Your tree is on fire?

Ah, Monday after vacation. Blech.

Today may have been a calamity of errors...

Always check the electronics before leaving town. I left my cell phone charger in Hawaii. Cell phone died. Need new one anyway, so I rode over to the T-mobile store in Kent to get a new one, and deposit a check.

Guy in front of me leaves ATM machine, and ATM machine says, "Sorry, Temporarily Unavailable." I start to leave. Guy comes back; machine is now good. WTF? I wait through his turn again, then deposit my check.

Get my charger. I give back the box, because I'm on my bike and there's not much room. Guy says, "Bike?? Oh. Bicycle."

I just make the train - yay - and hop off in Auburn to meet a friend for dinner.

I miss the 6:20 train by about 5 minutes, and it's 40 minutes to the next one. Ah, screw it, bike it. But I'm holding my dinner in one hand as I bike along. I used my little pannier the last time I rode, so there's no room. And there's a headwind, so I'm riding pretty slowly.

As I get into Sumner and am headed toward my car, it seems sort of hazy to my right. I notice that there's a nearby restroom. I circle the block and there's a tree. It looks like maybe something has been poured on the dirt; the dirt is smoldering, flickering into occasional flames, and it's all kind of messed up.

Did you catch that part about the cell phone being dead? I've got the charger now, but haven't had a moment to charge it. I manage to get it turned on and call 911, but within 10 seconds it dies. I bike over to the station, and - my gosh! - there's a pay phone there. They connect me to the fire department and the woman says she'll send someone to check it out. As I bike back to the tree, I see two cops pull up. The dirt now has some continued fire along the edges. The fire would be contained in concrete, but I don't want to see the tree go up in flames, regardless. The police look like they've got it under control, so I ride back to my car. I circle the block; the fire guys have also showed up. I'm good with going home, and getting ready for tomorrow's ride...