Mike, I agree. I don't know what we'd do without them. This weekend, when I watched footage on the news of the Bastrop-Smithville, TX area wildfire where around 30 homes, a dozen or more businesses, and a couple of dozen outbuildings were lost, my heart just broke for those who lost everything they owned. I still am in awe of the fact that our firefighters kept the Love County fire from burning homes. (A couple of barns were lost.) The firefighters literally raced from one home to the next, arriving just in time to keep the homes from burning. Even though the homes were saved, many people lost cattle grazing lands, fruit trees, shade trees, garden areas, home landscaping, outbuildings, etc. However, I know they feel so fortunate to still have their homes. I also still am in awe of the fact that firefighters came from Purcell, Norman and all kinds of fire depts. in those areas. The fact that volunteers would come so far to help us brought many people to the point of tears. I don't think those firefighters will ever know how deeply touched we Love Countians were by their response to our local emergency. We've had several grass fires since then and undoubtedly will have more this fire season, but that was the worst one most people here have ever seen--including several professional firefighters who have 20, 30 or more years' firefighting experience. One retired professional firefighter (33 years of professional service, and is still a volunteer many years after retirement) told me he personally observed "fire tornadoes" he estimated at 100' tall within the burning area. I can't even imagine what that would be like. We are grateful that the fire was stopped and homes were not lost--in fact, the word "grateful" doesn't seem big enough for how thankful we are. It takes a special breed of person to put their life on the line to fight wildfires and we're so fortunate to have folks who are willing to do that. Dawn

Rickey, Of course it was Fred. Who else his age is out driving around visiting gardeners in the middle of the afternoon? LOL If you see Billy Fred, do see if you can find out what he knows because he may know more details. Nowadays, when I ask Fred "who" he is talking about, he often can't remember names and will say something like 'you know...that guy that lives over yonder' and, of course, I have no clue who he means. Having said that, I hope that when I am Fred's age (and I'm not sure what it is but think right around 90?) I still get around as well as he does. Sometimes I do have to get Billy Fred to tell me who his dad is talking about because, while Fred always seems to have his facts straight, he does have trouble remembering names now and then. I had wondered about those goats....about how he keeps them safe because I've never seen any kind of guardian dog like a Great Pyrenees out there with them. I heard a loud growling this morning from the woods oddly enough (and I was inside the house and it sounded like it was right there in the room with me!) and it about scared me to death. As far away as your house is from ours, it is odd we've both heard that growling sound recently. It isn't like we're so close geographically that we'd hear the same growl at the same time. I've never heard this sound before and I pretty much thought I'd heard everything there is to hear around here. The dogs were going nuts in their dog yard, and I ran downstairs and didn't see a thing, but the cats were on the porch wanting to come inside. After that growling sound, I canceled my plans to work in the yard. James, I feel like much of what you say is true, but we have both good and bad government employees and always will. I know sometimes the local wildlife people seem to say whatever the 'official' story line is but their eyes and body language are telling you something else. Our local law enforcement officers are pretty good about telling us to 'do what you have to do' to stay safe, because they know they can't be everywhere at once. They also come as quickly as they can when called, but with only 1 or 2 or 3 county deputies/reserve deputies on duty at a time, their response time can be frustratingly slow. Game bird, I promise, if you tell me you see three dinosaurs crossing the road, I'll believe you. And. on a funnier note....Chris was 15 when we moved here and had a huge iguana named Alex. He built Alex a nice roomy outdoor pen, but somehow Alex would escape and run around although he always came back to the cage when he was hungry. We alerted our neighbors, and I showed Alex to Bill one day. We were watching Alex from the road and he climbed to the top of the pecan tree, which was then losing its leaves for autumn, so you could see Alex very clearly. At that point he was about 5' long. When Bill saw him, he said he needed to warn his wife and daughters because he feared they'd about run off the road and wreck their vehicles if Alex ever ran out into the road in front of them. Bill was afraid the women in his family would think Alex was an alligator. Carol, I do think a lot of people know exactly how to play the system. Tim and Chris both work at D-FW Airport, which is incorporated just like a city, and has a large Department of Public Safety consisting of police, fire and emergency medical personnel employees. Their department has several hundred employees and most are wonderful, but there are a couple that of virtually worthless. How people like that keep their jobs is just beyond me. Dawn

Happy birthday, Blooms! I was working for a travel distribution company out of an office in the financial district in Boston. We watched everything on the projector in our conference room, until the financial district was evacuated. I remember the chaos and frantic phone calls (when the phones would even work!) and emails both to and from loved ones. I lived directly across the water from Logan Airport, and I also remember the silence of those days following. I distinctly remember walking to work a couple days later, and hearing a military jet go overhead (they were the only planes we saw at the time), and watching people on the ground flinch/duck and look up in fear. I had friends who both did and did not make it, I think of them often. The one slighty silver lining was how nice everyone was to each other (even perfect strangers) afterward - I really remember that. I also remember that there was hurricane swell surf that day (a big deal in New England!). I couldn't watch the news any more, so we went out. There were a lot of people out in the water, and it was the quietest, kindest, most reflective day that I've experienced in the line-up. It was healing to be in touch with mother nature. I heard stories later about surfers who had skipped work in the towers that morning to take advantage of the waves (we'd had a pretty long flat spell previously). My heart goes out to those who lost friends and family that day.

There's a lot of great advice here. I just wanted to share my first thought which is, "Yikes!" Additionally, here's a story/fable I've always loved that you could share with your family about a Mexican fisherman: An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.” The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.” “But what then?” Asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!” “Millions – then what?” The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”