So 6 AM or so Tuesday morning I scooped out some ashes and coals and carefully placed them in my ash bucket, a lovely 14.95 Lowes special, and placed the supposedly tight fitting lid on it. Whisked it outside and placed it on the three patio pavers I have staked up just for this purpose*.
Knowing some of the coals were still live, I left it sitting there overnight to this afternoon. Went out and dumped it and brought the bucket back in.
Looked out 3 hours later to see the wind blowing ash dust around. Wait. That's not ash dust, that's SMOKE. Crap. Go outside, check and sure enough, at least one ember must have still been live, and was enough with the wind fanning it to start a smokey little smolder where I dumped.
So back inside, grab the 2 gallon watering can, put it in the sink to fill, grab the poker and out to stir things up a bit and see how bad this is. Well, there it is! That oak plank I forgot about that is lying burried under the place where I dumped the ashes. with a nice big black hole in it, smoking away, and heat coming out from under it.
Back inside, grab the can, go outside (oh, 20+ degrees F, did I mention that?) , slowly sprinkle water around and listen for the hissing, looking for the spots the water does not freeze in seconds, hold my hand out feeling for heat, poke, pull and prod with the poker, rinse, refill, repeat this 3 times.
So now it seems to be out, I checked a few time and no warmth anywhere, I will check again after I post this.
Luckily, I did not actually see any neighbors watching me, but I can imagine them seeing me and saying to themselves, " what is that idiot up to THIS time?". They're used to saying that, a lot.
Moral: Never trust your ash bucket to smother the contents in only 24 hours.
( oh, and yes, I did lift the plank, flop it over and make sure I checked where it was and the underside)
*Well, re-purposed for that. It was easier than actually moving them to a better place to store them, you know.
Knowing some of the coals were still live, I left it sitting there overnight to this afternoon. Went out and dumped it and brought the bucket back in.
Looked out 3 hours later to see the wind blowing ash dust around. Wait. That's not ash dust, that's SMOKE. Crap. Go outside, check and sure enough, at least one ember must have still been live, and was enough with the wind fanning it to start a smokey little smolder where I dumped.
So back inside, grab the 2 gallon watering can, put it in the sink to fill, grab the poker and out to stir things up a bit and see how bad this is. Well, there it is! That oak plank I forgot about that is lying burried under the place where I dumped the ashes. with a nice big black hole in it, smoking away, and heat coming out from under it.
Back inside, grab the can, go outside (oh, 20+ degrees F, did I mention that?) , slowly sprinkle water around and listen for the hissing, looking for the spots the water does not freeze in seconds, hold my hand out feeling for heat, poke, pull and prod with the poker, rinse, refill, repeat this 3 times.
So now it seems to be out, I checked a few time and no warmth anywhere, I will check again after I post this.
Luckily, I did not actually see any neighbors watching me, but I can imagine them seeing me and saying to themselves, " what is that idiot up to THIS time?". They're used to saying that, a lot.
Moral: Never trust your ash bucket to smother the contents in only 24 hours.
( oh, and yes, I did lift the plank, flop it over and make sure I checked where it was and the underside)
*Well, re-purposed for that. It was easier than actually moving them to a better place to store them, you know.