when I saw it, and they'd already dispatched the fire department.

well damn

Yeah. Not a great start to the day.

holy crap

Yeah. It'll probably make the local paper.

Oh no

It was so weird. I couldn't figure out what I was hearing at first. It sounded like water. Like a pond draining, or a flooded river running fast and pulling down trees.

I was looking at the ponds or the lake or the creek, but then I realised it was higher than that. So I looked up and there it was. And it was flowing like water, but up, and... yeah. I'm not going to forget that.

I've never actually seen a big fire in person. but that sounds incredible. terrible and incredible and you have such a wonderful way of describing stuff

It was scary. But more than that, it was eerie.

It was pretty, but it was pretty like some poisonous snakes are pretty. I could see the currents in it, which... surprised me. You don't think of fire as something that has currents. But it was curled under the bottom edges of the roof and wrapping around it, and I could see the movement so clearly.

But what I didn't expect was how quiet it was besides the sound of the fire. That's something you don't get on the news or on TV or anything. You either get these huge, noisy, freight-train fires, or you get little politely crackling campfires. This one was.... I mean, if I'd been closer, it probably would've been more of a freight-train fire.

But where I was, it was quiet, and so was everything else. No sirens because the fire department hadn't reached it yet. No birds. No frogs. No cars passing by. Just silence, and fire.

And now it's raining outside, which is actually a good thing. It'll make sure the barn stays out overnight. But the breeze is stirring up the ash and smoke smell and is making me paranoid. No open window tonight.

Quiet, too quiet?

You never think about what that means until something like that. There are so many background noises in the world that we just dismiss until they're gone.

Now that I think about it, it reminds me of how things sound between fronts of a storm.

I think nature by and large is smart enough to try and get out of the way.

Most things. Thankfully, the one person on this road that keeps sheep is over a mile away or else they would've wandered right into the fire. Sheep are monumentally stupid.

well we did breed them to be that way so we can control them. wold sheep and goats tend to be smarter

wild even

That's true. My aunt had a goat for a while that was sold as a pygmy and she found out that was a lie. It was smart enough to escape its barn.

LOL goats are the best. as are donkeys. but very smart and very happy to go off and explore on their own

She eventually went to her husband and told him that either the goat went or she went. Roscoe got sold. XD

hopefully the best outcome for all concerned!

Well, my aunt was happy. And Roscoe probably had more room after that, too. Went to someone prepared for a Goat of Unusual Size.