Woody's was smokin', or Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

Fire! Well...sorta. Last night there was a fire scare directly across the street from my apartment. I'd just come home from Home Depot (more potting soil) and Petsmart (dog food and a new kong), and parked directly in front of Smokin' Woody's, a barbecue joint whose front door is directly in line with my bed window (Oh yeah, the smells on summer window-fan days are as incredible as you imagine.) It turns out Woody's was the burning building, and suddenly my street was swarming with firemen - 3 fire engines, 2 of those paddy-wagon trucks, and a big SUV supervisor truck, plus an ambulance and a couple of cop cars surrounded, my street and my car. Of course, Lois and I went down and sat on the stoop in front of our door and watched all the action. It was better than a DVD and I'm getting tired of those anyway.

My building neighbors, Steve and Alia, also came down, and my other building neighbor, Nadrine the crazy lady, was up in her window trying to talk to us, too. It's funny how many people come out for a fire. Guys on bikes and blades stopped too, asking what was up. A cute girly couple came up and petted Lois for a while. Lots of people just stood around (including many of the official men in uniform). It was nice. And a great night for a fire, weatherwise. I don't think there was any real damage.

Except that the firemen broke through the glass door of the restuarant, and maybe the funniest part of the night was how long it took them to clean up the glass - about double the whole rest of their manouevers, including the big ladder and everything.

Then, after all the engines took off, and when I was sitting in the living room, all of a sudden I heard drilling and a guy with the THICKEST CHICAGO ACCENT I have ever heard, talking about 'dis' and 'dat' and 'C'mahn, gice, let's get it over dehr!' Apparently it was the guys that came to fix the door.

Woody was probably very sad to see the whole thing this morning. But you know what? He's not the nicest man, so I actually think it might be karma. He's the kind of guy who harasses all females and then always has the "Waitress Wanted" sign in the window.