This is waay dry!

We are in the midst of a severe drought.

• It is so dry in Polk County that the fish have left. They must have left because I can't catch any.
• It is so dry the state has forbidden outdoor fires, including campfires, yet we have still had almost 600 wildland fires in August alone.
• It is so dry that the Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling.
• It is so dry the Methodists are giving out wet-wipes.
• It is so dry the Presbyterians are giving out rain checks
• It is so dry the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water.

The temperatures have been near 100 almost every day for three weeks and we haven't had an inch of rain in that time. We have had some thunderstorms but they are quick and don't leave behind much water.

This has all meant a lot of activity for the volunteer fire department. We had a brush fire on Chocolate Drop Mountain last night that lasted until the early morning hours, a power line down at dawn and another brush fire right after that. Everybody is just praying for a nice gentle rain. Anything else is likely to bring lightning and we certainly don't need that.

My blog program now lets me add video as well as still pictures, so here is a little test.





It doesn't let me load much. This tanker explodes in a huge ball of flame. But no one was seriously injured.

We are hearing afternoon thunder so we may get a drop or two of rain. All the towns have put severe water restrictions in place. We are on a well and so far no problems but we are watching what we use because the water table is getting very low.