Wildfire Aftermath

I finally took the time to download and process all my photos from the wildfire and its aftermath here in the Magnolia, Texas area, so I thought I would tell the story through pictures...

The following photo if from my front porch facing East. It was about 3:15 in the afternoon on Labor Day and I had looked out of the window in our home office and noticed the dark black "clouds" near the horizon, and I thought, "it's not supposed to rain today, what are those clouds?" But in a split-second after I had that thought, I realized that those were not clouds - that was smoke - thick black and brown smoke! (the photos don't do it justice -the second photo captures the blackness at the horizon a bit better)

Well as you can see, the fire appeared to be fairly close by, and it wasn't just a small brush fire. About this time the police drove through our neighborhood informing us that we needed to evacuate. Within ten minutes, my husband and I and our dog Maddie were in two vehicles, carrying as much as we could think to grab from the house. It would be six long days before we were able to return, not sure what we would return to...

As I explained in a previous post, our entire neighborhood, with the exception of one house was spared from the fire damage. Strong NE winds blew the worst of the fire South and West of us on that first day, and the firefighters, who are true heroes, made fire breaks and managed to keep the fire from reentering our neighborhood! However, the fire went on to do incredible damage not far from us - 75 people lost their homes and the pretty countryside here is marred where huge swaths of pasture and forest lands were destroyed. Here are a few photos I took after we were allowed to return home. All of these photos are within a mile or two from our home, so it gives you a perspective of just how blessed we really are to come out with no damage...

Burned pastureland...

Charred underbrush...

Melted resin fence...

Torched trees and shrubs...

Destroyed abandoned brick house...

I am still amazed that we were spared...thank you Lord!

A few days after we returned, we got a heaven-sent blessing...RAIN! (though it was only a shower here)...this is our front porch...

(thanks for all your prayers for rain!)

But you can see beyond the fence that the drought has really taken its toll on our area. Here's a closeup of what the "grass" looks like in our yard and all around the region...

Those leaves are not Fall leaves, they are dead Summer leaves that have simply fallen from our trees from the drought. So, we are still in dire need of extended periods of measurable rain...

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OK, enough about fires and drought! It's the first official day of Fall! I love this time of year!

And I am happy about all the good things coming up! If you don't see me around here very often or if I'm slow in visiting your blogs, it's just because I am very busy with a number of projects that I am very excited about! More about all the upcoming goodies very soon I promise! Oh, and I've managed to do some fun thrifting and I've found some awesome stuff...photos coming!

Have a blessed weekend friends and thank you sincerely for checking in on me from time to time!

We'll talk again soon!