Sunday, August 22, 2021

A Little Rain, Two Fires

In the very early hours of this past Saturday morning, we had a brief thunderstorm roll through our area, and then a couple of hours later some more rain fell.  Our rain gauge showed 3/10ths of an inch.  Not nearly as much as we could have used but welcomed all the same.
 
There are two forest fires burning in separate areas, both approximately 50 miles from us as the crow flies.  The one that has been burning longest is, as far as I know, still uncontained and has burned 10,000 acres.  The smaller fire that started a couple of days ago covers only 50 acres and is said to be controlled.
 
Both fires were started by lightning strikes.  The fires are being fought both on the ground and by air.  Our temperatures have dropped a bit but we're still having strong winds that are hampering efforts of the fire fighters.
 
The past two nights, our temperature has dropped as low as the 60s and last night we went down into the 50s.  A very much appreciated relief from the too warm nights we've had most of this summer.
 

To share a bit on the more upbeat side, the Lemon Sunflowers (a new to me variety this year) I planted in front of our southern most asparagus row are a delight to behold.
 

We've enjoyed them so much for several weeks now.
 

And they've given us beautiful long-lasting bouquets for nearly every room of the house.
 

The Morning Glories planted on either side of this trellis have finally reached the top, but the bloomin' vines have yet to show one single bloomin' flower.  (Patience, Mama Pea, patience.)
 
You can see the south tree line over the garden trellis and, yes, the leaves are already starting to show tinges of brown and yellow.  A little early for the natural turning of the colors.  I'm assuming it's because the trees are suffering from the drought, and just hope they won't have permanent damage.  There's possible rain in the forecast later on in this coming week.  We sure hope the "possible" comes to pass. 

9 comments:

Michelle said...

Glad you got a little rain; we did, too. And it's MUCH cooler here; tonight's low is supposed to be 50. Those sunflowers are VIBRANT!

Rosalea said...

Beautiful, beautiful sunflowers. So glad you got some rain and a bit of relief from the heat. We are in the middle of that heat now, and have had no rain for a while. The grass is starting to brown in places. The temp has not dropped below 21C (70F) over night the last few nights, and its brutally hot and humid during the day, up to 30C (86F) and feeling closer to the mid 40C (100+F) with the humidity. Sure hope those fires get contained, and yes, there is a tinge of colour coming on the tips of some tree branches here as well.

Nancy In Boise said...

I'm still over now your sunflowers are gorgeous! At least you got some rain but sorry about the fires. We're still getting a little bit of smoke from our fires in Oregon to the west but at least the main one was put out. We have a little tiny bit of rain Saturday night with a little thunder lightning going through. This dry as it's been I'm always worried about lightning strike fires too! Well it's cooling down there! It was 48 last week and I did a double-take on the thermometer. It's finally down into the 80s and working down into the 70s hooray!

Granny Sue said...

I can only imagine how worrying those fires must be. 50 miles is just too close. We've had some torrential rains due to Storm Fred, but now it's hot again. I hope more rain comes your way, and that the temps stay comfortable.

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

I pray the fires stay away from you. I looked this morning and it looked like there were some good sized storms in your area. I hope so!
We've had fairly regular rain here this summer which is unusual especially this late in the summer. It's usually dry and we get fire danger warnings which I don't like! I hope that storm gave you a good drenching! Take care!

Lisa K Thomasson Jung said...

Love the Sunflowers. My Bees are enjoying my honeyscyle vine. But the Heat is getting to us all.

wyomingheart said...

Those sunflowers just make me smile! Beautiful!

Leigh said...

I hope you get some rain. Not only for your garden and plants, but also for the fires. Amazingly, we've had pretty good rain this summer; unusual for us.

I have to say that your flowers are beautiful. So happy!

JustGail said...

It seems like fall flowers really bust a gut in putting out the blossoms. Like they suddenly realize winter will be here all to soon. Spring flowers usually seem so blasted happy to see the end of winter. Summer flowers so often seem sort of like "meh, I'll bloom. I guess. If I must. " OTOH, that could be my flower beds and plant selections.

We were to the Detroit Lakes area 8/26-8-29. I'm happy they got some rain last week. At least the grass was not the dry brown crunchy look from late July, probably too late for crops that were not irrigated though. I hope the rain got over to your side of the state!