Pink Sky at Dawn

Charlie got me up at 6:30 this morning, bless his heart. That's what they say in the south instead of something derogatory. The sunrise was colorful.

Around noon, I headed west towards Wardensville. I considered finding the houses that burned down west of  Strasburg, then decided not to depress my mood by looking at them. But when I pulled off at a gas station to let someone go past, I saw that I was at the corner of Coal Mine Road. That happens to be the road where the wildfire burned some houses. My curiosity got the better of me and I drove a little way down the road.

I saw the ruins of two homes, and they were not even on the same side of the road. It was strange because there were a lot of other homes in the area that did not get burned. The fires were spread by wind and forested terrain, and it was really unfortunate that these homes were owned by people who are related to each other. I just can’t imagine how distressing that was! The area had been evacuated so no one was hurt.

The fire burned right up to the edge of Mt. Hope Church, but did not cross the grass to the building. I imagine that firefighters arrived in time to protect the church, using the lawn as a firebreak. 

I turned around at the church and drove to Wardensville. A hard rain started falling and suddenly there was sleet. I pulled off in a parking lot until it eased up. In the picture, you can see the sleet on the left where the wiper blade pushed it. 

Water H2O / Skywatch

The storm did not last long. We had already had two days of rain, which I welcomed because I’d rather have rain than drought. It was dry conditions followed by high winds that drove the wildfires to spread.