I woke up this morning to a gorgeous day. Temperatures were somewhere in the high 70s or low 80s. A moderately strong breeze was blowing through my courtyard. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Indeed, from the comfort of my front porch, everything in the Austin area seemed copacetic. The beauty of the day belied reality, however, which I quickly learned once I turned on the morning news. By the time I woke up, no less than a dozen new wildfires had ignited, in addition to the raging fire in Bastrop County and the fire threatening to raze the Steiner Ranch community. As the day wore on, more fires were reported, more fire fighters were called up, and more people were forced to evacuate from their homes. My heart goes out to these people, and to the fire fighters and rescuers working to get the flames under control, as Texas is hit with yet another hammer this summer. Hopefully the drought and risk of continued wildfires will dwindle in the coming weeks, perhaps with a bit of rain and cooler temperatures. We can only hope.
