Saturday, July 12, 2008

Flowers and Fires!

My gardens are starting to pick up a bit. The petunias have been slow and unfortunately I think they were mismarked as some of them aren't the Wave petunias that spread low, they are standing right up straight. I've been watering every day as we haven't had rain in some time and things are really drying out.

Red Bee Balm

Pink Bee Balm
Brown Eyed Susan's that just popped up beside my garden.


This is mallow and it spreads like mad. I like it though the pink color is so delicate.


The urns on my front steps have really taken off!

Shasta Daisys

The hanging baskets I did out of the leftovers.


We had a bit of excitement here on the farm yesterday. I noticed a helicopter circling down behind the barn in over the woods and at first thought it was Life Flight. At that time a forest ranger came into the yard and said he needed to get through my pasture as there was a fire in the woods. Of course my first thoughts were of the horses so I got them in so the trucks could get through and then got their halters on ready in case I needed to lead them to safety. I told the firemen when they arrived that I had a barn full of horses and how did things look and he assured me that the wind was blowing the other way and didn't think there was any danger. Whew!


They left the big tanker truck on the side of the street in front of our house and went in on smaller trucks with the equipment.



Notice that they are looking at the horses as they go by. :o)



Dad had already taken the first one on the scene in on our Rhino and they came along with another one. Notice how dry some of the back lawn is!



I called Hubby at the office and he came hurrying home. He changed and was going to go in on the Gator but a TV news car came along and he rode in with them. I called our Son as they live just a short distance from us and he came home and went in too.


I stayed with the horses as you never know when the wind can change and it could have headed back towards us. The fire was started by a man that has a hunting camp just beyond our property. Evidently he had not properly put a camp fire he had going out. To say he was careless would be an understatement. With things so dry he never should have had a campfire going in the first place!


The crews were here until about 8 o'clock and the fire warden is coming back this morning to go back in and look things over to make sure nothing has started up again. With things so dry they told me that the fire travels underground and pops up in different places. I am just so thankful that it wasn't any worse and that we have the roads out back so that they could get to the fire in a timely fashion. Otherwise they would have had to walk in quite a distance through the woods.

Well it's now afternoon. The fire hadn't started up again! (doing the happy dance!) There's always so much to be thankful for isn't there?

Hubby and I just got back from swimming over at Son and DIL's house. It felt so good, the water was just perfect. With all the sun lately they don't have to use the heater at all. Poor D has swimmers ear and had to go to Walk In Care this morning. He can't get any water in his ear so I pulled him around on a float. He almost went to sleep, I had a towel over him and something to lay his head on plus his big floppy hat over his face. He was just so comfy!

Have a great weekend everyone!! :o)

31 comments:

Susie said...

Your flowers are just beautiful. The story of that fire so near to you just gave me chills. Needless to say, I can totally relate. Thank God it was no worse for you..
Isn't it just the most frightening feeling though? Those firemen are such heroes...
Glad you had such a nice swim. We've cooled down here to just about 85ยบ today. It actually just feels quite comfortable.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
love you..
xoxo

Mary said...

Wow! What a scare with that fire. People don't use common sense. With everything so dry that man should never have had a campfire.

I love all of your flowers. They are beautiful, especially the hanging baskets and the bee balm.

I love your header, but if you really want to change it, I will help you. Drop me a note at malward2002@yahoo.ca and we will see what we can come up with.

Blessings,
Mary

Linda said...

Your flowers are gorgeous!!! I hate fire and I hate having the worry when it's so dry. Praying we both get some moisture.

Izzy, Emmy 'N Alexander said...

Wow, never a dull moment in your area. Thankfully everything went well!

Your flowers are so pretty. I love the Balm flowers. I've never seen them before. Maybe I can get them here??

Have a great weekend and I'm glad you like the award. You were the first person I thought of when having to pass it on!

Rising Rainbow said...

Those fires are scary stuff. There are several in our state out of control. I think it's going to be a long fire season.

Mama said...

So glad the fire didn't start back or come your way. We have had plenty of very big grass fires in our part of the country as well. So scary and dangerous!

Mike S said...

It's a tad cooler up here. Our place was in the mid-70s most of the day with a good breeze off the mountains. The fire danger is high here too of course, keeping our fingers & toes crossed. Some fire they had on the coast, lucky the whole place didn't go up.

