Me and my Baby

I actually had two stories to tell you yesterday morning, but the one I settled on took precedence. So, I’ll tell you about the smoke first. I woke up with a start yesterday morning…the strong smell of smoke making me jump out of bed. I sleep with the window open and the smoke was so strong it burned my strong and eyes. I looked out the window and everything was white…like a thick, pea-soup fog.

From Mr. FixIt, Jr.

The first thing I did was put my hand on the door and the door knob. It was cool, and the smoke alarms were silent. Good…I don’t think it’s in the house. I threw on some clothes, shut the window and went out in the hall. No smoke smell there so whatever was burning was definitely not our house, so I didn’t wake Mr. FixIt. It was only 30° so I threw on a coat, grabbed my phone, and slipped on my shoes. 

I couldn’t get the focus right, but it’s still pretty cool!

The smell was super strong outside but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. We have some neighbors who burn wood, but I’ve never smelled it that strong. And, the smoke was white. Black, acrid smoke comes from a burning house. White smoke comes from burning wood. Some of these little hollers around here are steep and narrow. If a power line arced on some dead trees, they could be in trouble in a hurry.

the light was actually very cool at the peak!

While I wasn’t convinced it was something to be terribly concerned about, I did feel I should at least call dispatch and ask if there were any fires reported out our way. The dispatcher said he hadn’t heard of anything, asked my address and a few other questions, then said he would send someone to check it out.

I always love how it looks when I’m done. The near field.

Now, I was expecting a guy in a pickup truck to come by and look around…maybe drive up the road a piece, check the next road or two down. What I didn’t expect was to hear the fire siren go off over in town! Oh, no…they were going to make people get out and come over here on a Sunday morning. I began to wish I would have waited. But, better to be safe than sorry, right?

The far field. See that tan patch way out there on the left? That is one of the pollinator gardens. It didn’t really do much of anything last year…just grass. So I mowed it down short and I’ll see if I can plant some things there.

So, I stood there waiting. We live way out in the country and we have a volunteer fire and EMS squad.We are blessed, because there are a lot of communities in West Virginia that have no access to emergency services. We’re a poor state. About ten minutes passed when I could hear the big fire truck coming down the hill. He tried to go out our road and thought better of it. It is very narrow and there’s no place out there to turn a rig that big around.

LOVE this spring green! The maple tree us just barely budding.

They backed out to the two-lane. The squad truck came and a couple of pickups. The chief sent them down to check out the other roads then came over and talked to me. By this time, a breeze started blowing and the smoke was being moved on down the road away from us. I could breathe better. We both decided it was a series of events that caused this. It has been damp the last few days. The weather was warmer on Saturday, then dropped way down to 31° overnight. We were in a temperature inversion where the cold air was pushing down on warmer air at the service. That created fog that lay low to the ground, as did the smoke from the neighbor’s wood stoves. I apologized to the chief and he said I did the right thing. He too was worried the woods were on fire somewhere and was glad he came to check.

The new birdhouses. I bought them at Aldi’s “Aisle of Shame” on Sunday afternoon.

But even that couldn’t top the solar eclipse of yesterday! It was a fun morning with the knitting group, then I came home, cooked a late breakfast of grits and eggs, then jumped on the tractor. I wanted to get the whole place mowed before more rain kicks in this week. I was toodling along when Mr. FixIt flagged me down to come watch the eclipse. He had the lounge chairs set up on the deck and our eclipse glasses ready. I went in and got a cold drink then settled in beside him to watch. 

We had 96% coverage here in West Virginia. I really would have loved to see the total eclipse. We weren’t very far from visibility, but we just had so much to do. And 96% is nothing to sneeze at. It was awesome to watch! But, shortly after the peak, I got back on the tractor. The phrase “burning daylight” took on a whole new meaning! Just as I sat down to right this, a thunderstorm rolled through. Good timing!

I’m heading to town today for lunch with some of my girlfriends then I’m going out to The Farm till Friday. I need to get some things done on the computer and that high speed internet is calling my name! I also want to get that tractor running for the summer of mowing ahead. I’ll take some handwork with me, too. These will be the busiest months of the year coming up. 

I’m ready!

🌷

”Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.“

Genesis 1:11 NIV