Burn baby burn

"The smoke-filled orange skies above Pine Stump Junction Tuesday afternoon seemed to be threatening something big was about to peek up over the treetops." The Mining Journal reports regular updates on the Sleeper Lake fire in Luce County Michigan. Over 18,000 acres of land have been destroyed by the fire and they now say it is 25% contained. However the link is not to a story about the fire, but a story about a motel owner in the back woods of the upper peninsula of Michigan who would not leave. As the police evacuated Pine Stump Junction, two gentlemen stood their ground against mother nature and made the choice to wait and see.

It's the makings of a good novel to me... "A small town and townsfolk with deep roots. Roots as deep as the trees that were burning, threatening their very existance. If Mother nature was not kind, there might be no recognition that anyone had even lived there. As the wildfire grew over 15,000 acres two men stood together in a battle of wills. Theirs versus the forest fire that had started over 5 days ago by an innocent lightning strike in the middle of a swamp. Who knew that the lives of dozens would never be the same... "

You can picture the two old men soaking bandannas and tieing them around their necks, covering their mouths while out the window black smoke billowed and you imagine the flames in the distance underneath all that smoke.

In all seriousness, however, thoughts and prayers go out to those effected and thanks and praise to all the firefighters and other personel helping contain this fire.