Your flowers are beautiful. However, I believe you missed my book on flower identification. I'm a firm believer that there are only 3 types of flowers; roses, petunias, and tulips. All other flowers are just variations. Makes for very 'easy' identification, being only 3 types and all. I'm awaiting word from the American Horticultural Society telling me I've won a big award for simplifying flower identification. After all, how can one appreciate the beauty of flowers if those stupid scientist-type names are stuck in your head occupying needed space????:)

Linds said...

I am so glad the fire is out. I have been watching the California ones on TV and thinking of my blogging friends there too.

Your flowers are beautiful! We have had so much rain here that my flowers are crushed and petals stripped by the wind and rain. It is not a pretty sight at the moment.
Enjoy your Sunday!

Nancy said...

So glad that the fire didn't come onto your property. I would just panic if I had horses. How scary it must have been for you!!! I have read of 3 different areas with fires lately...CA, CO and now in your state. They can happen anywhere! We finally had a heavy, heavy rain on Thursday! It came down so fast that it probably didn't get s chance to soak in before it ran off. But anything is better than nothing! I took a few pictures and may post them later today. It was really running down our street here!

The swim sounds great!!! Swimming always relaxes me to the point of total exhaustion and a good sleep! LOL

Your flowers are beautiful! I never thought of making a hanging basket out of the leftovers! Great idea and a pretty one at that!

Have a great Sunday and upcoming week! I am trying to read through my blogroll again....can barely keep up but I am loving every minute of it!!! I try to get through my list twice a week when I can.

(((HUGS)))

Mrs. Mom said...

THe gardens look incredible. One of these years ... (Those words have been uttered by me for ages now..lol... But maybe just maybe one of these years we will have some pretty posies out here...)

Glad the fire did not come anywhere near you. You'd think that people would KNOW better butapparently common sense really is one of the most rare things in the World.

Mike S said...

Kuai,(hello)
Here's a starter kit. On the sites you can usually type in the Tribe name, such as Mi'kmaq in your case, in the search block and select search site. I don't trust Wikipedia much, but I looked this over & it seems fairly accurate. If you've questions you can just mail me at the e-mail site in my blog profile.

Nwikuwaci-wicuhkekem. (I like to help.)
That's nearly all my volcabulary as I was never fluent to start with all those decades ago.

http://www.native-languages.org/mikmaq.htm

http://www.firstpeople.us/

http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maliseet

Needled Mom said...

Are you trying to compete with the folks in CA.? What a frightening situation that must have been. Did the kids get to see the firtrucks and activity close up?

Poor D with his swimmer's ear. How long will he have to be out of the pool?

Your flowers are gorgeous. Too bad that you didn't get the wave petunias as they have been so pretty in the past for you. I just cut back all of my leggy ones yesterday and am hoping to get another good blush of color soon. The bee balm is so pretty.

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

Scarey thing with the fire! This time of the year you never know when and where they will pop up.

Pattie said...

Oh my gosh - that was way too close! I'm so glad that they got the fire under control. Bless the firemen and women for all they do to protect us.

Thanks for the cheery photos of your flowers. I love how the urns have really taken off! You've definitely got a green thumb, m'dear!

Have a great week. :-)

Marcy said...

I am really glad that the fire did not get any closer to your house and the barn! That is really scary! I didn't realize y'all were having such a dry spell up there. We are still in a pretty bad drought down here too. However, we have had some pretty good rain this weekend.

Your flowers are very beautiful! What all do you have in your urn and your hanging basket? My hanging baskets are not over flowing like that and I don't know why. I guess they probably really need to be watered twice a day, and I am not home to do that.

I am really glad that your son's cat came home. I wonder if she didn't get caught somewhere and someone let her out. I am glad that our cats are indoors only.

I am glad that you don't spoil your grandchildren too much (haha)! It sounds like yours have it made! I used to get swimmers ear all the time. They say that once you get over it, you can put a mixture of alcohol and water in their ears before they go swimming and it will help them not to get it.

Have a great week!

Mikey said...

Wow, so glad you're ok! And the horses too, that's very scary!
Your barn is so pretty!!! And all your flowers too! Wow!!

Anonymous said...

Your flowers are beautiful. it sounds like things there have been very busy.

Renie Burghardt said...

Your flowers are gorgeous! I love the Red Bee Balm. I have a pinkish-blue wildflower called Bergamot, and it looks like your Bee Balm, except for the color. It is done blooming now. Also have lots of Black-eyed Susans along the edges of the woods. I love the wildflowers as much as the cultivated ones.

