Drought, FIRE, Mud, Flood.....

I am officially living in a ‘disaster area’….

and,

No, I don’t mean my home!

Actually, any one of the fine citizens of Bastrop county are living in

(unless they’ve been evacuated already)

a 100% declared, no arguments about it, wildfire burning…..

disaster area!

I thought moving here to Texas….lush, green, central Texas meant no more fires! No more watching the news wondering if you’re the next to be evacuated, watching neighbors fight and lose homes and landscapes go black and barren.

That was California.

Where the four seasons the rest of the nation know as

Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring

have been replaced with

Drought, Fire, Mud, and Flood.

Are fires burning? Must be October.

Wait, is it flooding….gotta be January.

Just lost the back 4 feet of my backyard down the hill (neighbors are happy), must be March. Everything is dead and yellow? Yup, it’s August.

Yesterday the Bastrop county judge declared

"DISASTER"!!!!

Somewhere between ‘us’ and Smithville…..

(that small town in Texas with ridiculous bragging rights thanks to Sandra Bullock and a movie she filmed there called ‘Hope Floats’)…..

on a short 12 miles of highway a downed power line started a brush fire.

The fact that yesterday had winds upwards of 30 mph didn’t help.

Twenty-three homes have been lost and a good 150 evacuated.

I know that doesn’t sound like a lot….especially coming from Southern California…but you have to keep in mind that this is the ‘country’.

Houses are far apart….you have to drive to visit your neighbors house. Heck, sometimes you even need to drive a good mile to get your own mail…..and, no, that’s not getting it from the post office!

A good number of the members of our own ward were evacuated from their homes. Some even went to help fight the fire. Others donated their entire water storage to help neighbors in need. The rest of us kept our eyes glued to the TV watching and waiting.

The fire was burning on the highway between us and Smithville, but at the moment the winds were burning ‘toward’ Smithville, which kept us safe. But if at any moment the winds were to shift……well, you get the picture!

I don’t need to remind you that I live in a ridiculously wooded and forested area! And the homes where I live are very close together.

Not to mention it was Stake Conference for us.

Our Stake Center is over an hour away and many of the adults in our ward were attending the adult session.

Those of us left back tending children and the like were on constant alert and receiving nervous phone calls from those sitting in a Stake center a little over an hour away….wanting updates or reminding us to evacuate their children if the need arose!

I can honestly say I’ve experienced nothing like it!

Sunday morning the fire is 50% contained and the winds have died down…somewhat!

I can’t say I miss my days as a wild land firefighter….

but I am grateful to those who worked thru the night and are continuing on today to contain what is left.

True heroes…no doubt about it!

I still can’t say I live in a state that offers me the standard ‘four seasons’.

There isn’t much of a winter….and spring, summer, and fall can’t seem to make up their mind whose turn it is!

Thursday and Friday last week we were in the 90’s….Saturday we barely hit 60!

What the?????

Come on! Let’s get it together!