Forest Fire!

To day I decided to stop putting off doing a not so pleasant chore. Washing 80 or so 4 and 5 gallon plastic buckets that we use to collect maple sap, yes I put It of for a long time. But I got it done and now the buckets are clean and ready for next year. I also took a brake from washing and went with some of my family into the national forest with our loader tractor and trailer to pick up fire wood and black locust posts. That Daddy and my younger brothers cut earlier to day. The black locust posts were quit a blessing. I have been wanting to fence in our land but have not do to cost and lack of posts. So it was a blessing to find that the tree removers have been cutting down black locust trees in the forest where a power-line goes through. We are not allowed to cut down live trees out in the national forest but since the trees were all ready cut down we are going to put them to good use. Black locust makes wonderful posts since the wood is rot resistant and will last for 30 years or more in the ground. When we got back I went back to washing buckets. Then one of us notice a smokey brown cloud drifting from the east. We knew it was not an ordinary cloud and soon it drifted over the sun turning the bright sunny afternoon to an evening sunset glow. Then one of my brothers informed us that the neighbor boy told him that they saw on the news that it was smoke from a forest fire. So I went on line to find out where it was, and found that there was two forest fires one in Kalkaska and Crawford counties within the National Guard base(Camp Grayling) and a very large one in Rosscommon county 90 or so miles to the east of us. The small fire is under control now but burned over 1000 acres an destroyed 10 structures. The big one is not under control yet and has burned 5000 acres mostly a national forest area of Jack-pine and has destroyed 20 homes. Both fires have forced residents to evacuate to emergency shelters being setup at schools and township halls.

Here are two photos of one of the fires

The sun as seen behind the smoke at our farm

Me washing the buckets by the sugar house