"The Not So Excellent Adventure"/Wildfire!

Screaming Tree
 

~~~~SO~~~~

That's how I felt yesterday, like screaming!!!

As Mrs. Threadgood would say,

"you just sit back awhile honey and I'll tell you the story".

(Reference from the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes).

 

The great-grand baby was here, we're minding our own business.

I was sewing, (making her a taggie), she was in the playpen, taking the clothes off my vintage dolls.

 

Typical babysitting day.

 

Little did I know of the goings on outside of my little bubble.

 

The youngest daughter, (Ginger) calls from work.

 

"MOM"! "ARE YOU OK"?

 

(All dramatic like).

 

I'm confused, why wouldn't I be ok?

 

She goes on.....

 

"There's wild fires out by you"!

Whaaat?

 

(This child always knows stuff before anyone else).

I didn't hear any sirens, but, the dogs were acting strange.

I go to look out the front door window, yep, I see fire trucks,

I go to the back door window, yep, I see fire trucks.

Yep, the fields just to the side of me are on fire.

 

Oh crap!

 

I call my neighbor, her house is in a direct line of that fire.

She's outside watching, assures me that the fire people have it under control.

I'm thinking, and you couldn't have called me???

 

I'm here with three dogs and a baby... With no vehicle.

The winds were gusting up to 35 mph, not a good day for a fire.

(The wind was blowing away from my house thank goodness).

 

She, the daughter, has my truck, she's 30 miles away.

 

She's on her way to get us out.

 

I'm putting the computer, camera and related gear into the briefcase,

packing up the diaper bag, looking for dog leashes, grabbing the bug out bags,

piling everything at the front door, buckling the baby into her carseat....

I'm in my jammies....

 

That done....

 

While I'm waiting for my ride, I'm looking out the front door window.

I can see the road, lots of vehicles exiting out of the area.

Then I see/hear a helicopter. It's circling the fire area.

All very exciting, if you're not in the mix....

 

She, the daughter, gets here, grabs the baby,

buckles her into the front seat of the truck.

Starts grabbing all the bags.

I'm holding two dogs on leashes who are acting all crazy.

The german shepherd is hiding in the shower.

 

Once caught, the german shepherd has to be lifted into the truck,

all 85# of her!

She's not wanting to get in,

probably because, the only time she goes for a ride, it's to the vet!

The other two hop right in. Good thing my truck has a back seat.

We bug out.

I'm still in my jammies.... Covered in dog hair.

 

We take the baby to the other G.G.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at the daughter's house watching a movie,

 hoping the wind wouldn't change directions.

 

The dogs and I picked up the hubby from work.

I call the neighbor and inquire as to the state of things.

No houses burned, just the field.

 

But....

 

The daughter calls me today with a story.

Seems there was a body found, something to do with a meth lab!

(NO spell check, I did not mean math lab).

 

Again...

This child always knows stuff before anyone else.

I'm sure she'll have all the details before the day's end.

 

I hope you' all are safe.

I think I'll go sew something.

 

Till next time,

Bonjour

Screaming tree

 

 

Can Texas Be Saved From Stupid People?

So...

There’s a little town named Reagor Springs,

that I pass through everyday on my way to and from work .

It has a couple of beer stores and that’s about it.

This was the go to place back in the day if you wanted beer.

 Just a little town situated between two bigger, dry towns.

The bigger towns are wet now, so Reagor doesn’t have much going on anymore.

But, if you look at it from another perspective, it really has quite a bit going on.

In the early spring this town is a beehive of activity.

 Farmers are in the fields, riding in giant, cab enclosed tractors.

They’re tilling under the winter’s green cover

in preparation for the summer’s cash crops, corn, maize and cotton.

Round about late July, early August, they started harvesting

the corn and maize. Even with the drought, I still saw

18 wheelers in the fields loading up for the trip to the gain mill.

Cotton field, May I think.

Now it’s cotton harvest time.

Cotton strippers are in the fields along with huge rectangle shaped boxes.

The boxes are like trash compactors.

The cotton strippers feed the cotton into the box and the box squishes it.

Pretty cool!

So now the fields are filled with these huge bales of cotton.

Future blue jeans and t shirts I suspect!

Anyway..

Yesterday, 250 acres of these fields were caught up in a wild fire.

Nothing you could see from the highway, it was back in, on the FM road.

My oldest grandson’s dad, uncles and papa farm some of these fields.

I don’t know if it was their’s or not, or even if there were crops on the land.

Today I was driving to work looking at all those bales, and thinking.

I hope they get them out soon, before anything else happens!

The farmers are depending on the money these bales are going to bring in.

What the hell...

“Did you see that“, I asked my husband?

Before he could answer I said,

“I don’t believe it, whoever is driving that car just threw out a lit cigarette”!

OMG…

I’m thinking, are you stupid? Don’t you know there was a fire here yesterday?

I sped up enough to get a plate number, and then passed to see who was driving.

Just some random lady, 40ish, no one I know.

But then again, she could live in my area.

She might even be driving down my road on a daily basis.

Her lit cigarette butts flying out her car window toward my house!

````````

Steve and I both have a bug-out-bag in the cab of the truck,

clothes, toiletries, passports, etc.

I pack the laptop in the briefcase and take it with me to work everyday.

We’ve even packed a medium size cooler

with about 2 weeks worth of non-perishable food,

that’s locked and chained in the pickup bed.

You never know!!!

Till next time,

Bonjour

P.S.

Just heard thunder, went outside to see,

 there's a big black cloud over the house and I felt raindrops!

Could it really be?

Wildfires



My landscape



Really...

The dogs were acting crazy yesterday,

there was no bad weather, just wind.

I went out with them several times to "check on things"

but didn't see anything, Lady just kept pacing.

I just figured the tropical storms were blowing in rain.

So I went about my day, making soap, blogging ETC. 

When Steve got home from work he asked me,

"have you been outside"?

"Well, yes I said, sort of, why"?

I followed him out back.

Oh crap!

Fire towards Ennis, about five miles away,

fire towards Alma same distance away.

I had been going out the front door.

The wind was blowing the smoke and smell away from our house.

I never even heard sirens!

Sunday there were wild fires in Corsicana, about twenty miles south of us.

Our area is all open land, no farming going on up here,

lots of cattle, some mesquite and cedar trees and brush, lots of brush!

Pretty dry up here.



This is how dry we are!



I went outside this morning. (I'm On a vacation day).

Hazy, smoky smelling. I don't hear any sirens.....YET!

Steve just called from work,

said they got an automated call from the Sheriff's office stating,

yes,

 all of Ellis Co. is smoky, hazy, don't call unless you see flames!

Wildfires are everywhere, Fort Worth, Austin, Oklahoma!

On my drive to and from work, (Ennis to Waxahachie to Red Oak)

I see patch after patch of burnt grass on the side of the highway.

What?

Are people throwing lit cigarettes out their car windows?

There was a roadside fire on Thursday, 

about a quarter mile from where Steve works. (Waxahachie)

The nursery is surrounded by about a five acre mini forest, so you

can imagine how ugly that could have been!

The fire department put it out before it hit the trees.

Anyway...

Lady's not acting crazy so I guess we're ok?

But, I do have a bug-out-bag sitting by the front door!

Till next time, stay safe,

Bonjour

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