sneezing through the day
thick smoke now fills the valley
health hazard summer
making the dust fly
house haze - summer's legacy
smoke dust and road dirt
dawn breaking later
earth tilting ready for fall
dry leaves know it's time
houses in ashes
homes only in memory
can never go back
rabbits have returned
chew their way through petunias
no heart for killing
at forty two
this morning reminds me
there's only three weeks
to first frost date
there's only three weeks
to first frost date
What positives are there to say about this summer? From May to today, barely any rain fell and hot days in the 90's and 100's were the norm. Everything is tinderbox dry. While I was in San Francisco, another fire - the Chalky Fire - broke out and burned many more acres, homes, and outbuilding on the Cheyenne & Crow reservations and down the Rosebud Creek. Over 500,000 acres have been destroyed all told and fires are still burning throughout the state. Wednesday this week has been designated extremely dangerous with temps over 100 and high wind warnings. A cold front follows and could trigger t-storms and more fires.
Pictures of the grass around the house at the top of the page show it isbone dry and the trees are shedding leaves that are dead due to drought. I have watered them but maybe not enough? Staying indoors out of the heat and the smoke was the norm and I feel that I've had cabin fever worse than the winter.
The rabbits are back and without the vigilant Snowy are chewing up my containers. I haven't got the heart to shoot them, but I have a neighbor who will probably be invited up this fall!
The good thing - I very timidly left the house in God's hands and took a week to visit friends in San Francisco. It was a wonderful week and so cool that I wore a sweatshirt each morning as the fog rolled in.
In the photos:
Kathryn Maack; Christopher Maack. Bruce Anderson; Chris Valentine
God did a good job with the house while I was away and I am thankful for good friends who took care of me for a week - I sorely needed them.
Dear Chris, I've been wondering how you were as I came to your blog site for updates several times after your last posting. So I'm glad that you posted this and caught us up on what's happening. Here too, in western Missouri, we are in extreme/exceptional drought conditions. But we've had no fires to speak of. Out west, you've known the worse of all this. I hope your winter is a time to recoup and that spring will bring back the loveliness of nature. Peace.
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