FIRE!

Fire season is upon us.

It’s the end of May, and a huge wildfire, some 10,000 hectares in size, is out of control and threatening the town of High Level in northwestern Alberta. Townsfolk were evacuated several days ago. It is only one of many fires burning across the country. Drought is making a bad situation worse.

Fire has been both a tool and a danger. Indigenous people fired the prairie to green up the grass that, in turn, brought the bison back in their numbers. Europeans traveling across the plains described fires stretching from one horizon to the other, creating a scene worthy of Dante’s Inferno, leaving behind miles of scorched, blackened earth that they crossed for days afterward.

Got To Finish Tonight!

We clomped into the house at 1:50 am, collapsed on kitchen chairs, exhausted, bone-tired. Mom came down in her nightie and housecoat. “I heard the combine come in. All done?” she asked.

“Yep,” Dad said.

“How’d it go?”

“Wheat was getting tough but we finished the 80 acres.” He pulled off his boots, ran his hands through dust- and chaff-laden hair. “Good thing Glen helped with his combine and truck.”

I went to the sink and washed grime from my face. “I’m off to bed,” I said.

“Me, too,” said Dad.

Next day we watched the snow come down.

 

(The 99-word challenge – write about exhaustion. The story – a true one. At harvest time, farmers often have to race against the weather to get the crop in before the weather changes.)

 

#99WordChallenge #FarmLife #NonFiction #RuralLife #Weather #MargaretGHanna #OurBullsLooseInTown

April in Alberta

Glowering grey clouds
hurl stinging icy missiles
cold wind knifes through
air bites –
winter’s last hurrah

Nursery catalogues –
winter’s antidote –
cover the kitchen table,
coffee cup in hand
I dream and plan
summer’s glory

 

#Poetry #Winter #Summer #Dreaming #Garden #MargaretGHanna