Monday, September 27, 2010

Bone Dry & Frightening

While I type this (just yesterday afternoon) there is a steady drizzle.  As I publish this (this morning) there is a steady downpour.  You do not know how happy this steady drizzle and downpour makes us.  We've heard rumors of little rain showers across town these last couple weeks, but we have seen none of that.  In fact, we haven't had rain for well over a month.  This is the second super-dry spell this summer.  We haven't mowed our dust lawn in weeks and weeks.  What's the point?  There is no live grass to grow to cut.





We feel badly for our chickens who have been spending a lot of time in the hen house (by choice) because they isn't anything green or juicy to eat left in the yard except ants.

Here they are in the chicken run gathering for scraps.

We've only been watering our young fruit trees, bell peppers, fall lettuce and spinach and have been using our well water to do so since our rain water collection tanks have been empty for a month- at least.


 If not for our thick layer of straw, everything would be brown.

This past Saturday started out a lovely, peaceful day.  We took our time getting up and around in the morning and after breakfast, headed to a harvest festival across town.  We spent the morning there, bobbing for apples, watching molasses be made, going for a horse-drawn wagon ride, listening to story tellers in a one room school house and watching blacksmiths hammer rods into chains.  Oh, and we sat in the shade and ate some homemade ice cream which made the hot, dry day seem cool and tolerable.

On the way home, we passed a farmer in a field close to our house harvesting corn on his combine.  The fields around here look barren and parched.  The cows wander, looking for green and finding none eat the hay they are used to getting in the winter months.

We got home, ate lunch and as I was clearing the table, I looked out our dining room window and saw smoke.  It was close enough that we were concerned it could be a neighbor's house, so Jamey headed off down the road to see.  This is what I saw in a matter of minutes.


The fire began moving away and then circling up a hill and around toward our direction.  It was obviously moving, so I knew it must be a brush/field fire.  The wind was whipping on Saturday and while the sounds of dozens of fire engines and emergency vehicles could be heard, I worried that this fire would close in on homes- it was moving fast.

Thankfully, the fire started (when the farmer we saw nicked a rock with his combine, throwing a spark) a half mile from our house crossed our road south of us and circled up around was put out about a half mile from our house in a different direction.  Only one structure (an old hay barn) caught on fire.  No homes were damaged and no one (person or animal) was injured.


Scorched fields

Once I knew we were safe, all I could think of was this dear farmer who must be so relieved that it was over with no major harm done.  There were a lot of people thanking God this weekend and I imagine he was one of them.

Our beautiful, smoke-free sky line
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15 comments:

  1. This is weird but we are going through thte same thing.We haven't mowed in a month or so.The grass is very hard and brown and we are trying to keep our newly planted fruit trees alive.Hubby keeps digging up pine trees that were planted within the last year or so BC they are dying one by one.
    A few weeks ago we opened up the house and all of a sudden you could smell fire so I ran around the house making sure it was okay and Shane saw smoke west of our house so he got into the truck and checked it out and the same thing happened.Luckily local farmers were bringing water tanks to help save the rest of the crops.This is just awful around here.
    I really enjoy your blog,keep up the good work.
    Blessings~

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  2. I wish I could send you some moisture. It has been a very wet summer here in Missouri. Hot, but lots of moisture. Fall arrived over the weekend, and it was 45 here this morning. I love it! Praying for rain for you -- rain to fall from the sky to water the earth, and for God to send a refreshing to your Spirit! Have a blessed day!

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  3. Glad you all are safe! And so happy for the rain!

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  4. What a blessing that all are now safe. I grew up surrounded by mixed golden and green fields in Central California and the last thing we wanted to see and smell in the summer was the controlled burn that they would do to prevent major disasters--knowing it was controlled didn't even ease my anxiety.

    We're getting rain here, too. What a relief.

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  5. Oh how that must have been scary.... if I could give you some of our rain, I would. We had floods last week here in WI, enough to evacuate some towns... weird how some get none and some get all.... glad you are safe!!

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  6. So glad all was safe for you and your family. It is so dry here too. Thankfully we had a good rain last Wednesday. The sound of thunder and rain on the rooftop was beautiful. But everything is dry again!

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  7. Eeeeek - thank God you were all kept safe x.

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  8. Thank goodness everyone is alright...that can be down right scary!

    Lovely blog you have!

    Have a wonderful day!

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  9. Just a friendly reminder, if you know me personally please try to refrain from using my name. There are those who may try to locate me, break into my pantry and steal my pickled beets. Thanks:-).....this is so funny....love the humor..thank you!

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  10. I've been thinking about fires EVERY day. I was starting to feel rather paranoid, too. Then this morning when I woke up to the glorious drip-drip of rain on our tin roof, I thought, "Well, at least now I don't have to worry about fires anymore!"

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  11. Wow, that would be scary! Glad you all are okay. We've been living in the dust bowl out here on our long farm lane with tractors cutting corn. I've actually resorted to keeping our windows shut bc it's so bad! I want to go lick this rain :)
    Bec

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  12. What a blessing that it was contained to fields and an old barn! Too close for comfort though, I am sure!! So glad that you and your land are all okay. :)

    Blessings to you!
    Camille

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  13. You don't know how good it was to see someone else's dried up grass! It seems like everyone else on the web is getting too much rain while we have been in the drought of the century!

    And we are getting rain too today! I'm sitting here just relishing the sound of raindrops. I won't even shut the windows because I want to enjoy it! You must live close to me!

    Gina

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  14. So glad you are safe and I'm glad you are getting the much needed rain.

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  15. I'm so glad that you and your family are safe.
    Luv T.A.

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Just a friendly reminder, if you know me personally please try to refrain from using my name. There are those who may try to locate me, break into my pantry and steal my pickled beets. Thanks:-).

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