I've told you that I don't see the fox here every day. Didn't see him yesterday, but he spent about an hour here this afternoon.







I think he's fattened up some this summer and he lost his winter coat. For awhile it looked like he was growing it back, but now that has disappeared, too.



It turns out the big fire west of Boulder, Colorado the Four Mile Fire was caused by a 71-year old man who was legally burning some brush and tree limbs. He has been a volunteer fire fighter in that area for the past 20 years. He thought he put it out but three days later the wind whipped up and blew the coals around, starting the fire. 169 homes were destroyed, including his, $8.3 million in damage, 900 fire fighters still working on it at a cost of $20 million.

The fire that's threatening my home here was also started by someone burning off brush to clean up their homesite. It's so dry these days, you'd think they'd avoid that kind of activity. I have slash piles from trimming trees but I don't burn them until the dead of winter when there is snow on the ground and no wind.

What I don't understand is that our local counties require burn permits. You are supposed to get one ahead of time for about $20 and the penalty for not getting one is $10,000. Because you're probably going to get caught only if it gets out of control and burns down a neighborhood. They understand that you have to wait for the right day, so the permits are good for a long period of time. They require that you notify the local fire department when you are going to have your burn. Presumably they don't come stand by, but they probably give advice about whether it's a good idea for that day, and they probably keep it in mind. I'm betting they'll pay more attention in the future. So, did these guys have permits?