Pyro Paranoia

Uh-hum! I prefer to call it "Incendiary Realism!" It seems like the whole state looks like this:

thank you ksl.com for the photo

There doesn't seem to be a day that goes by without one or more fires starting somewhere around here. The grass, trees and shrubs are extra tall and dry because of a mild winter and a very, very, very dry and hot summer!-not a drop of moisture for well over a month and temperatures near 100! Fires have been started by target shooting, hot catalytic converters and sparks from machinery.

Oh...and then yesterday was the 4th of July!

I kept hoping that government heads would get together and ban all fireworks this year. Now...I'm a known pyromaniac! I love setting off fireworks in our backyard. I also love dousing the lawn, trees and house with the hose afterwards. But it's not the responsible exploders I worry about...it's the ones that have no idea that what they shoot UP comes DOWN someplace else! As our governor said, "You can't outlaw stupid!"
My Pyrotechnic Paranoia stems from the fact that THIS is what lies next door to our home:

an empty "land-locked" field full of nice, dry, tall weeds...backing up on to two blocks of houses...all with wooden fences and sheds. So when neighbors start shooting off aerials...with sparks trailing 100 feet in the air...well, naturally I Worry!

Sweetie and I stayed up and watched the field and sniffed the air...straining for that tell-tale smell of "grass fire." Luckily...nothing happened!

This morning, however, I found THIS on the driveway:

It was laying just over the fence from THIS:

Yeah...ya think it would've burned?

On a slightly different note: on the freeway today, traffic was backed up for no reason. I guess drivers were freaking out because little wet spots were landing on their windshields. I seem to recall seeing that before...something from my distant past...oh yeah...RAIN! Hooray!