You Know It's Dry When......

You set fire to your garden hose.

I suppose that needs a bit of an explanation.

It hasn't rained here in forever. Whatever that is.
I smoke.
I have a fire pit out back.
My daughter has lots of bonfires.
There are lots of old coals in the pit.

That should pretty much set the scene.

I was gardening. And smoking. I decided, as I often do, to make use of the firepit as an ashtray. No worries. I live in the humid Midwest. I took some photos, watered a bit, and left the hose draped through the firepit. I went back inside to upload photos to the computer.

A short time later, I glanced into the backyard from the kitchen.
It was smoking.

I knew right away what had happened. The recent lack of rain, the heat of the day, and a light breeze combined with my cigarette butt had started the coals smoldering.

And there sat the hose, right in the middle of it.

It wasn't pretty.

On the positive side, had the fire of the hot coals managed to burn all the way through the hose, it would have put itself out.

On the negative side, I think I need a new hose.

And now you know why they have fire warnings out west. A slight breeze, good kindling, and a small ember will do the trick. I'm always careful when I'm out west.

It's kind of looking like the Midwest is in for a drought.