Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #225.
Good morning everyone on this sunny, but chilly August morning! I hope everyone is feeling well and having a good day whatever you might happen to be doing. It’s an odd morning here at Steve’s Country. Sir George and Lady Pearl were the only 2 gulls here this morning. I had already lost the 2 that only came once in a while, they haven’t been here all month. Sir Charles and Sir Henry don’t seem to come much now and both are missing this morning. The most odd thing however, no chipmunks! Well, Chester finally showed up, just once, but he never came back. They were all here yesterday, except maybe Skitter, I didn’t see him all day. Possibly it’s because of Rocky, Jasper’s look alike, he spends so much time chasing those chipmunks and Jasper too. However, it’s still odd that all the chipmunks would stop coming at the same time. Maybe they will yet show up today. I hope so. This is much too early for them to disappear. Speaking of disappearing, today is going to be our last warm day of the summer. From here through the remainder of the month it will be back to fall temps. Today it’s supposed to be 84F (29C), then it drops just a bit the next 2 days, after that we dip to high 60s/low 70s (20 to 22C) for the rest of the month.
But it is mid August. That’s the time when things suddenly change from summer to fall. But maybe we will have a nice long mild fall this year. Yes, I know, I like to dream. But it is possible. The town north of us that is being threatened by a forest fire has been mostly evacuated now. The fire hasn’t grown too much due to winds dying down and is now about 1,850 acres in size. Wind is expected to pick up again today in that area from the west which would help to keep it away from the main town but a smaller village in the area would be in the fire’s path. We have 29 forest fires burning in this northwestern region right now, only 4 are under control, but most are small fires, the largest is around 8,000 acres. Right here it is a beautiful summer morning, just a light breeze, and so quiet.
Today for our flowers we have some more cosmos to enjoy. The top photo is a nice pink, while the photo just above is a pale wash of yellow on white, a very beautiful color, which looks even better in person. I had to mention the color on this one since not all screens produce colors exactly the same. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #224.
Good morning everyone! It is still morning here anyway, though it’s nearly gone. It’s a nice sunny and very windy day once again, but perhaps not quite so windy as yesterday. This strong wind is not a good thing right now, there are a lot of forest fires burning in this part of Ontario. The small one close to us has been declared out now, but there is one near another community that has forced 4,100 people to be evacuated right away. There is only one highway out of that town and the fire is right alongside of it right now. The fire started yesterday and was spotted in the afternoon at 12 acres in size, by evening it was nearly 1,000 acres in size and growing fast. Strong wind and forest fires do not go together well.
It is very dry in the forest right now, fires start very easily. And a large percentage of our forest fires are caused by careless people. Those are fires that could be prevented. We have a beautiful area here, we really don’t want it going up in smoke. The blackened landscape after a fire is not a beautiful sight. One time we had a forest fire heading to our town, it was started by a campfire on a windy day like this and in one week that campfire grew to 100,000 acres. Carelessness can do a lot of damage sometimes. So much for today’s rant, sorry about that. It is a beautiful summer day, hopefully I can get out for a walk later. Maybe tomorrow I will remember to tell about my Sunday night visitor. Strange things happen sometimes.
For photos today, both are views of our beautiful lake on a summer morning a couple weeks ago. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
