Poking around the Internet the other day, I came across pictures posted last September by the Cortez, Colorado Fire Protection District regarding a run to put out a fire at my Uncle Robert's trading post west of Cortez, Colorado.

This is how we find things out about our family, nobody ever picks up the phone or writes, and don't even bring up the subject of email.

He lives 30 miles out of town, so it must have been a long ride down that small winding road to his place from town. I wonder if they blew the siren the whole way, or just when they encountered traffic.

The description:
"At noon on Sept. 28, 2009 Cortez Fire Protection District responded to a report of a fire burning outside Ismay's Trading Post on County Road G. On arrival firefighters found two cars, a dump truck and some piles of debris on fire and a person with a garden hose was trying to extinguish the fire. We extinguished the fire with foam and water. Cause of the fire is not known at this time. No damage was done to the structure.. Note date on the pictures is wrong. "

The person with the garden hose was my uncle. The fire didn't damage his house, but it was very close to his coal shed, propane tank, gasoline storage tank, an abandoned trailer house, and various items dear to his heart that other people would consider to be trash or debris. Once those caught, his house would be in peril, and it would go fast once it got to the vast piles of junk mail in the living room.

Here is a picture of my uncle's precious 1940s dump truck with fire damage on the front engine compartment. I'm wondering if the fire started there.



Over the years he has replaced most of the engine with ill-fitting parts from various junk vehicles in the yard; the gas tank came from a car and the gas line is clear surgical hose. He has the dubious distinction of still having every car, truck, and tractor the family ever owned, going back to the 1940s when they first started buying them. Before that it was horse and wagon.


Here are the firemen admiring some of the other fine vehicles in the yard. You can almost hear them talking about what a fire hazard it all is.



I don't know what we'd do without the Internet.