John and I are friends with yet another Peaches and Cream couple. John used to work with the hubby, and they are kind of deluxe when it comes to food and wine… Oh yeah, we traveled with them one weekend to Paso Robles and that was when the hubby was horrified by my attempt to reuse a wine glass…

Anyway, they live in a townhouse complex that has zero outdoor space, so they love coming onboard the Houseboat to chillax in our backyard oasis. Well earlier this month, they were house- and dog-sitting for their family friend who lives in the hills of Belmont. We went over: hung out by the pool, chilled with the big golden retriever named Tank. They cooked up a fabulous meal: delicious dry rub ribs plus homemade cole slaw and potato salad. They were totally loving the lifestyle, though I thought being in the hills sure was windy… I know, MV has made me so fucking soft.

Regardless, we had a great time, but then later that night, John received a text from the guy. The fire department was just over: when cleaning up the grill area several hours earlier, the friend touched the wood chips used for smoking the meat. They were cool to the touch, so he threw them into the plastic garbage bin. THREE hours later, that shit turned into a roaring fire on the side of the house.

The friend was watching tv, he heard crackling or something and went from the couch to the side of the house and saw fire!?!?! The house didn’t have an extinguisher. Nuts. The plastic bin totally melted down, and the house has high-fuel eucalyptus trees next door. Thankfully, the fire was put out, but the next day, J went up to help clean. It’s a miracle bc the garbage bin actually contained the fire for a bit and the nearby brush didn’t ignite. They had to rent a truck to haul off the trash, get a pressure washer, AND get a new grill (the old one got melted plastic all over). What a mess, but the most important thing? Thank god no one got hurt. That doggie didn’t alert them to jackshit. It was a reminder though: grills are so damn dangerous. One time, John was using our grill and the fat from the meats dripped through the grates, and there was a big grease fire that exploded from the grill. Our unit is placed up again a wooden fence, near our neighbor’s tree. Thankfully, J put the lid down and the fire calmed down but man, it was scary. And we def keep an extinguisher on hand.