There's a hole in the bucket....

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new wood stove? As it gets colder and colder outside, it just gets warmer and warmer for us inside. We had a fireplace insert put in our never used fireplace so that we could "assist" our heating budget this year. Let me just tell you how great it is to be 75* inside in the middle of winter! And not really us our heat! Granted, there is some smell of smoke, and we notice when we go to others houses we can smell a hint of a campfire, but I'll take it for the warmth it gives.
With that, there is some maintenance. The never ending ash that scatters in front of the fireplace as well as inside. So, every couple of days we need to empty it out and clean it all up. Rob has on his Christmas list to get a metal ash holder bucket type thing. But, in the meantime, we have been using a regular old bucket. We put some water in the bottom of it, put the ash in after the stove hasn't been burning for a while, and then outside in the yard. Not a great solution, but a temporary fix.
There was one morning when I was emptying out the fireplace I noticed a spot in the middle of the fireplace that still had some red embers. So, being the fire conscious woman that I am, I left that spot in the fire, and put the rest of the ash (that I had mixed around and found no red spots), in the bucket and outside. I get the new fire going, warm as can be. A few hours later, Melly and I have to run out to the store. So I leave the house, and actually say out loud, "I wonder why it smells like burning plastic out here?" I look at my Sanford & Son ash bucket in the yard and see a big hole in the bottom, with ash pouring out, and smoke coming out. OOPS!!!
So realizing the hose has been turned off, I grab the only other thing I can think of... my watering can! I fill it up with water, and pour it on the ash pile. Only to find out that when you pour water on ash, it sizzles, smokes more, and blows more ash all over the place. So 3 trips to the kitchen sink, and a few gallons of water later, the smoke and sizzle have stopped. The whole bottom of my bucket is completely melted, Melly and I are covered in grey ash dust, and all I can say to Melly is, "Daddy's going to be so mad at me!"
I'm not cleaning out the fireplace again until after Christmas in a metal bucket!