Long weekend hangover open thread - I've seen fire, and I've seen rain

So the cold weekend rain was lousy. But the fire could have been worse.

On Saturday, my wife and a visiting friend from her balmy Southern Illinois homeland were feeling chilly, thanks to late May in Iowa being interrupted by a bonus shot of March. She decided to turn on the gas fireplace, but only after checking the vent outside for any bird-nest-related obstruction. Seeing none, she flipped the switch.

Standing in my kitchen, enjoying a liquid tribute to America, I saw smoke billowing into the back yard. Hey, that's not right, I thought.

I went outside. Flames in the vent. Apparently, her visual spot check was an inadequate assessment of the nest threat.

Seconds later, my quick thinking mate was on the scene, fire extinguisher in hand. Instantly, the vent,  siding, a flower bed and the patio were coated in a white dusting of  fire suppression powder. We suppressed the heck out of that fire. I followed up with the garden hose. No damage.

On the bright side, nothing warms you up like crisis management.

Otherwise, we had a great Memorial Day weekend. How about you?