While the fire continued to burn for weeks, away from us, thank God, we waited for the air to clear. Rick returned home to water the stock. Everything was fine. Roads were closed and crazy neighbors sat in the driveway to warn off non existent looters. Fear is a terrible thing it makes people irrational.
You can see the burned for needles, the black water in the bird bath. The ceiling was smoke covered in the great room and had to be repainted. We threw out the outdoor cushions, rugs etc. And then went about cleaning the creosote residue off everything, furniture, walls, deck, walk ways etc. It wasn’t easy. The tar like residue isn’t like ash at all. It continued to be blown in on the burned needles all winter. It’s now May and I am still washing it off things. We have found large burned bark pieces in the hay field and forest. Any of these might have started a jump fire. We were even luckier than I thought.
In the media post you can see the smoke and in another taken a week later you can see the smoldering of burned areas in the distance. No, it isn’t fog, it’s smoke of burning stumps. You can also see the burned forest floor near us on Shibley road. The burned mail box, the home was saved. It was to close, way to close.
As I write this months later, my fear has subsided a bit. But this spring has seen the lowest rainfall on record, another dry year. See the section on ice for more bad news.
Tawney's Red Gate Farm 