Good morning. 4500 acres (mostly forest) burned up so far, and the sheriffs office just issued 6500 additional pre-evacuation notices. :( On this google map, you can see where the fire is (red outline) and the area that is currently under evacuation orders. (blue outline) As of 5 minutes ago, the pre-evacuation notices that just went out are not on this map... those areas will be added later if/when more evacuations begin. These forest fires are so scary. I live about 40 miles south of where the big fire started yesterday...on this map, you would go south on highway 67 to get to my house, and no fire here. But I feel so bad for the ones who have had to leave. Some have animals trapped in the fire zone, they are still trying to get them out. And the firefighters are working so hard, but when its this dry... the best they can do is get people out of its path, and try to minimize property damage as much as possible. The smoke is creating an air quality hazard north of here. This is a gorgeous forest too... runs all the way from here to Denver with very few roads. Its a shame to see so much of it on fire...:( If only there was some way to make it rain like crazy... that would really help at this point. Les Here is a link that might be useful: Map of fire zone & current evacuation area

I love seeing the pictures of your fires, especially on this cold morning when the pilot light is out on the heater here and the 'mulch guy/heater lighter' sleeps late ... LOL! Those piles of brush represent a lot of work. What is the purpose for burning the grass (fresh grass growth, more wild flowers?) and what do you have in mind for the fields after you burn the grass? Although I'm a city girl I'm fascinated with what ranchers and farmers do. Thanks again for sharing your excellent photos.

We did consider a blue to go with our pool tile and might have gone that route if the granite had any blue or the right greys in it. I found the fire pit online but had to order through a dealer. The guy there showed us the stock glass, but also larger pieces. Some are larger crumbles and others look like small ice cubes or gems. I think he called one of them liquid ice -- the name because of how it reflects the light and looks melted from the fire. He said some people us one color for most of the glass and then scatter some of a different color on top or use some clear or colored larger pieces to catch the light on top. If I recall correctly, our pit has a dish that is about 24 inches wide and not too deep. The glass just covers the burner and I think we needed 80 lbs of glass. The glass runs several dollars a pound, so it is easy enough to change out, but it may not be cheap -- especially if your contractor is building a large brick pit. I assume he will insert a pan for the burner and make it more shallow? You may want to ask about that.

A beekeeper came by this afternoon to collect the bees. He put the container with the hosta on top of his open bee box, and it was fascinating to see the bees all crawl straight down the container into the box, drawn by the existing beeswax. It turns out bees won't sting while they are swarming (unless you squish them). The beekeeper said this was a baby swarm (quite small). He didn't see the queen with this group, so it's possible we'll see more.