Last week's excitement

This picture was taken from our front porch last Thursday morning. No, thankfully, it's not one of our cars but our neighbor probably has one pretty bummed friend! James and I both woke up at 3AM Thursday morning to the sound of a constant car horn. James looked out the front windows and saw a fire inside the car. He called 911 while I went and got Kate (whose bedroom windows face the street straight out from this car). I didn't know if a car could explode if a fire were to go on long enough, but I didn't want to find out with my child 30 feet away! James tried to inform the neighbor, but he and some friends were partying in the basement and didn't hear the doorbell (or door James' pounding!). They finally realized what was happening and ran out to try to extinguish the fire (which was now raging through the roof and a window) with a garden hose. They quickly saw the futility in this attempt and the fire department arrived on the scene. They put out the fire, but could never get the hood open to check the engine compartment. Note the banged up hood where they pounded it with a sledge hammer and pried with a crowbar for about 10 minutes. After the fire was out and everything had died down, James took Kate out to see the fire truck and we had to watch it out her window for a while before going back to bed. James' comment the next morning about all the excitement was "I think it's time to move."