Charlyn’s Web

We live in a unique area. It’s is a ‘sovereign nation’ all to itself, really. And you thought I lived in the United States, well, we do it’s just an island unto itself. Our little island has decided to follow EPA air quality standards. Never mind that the whole county around us does not and that we live in a rural area with not much industrialization/pollution. It’s what they decided and that is that! We can’t burn all summer, it’s pretty much universal that from a randomly picked day in June to an equally random date in September; no burning is allowed. Doesn’t matter how much rain we get it’s the dates, stupid! Anyway, now that we are technically allowed to burn we have to call to see if it will be allowed for our air quality. To be honest there are times we get an inversion, where the cold air gets trapped on the ground- held down by a higher pressure on top. It’s foggy and cold and miserable. On those days, I understand why it would not be a good idea to burn- it would all hang around for days on end. Other days, I just don’t get it. We were checking quite often to see if we could burn but they just were not allowing it. Finally, yesterday for the narrow window of 12 -3 PM, we could burn.

So The Col. came home about 1:30 and started the wanton burning. We raked up weeds, tumbleweeds, from the fences and ditches, lighting piles as we went. We were in a hurry! We had limited time. He was burning the ditches along the driveway when a bit of the grass field next door started burning. Ah well, it won’t go far. We finished up one side of the driveway and looked back. Oh, oh. The fire wasn’t going out and was making it’s way into the field. We sent HP for a shovel but he seemed to be taking his time, not understanding the urgency. The Col. tried the rake on it but that seemed to stir it up. Plus it was looking… largish. So he ran back to the house and filled up the sprayer tank with water. The sprayer tank holds quite a bit of water and is pulled by the garden tractor. I started raking away some of the dead material in the thin areas. Visions of California flashed through my mind. We had been pushing the time limit a mite and I kept thinking “don’t let the fire department show up!” You see, out here in our sovereign little island we have to PAY when the fire trucks show up. Yep, our local taxes don’t go to that. But you, dear federal tax payer, get to support it. Thank you! Except we get to pay a hefty fee if ever they actually have to come fight a fire for us. Isn’t it glorious? Fortunately, the little sprayer worked like a charm and put it out easily.

It really wasn’t too bad, the field was not harmed (probably did it some good) and it wasn’t close to any structures. But it was a tad worrisome for a bit. Yep, us pyros burning everything in sight.

There probably will not be another burn day until May. Shucks.