First Fire of the Season...

What?!?!?!? you say?  Yes, you read right. I had the first fire of the season Sunday evening and it was lovely.  Being here in Oklahoma you would not think of having a fire at this time of the year with the drought and all, but the wind was low, a lovely breeze was out of the North and it had been so terribly hot here this summer and since we did not get to make our trip up into the mountains, I decided that it was time to have the "First Fire of the Season". Besides I did call the Police Dept. and they said it was ok.

I had been outside playing with the dogs and it just hit me that I needed to have a fire, to sit back and let my mind go blank.  The weekend before, I talked Dave into moving the fire tub from the patio to a cleared space in the yard where the dogs had worn away the grass and was quickly becoming a barren patch of fine sifted dirt (we need rain desperately).  He set the legs of the fire tub on cement blocks so as to not become mired in mud when it does rain (sometime in the near future hopefully, the outlook does not look good). 

I gathered wood from our wood pile, built a square of  wood, it looked like a tic-tac-toe puzzle, put crumpled up newspaper in the center of that, then put a couple of logs across the top with more newspaper in-between those two logs and put the fire stick to the paper.  The wood was so dry that it took a total of 45 seconds for the whole thing to catch on fire.  I put the protective screen on the top, pulled up a chair, and called Dave to come out and join me.  We watched the sun set and the fire go out.  It was loverly! 

I enjoy building a fire on a Sunday morning, taking my coffee, paper or a book out to read in the peace and quiet of the surroundings in my backyard.  I get to hear the neighborhood wake up and the Canadian Geese take off from the retention pond that is not far from the house to fly over to the larger duck pond located just east of the university, where children and parents bring tasty morsels of bread and cracked corn to feed the hoards of geese and ducks milling about.

In the mountains, it's heaven to get to hear the birds start their morning song at about 5:30 a.m. just as the first blush of light breaks through the dark of night and the stars start to disappear in the dawn of morning. The air is so clear and crisp, the sky so blue, the scent of the mountains,water and fauna is overwhelming. The sounds of a waterfall, chipmunks playing among the pine needles, deer softly treading into your campsite, the weasel rushing to hide himself with his treasure, marmots whistling to each other, and the spider web with the morning dew covering it like diamonds glistening in the first rays of light make you wonder if it is a dream or reality.  Last but not least, let's not forget the abundance of wild flowers and grand vistas.  No wonder people want to get away from the cities, smog and noise.  Now if they would just leave their noisy boom boxes and arguments at home, the campgrounds in the mountains would be perfect.

Happy trails...