FTLComm - Tisdale - August 28, 2000

There is almost a hint of panic in the voice of various American governors as they discuss the amazing outbreak and persistence of their forest fires. With thousands of fire fighters on the scene attempting control uncontrollable situation it is understandable for their apparent desparation. Forest fires are not something we should consider within our realm as being able to control. If in the first hour or two a rapid response team can get on top of a fire then it can be controlled but once it develops its own weather system it is up to nature to put an end to its rampage. Each evening we continue to see the particles dispersed above us from the fires almost a thousand miles away and it is depressing but a reality that neither we nor any other moral can actually do anything about this conflagration. Just as the picture above shows us what could well be a bit of a pause in the harvest of 2000 with some showers expected today and tomorrow before warm air returns and the harvest can continue in earnest. It is our role to look humbly on, unable to affect any change but only to endure what is and what will be.

This picture above shows the amazing red sky Sunday night, one of series of red skies that have come to us each evening. Below is a rather poor QuickTime VR panorama of this same scene though it does give you some idea of the scope of the sky it is less then I would have liked. I have been overhauling the operating system on my computer this past week and not all accessories are working up to the level necessary to do work of this kind in a proper manner but things will improve.