Page 82 - Donnie MacDermid of Margaree Valley: "It could have been worse!"

ISSUE : Issue 73

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1998/6/1

window right into our bedroom. Right in our room. (Where did the fire start?) It started in my workshop. That was stupidity too. I was building an airplane at the time in there, a wooden one, so I had a sanding disc set up for sanding wood. A motorized one and I had a dust box under it. My intention was some? day to pick up an old vacuum cleaner and get it mounted into this dust box to blow it outside. But I never got it done. So this night, we were to Sydney that day, one of our nieces got married the day before. On a Saturday. So we went down on Sunday to Sydney, for what reason I don't know, but we did anyway, the wife and I and the kids. And when I came home that evening I went out to my shop and here I seen laying on the bench was a screwdriver blade that I had broke the corners off, you know, two corners off. I fig? ured , "Oh my God, I might need that tomor? row," you know. "I'd better square that up." So I snapped on my disc Sander and I put the point of the blade against the sanding disc. Well, you L'Arche Cape Breton The Ark L'Arche Cape Breton is a community for mentally challenged people and those who choose to share life with them. Drop by our store THE ARK - new books and crafts - used books and clothing THE ARK ejcit 4 on the Trans-Canada L'Arche Cape Breton Whycocomagh, N. S. B0E3M0 (902) 756-3162 We welcome visitors for tea and a tour about our community every Wednesday in July and August at 1:30 p.m. DON'T MAKE A MOVE WITHOUT US! • LOCAL 'LONG DISTANCE • OVERSEAS LARGE OR SMALL - WE MOVE IT ALL MOFFATT Moving iSi Storage SAFELY, EFFICIENTLY & INSURED CALL THE PROFESSIONALS • OVER 40 YEARS EXPERIENCE Financing Available O. A. C. 30- to 90'Day Interest Free VISA I Mastercard on Long Distance • 1-800-267-6885 I FREE ESTIMATES I 490 GATEWAY 562-0222 POINT EDWARD Weekends & After Hours 564-0963/562-1978 FAX 564-6865 Atias VAN LINES / AGENT know what that did. Bunch of sparks, eh? Right into the dust. And that's where it started, right in that corner. And that's where the barrel of gas was standing, right inside that corner of the shop. (Did it start with you standing right there?) No. This was roughly eight o'clock in the evening when we got home. It was one o'clock when my brother-in-law who lived across the road woke me up. (The sparks) started smoldering in the dust and eventu? ally got burning. And then of course once it got burning, the box itself that the dust was in was wood so that could burn. And the bench it was on was wood which was of course nailed to the wall which was wood. So all in all it just kept on going. (So then there was this can of gas?) A 45- gallon barrel of aviation gas. I used to find it'd evaporate if you left it out in the sun, eh. So I had it standing there in the shade in the shop. And like I say, when I come out and that whole corner was burning in the shop, and this barrel looked like a football. The top was round? ed right up on it. And the big bung, well, the side facing towards the house, and of course when she swelled up quite a bit, the bung blew out. And this spew of gas went right out and right in the bedroom window. Just a streak of flame right in. And that was in the window of the bedroom where the girls had all slept. They'd been in there, but they weren't. Always lucky. Could be always worse. Within five minutes you couldn't get near the house, couldn't get in it. It was a goner. I just used to take people for rides (in my airplane). Usually for nothing. Just neighbours around. Not many in the commu? nity I can list that didn't go up for a ride. I didn't have her up (meaning, his wife Doris). I had everybody else up but her. She doesn't trust me! (You were doing this for the joy of it, really.) Yeah. Just for the pure fun of it. In fact, if I were able this evening, I'd Jl A Pioneer Company ROBIN'S • NOW 232 YEARS OLD • ROBIN, JONES & WHITMAN, INC. The company was founded around 1766 by the Robin fami? ly from the islands of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel. These French-speaking immigrants to Arichat and Cheticamp supplied the local fishermen with their ba? sic necessities and took the fishermen's catch to markets around the world. Robin's have evolved to include furni? ture, hardware, bulding supplies, and groceries. Cheticamp, N.S. 224-2022 • Inverness, N.S. 258-2241

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