What a scary incident with the fire! I live sorrounded by forests on all sides, and am always afraid of fires. Last summer was really dry around here, but so far this summer, we've been blessed with abundant rain. I hope your drought is over soon, and abundant rain comes your way.

Take care, and have a great week!

Hugs,

Renie

PS. Have you considered doing a little rain dance? I did, last summer, and it worked. Well, not right away, but a couple of weeks later. :-)

Nonnas News said...

Such beautiful flowers!I'll do a raindance for you!!

KC said...

WOW your flowers are beautiful.
and OH MY GOODNESS!!! what is it with fires this weekend. one of my neighbors place caught fire this weekend, then one of my other cyber friends neighbor places caught fire this weekend also.
Poor Poor D, swimmers ear is awful.. about 2 years ago I had 2 of the 4 kids have it at the same time didn't make for a fun week.

Callie said...

The flowers are beautiful! Oh good grief! A fire that close, how scary! Glad it turned out ok. What a careless idiot he was!

Tammy said...

Wow, what an exciting day you all had there! Fire trucks and news crews!
So glad everything turned our OK!

Your flowers are just beautiful!

I'm back from my mom's and trying to catch up but I don't think it's going to fully happen! ;)

Have a wonderful week! :)
~Tammy

Carole Burant said...

Hello my dear friend:-)

Your flowers are looking gorgeous and so healthy! I didn't buy any wave petunias this year but I think some were mixed with the regular ones because I have some growing in some of my pots! lol Maybe I got yours? hehe Oh I so love Black Eyed Susans and bought a couple of plants which I planted at the front of the house...I noticed this morning that they are starting to form flowers so should be blooming in the next couple of weeks:-)

Omigosh, I can just imagine how scary it was to have that fire so close to home...as you say, the wind can change directions so fast!! Glad to hear everything ended up well...hope they charge that idiot for carelessly starting the fire!!! People like that get me so angry...grrrrrr!

Awwww poor D having swimmer's ear...I had that once and I was in so much pain, I would never wish it on anyone. Ear aches have to be one of the worst things. Prayers that he heals soon!!

Hope your week has started off well! Love you my friend. xoxoxo

Musings of a Housewife said...

I always love your flowers. I'll get to see them in three weeks!!!!!

kdwhorses said...

Man, glad no one was hurt in the fire! That is a scary situation.

Your flowers are beautiful!

Sounds like you have been busy since I have been gone!

Have a great Monday!

Alice Grace said...

I love your flowers! Especially the Bee Balm! I was reading all about them, then the story about the fire got me so excited till I was sure all was well with the horses and your property. How blessed you are that it did not spread and you had such great professionals around to help. You have such a gorgeous place!

palmtreefanatic said...

wow! Those are the most beautiful flowers!!!!

That is quite the scare with the fire episode!

So hot there, gonna be nice sunny and hot here this week, and Hubby wants me to help him paint the garage....UGH!

Nancy said...

Just me again....(senior moment, you know) I had an afterthought about the swimmer's ear problem D is having. My daughter used to have that when she was young, and our pediatrician suggested using lamb's wool in her ears (I believe that's what it was called) and also a bathing cap. Seems the water won't penetrate the lamb's wool, and it really did keep the water out of her ears. She swam all the time after that with no further infections. She actually lived in the water! But....I must tell you that I had to yell quite loud for her to hear me to get out of the pool at lunchtime, though! LOL Below are a couple of sites you may find helpful for different products for swimmer's ear. Hope the little guy is doing better now.

http://www.hylandsearache.com/home/?gclid=COLah-CGwpQCFQcUQgodNETTTg

http://marketplace.healthline.com/results/searchResults.jsp?query=swimmer%27s+ear&partnerID=20004

Callie said...

I think I forgot to say that I LOVE the red bee balm!

Train Wreck said...

Beautiful flowers! I want you to move next door right away!! Just Lovely!!
Also in defense of the fella who didn't put the fire completly out...Just Shoot him!! (Sorry I was on the "Milkmans Wife" Blog earlier!) You have to check her out she will crack you up!!
Anyway people are idiots, take 20 mins make sure the fire is OUT!! I am glad you and your horses and beautiful flowers are ok!!

The W.O.W. factor! said...

Oh my gosh! Fires are pretty scary! We've had a few...caused by electric horse fence! I refuse to have them in this DRY country we are in now! The grain train generally starts some in these parts (aside from lightning) and they are bad enuff! Whew! Glad you are all ok!
And LOVE the Bee Balm! May have to find some next year...if I ever get thru this years infiltration of some bug I've never seen!
Barb