This too shall pass

We are in trying times here. The fire season rages on, and there are evacuation alerts and evacuation orders within an hour of us, the closest being about 45 minutes drive from here. I have listed my availability to haul or house horses, dogs and cats with the local evacuation pages on Facebook. My friend Janice is very close to a fire that has both an alert and an order in areas close to her. There is an evacuation order between here and Cranbrook, the nearest large city to us, and I sure hope they don't shut the highway down through there; so that people from there can come south to safety if needed.

Meanwhile, life goes on here, I got all my winter hay in and now I am hoping like crazy that the fires won't hit this area.

That is a well house just behind the bales, if I had to I'd soak the ground around them, as well as everything within reach. I do have an evacuation plan in place if need be, but living this close to town and between 2 very good fire departments I think our area is in good hands. We also have an airport and the huge Kootenay lake for air support.

The foals are getting along well, Mesa doesn't seem to miss her mama at all.

Look how big Pistol is, he is 2 months younger than Mesa and he is at least as tall as her already. I think he will finish out around 15.2 hh (or more) like Belle's other colts. Mesa will likely be around 14.2 or 14.3 hh. The perfect size for me!
I heard back from Coulee's new owner, she is quite happy with her.
Once the weather settles down here, I will start riding Rosalee again, and I want to teach Mesa to pony, which I'll do within the paddock. Just short sessions at first. She already leads well and is buddies with Rosalee so I think it will go well.

Pistol has mellowed out quite a bit, I can catch him easily now anywhere and he isn't as bitey/flighty/strikey as he used to be.

He is very helpful too!

Anyway, we are trying to keep alert and ready here, and our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Texas and Louisiana for the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Some of the heroic stories coming out of there show just how strong and resilient people are in the face of disaster. There is one cowboy on Facebook, Chance Ward- if you are on FB check him out, he and his family and friends are riding and swimming their horses through the flood to rescue horses and cattle. And there are so many images of people of all kinds helping each other. There is no division, no hatred, no politics, just people helping people to survive this disaster. The way it should be- the goodness of heart triumphing.
Also the fires in the northern States are so similar to what is happening here, but not as present to the media as the hurricane is. It would take the evacuation of a major city for the media to even care about the devastation caused by the raging fires that are destroying rangeland, livestock, lives, homes and livelihoods. Over a half million acres in Montana alone.
This has been a terrible year for natural disasters, one after another relentlessly. On the other side of the world, monsoon season is taking many lives too.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. God bless us all and I for one am not afraid to pray for Divine intervention. Because it really does feel like a chastisement this year.