Wednesday Treasures...Smokey Start to Our Day...

Good Morning everyone! Welcome to my Wednesday Treasures for this week.

As you can see from the pictures below, we are still dealing with a LOT of smoke in our area from the woods/brush fires that started this past weekend on the west side of our town...

This is how it looked at our house this morning as I put out the flag at sunrise...We are on the east side of town, approximately five miles from the fire, but the smoke continues to blow over our way day and night...mostly settling down on top of us for the night...

This is how it looked yesterday afternoon on our still very dry Still Waters Pond:

And this is how it looked this morning...

I copied this photo from Facebook from this morning, when there were road closures of our main east-west and north-south roadways. They actually had to cancel school for today because the smoke was so thick the buses couldn't run their routes. Also some businesses have had to close yesterday and today due to the smoke.

They say the fire itself is contained, but it is an extensive 300 acre prairie/woods/peat bog area, and the roots of trees/palmettos underground will continue to burn for a long time.  We are definitely praying for the rain that is SUPPOSED to come tonight around midnight and last for the night and much of tomorrow...praying that it really comes and does what rain is supposed to do! RAIN for a long enough time to put out the fire and  soak into the ground.  All prayers are appreciated!!  For those of you who have lived around places that have frequent forest fires, etc., you know how unpleasant it is to deal with thick smoke everywhere, even seeping inside your house, making it difficult to breathe after a while.   I am thankful that the fires did not do any major damage to any homes or people/livestock, but the smoke is not good, especially for the many elderly people we have in this community.  So thank you for your prayers for the rain to fall and keep falling!!

Oh, I almost forgot, son Benton sent me these two amazing pictures the other evening, taken from the boat ramp on Lake Ida, which is not far from their house.  That is the smoke at sunset...Pretty amazing, but still, this is serious stuff...

Meanwhile, for the second morning in a row, "King Blackie" has taken up residence on Daddy's lap while daddy is trying to enjoy his morning cup of coffee. Daddy is well prepared with a towel on his lap, in case of "fleas". (and also to help protect him from sharp little claws that tend to dig in when he wants to move...)

This is what is written on his coffee mug:

I think that pretty well says it all.

Psalm 31:19 NKJV

"19 Oh, how great is Your goodness,

Which You have laid up for those who fear You,

Which You have prepared for those who trust in You

In the presence of the sons of men!"

We do feel very blessed and thankful for God's protection over our home and family and friends throughout this past week especially, with the fires and the cold weather and wind and storms.  We even feel blessed to have this little black kitty showing us love and affection in his own way...sometimes we find out that God knows what we need even when we don't think so,..

Okay, it's time to fix some lunch and move on with our day. We just heard from "the kids" that they are coming over tonight and we are going to make tacos or some rendition of Mexican style food here together. That's always a lot fun! So yes, we are "simply blessed" and thankful.  

I pray your day is filled with blessings and unexpected joys as well.  Bye for now!