Firestorm

Smoke fills the view to the east

Daylily - Lemon Drop

daily haiku

a red moon rises
smoke in air from tragic fire
beauty from ruins

These past weeks have been very stressful. On June 26th - a day with temps at 106' and 40 mph winds - took fire up the Tongue River Valley and desecrated a lot of the Cheyenne reservation north of Ashland.  The Amish community and some of my Cheyenne friends lost their homes and or ranch buildings. The whole town of Ashland including the St Labre Complex and Heritage Living Sr Center were all evacuated. The Ash Creek fire as it was named, has been one of the biggest fires in Montana history, and may actually be the largest.  It is still not fully contained see today's bulletin from KTVQ.com
:

Fire managers are hoping to complete containment 

of the huge Ash Creek Fire Monday, and are nearing containment 

on several other fires burning across Southeast Montana.

The combined fires have burned more than 330,000 acres 

since the region erupted in lightning-caused, and human-caused 
blazes two weeks ago.The largest fire remains the Ash Creek blaze, 

which has scorched over 249,000 acres, destroying several structures 

and forcing evacuations as it spread north and east from its initial 

starting point near Lame Deer. That fireis now 95% contained, 

and crews are hoping to get full containment on Monday

All of the homes south and east of Ashland were without power for three and a half days. No power means no water also.  At temps ranging from 95-109'  I was very lucky to have good friends who let me haul water from their outdoor well.  They had a generator and took me in for "cooling" and I was so very grateful.  We had a good time team-cooking suppers and as they say around here "shooting the breeze". As the Ash Creek Fire came under control, lightning started many small fires throughout the area and they were promptly put out by a mobile fire crew, but a few remained including one east of here - The Taylor Creek Fire which is not yet contained so each time we get an easterly wind the valley fills with smoke. 

My garden looks pretty sad, the hardy mint is burned, but the moss roses being a succulent, are still blooming and a lovely small daylily "Lemon Drop" blossomed and filled me with cheer. Tonight more thunderstorms seem to be in the offing and everything is dry despite a welcome 1/2 inch rain 5 days ago. 

Meanwhile my relatives in England are having one of the wettest summers on record with flooding. Wish they could send us some!