I heard about a disabled woman in Bexar Co. who got out of her house by crawling to her car while carrying a small dog. Unfortunately, two more dogs perished in the fire.

It's so sad. I'd take in animals in a heartbeat, but I'd be afraid someone would come looking for them after I'd gotten attached to them.

did yall get any rain? are the fires under control? stopped?

We didn't get very much, only sprinkles, but a lot of folks around us did get real rain! It has cooled a bit and that makes a big difference. The Bastrop fire was 95% contained yesterday. Hard to fathom that it's still burning in spots after all this time. Seems everyone we run into has a friend or relative that lost their home.

when did the bastrop fire start? i only started hearing about it maybe a couple of weeks ago now.

mamajack, the Bastrop fire started the day before Labor Day. Unreal it's been burning for over two weeks.

I heard it's 95% contained now! If only we could get them ALL out!

They know now that tree limbs blowing onto the power lines started both of the big fires in Bastrop. We had really high winds that week.

So glad city of Austin is very proactive with monitoring trees and power lines. Any time they trim or cut down a tree, they offer you a choice of native tree to replace the one they're taking. I'm sure the trees are young and barely above saplings, but hey, free tree.

Every year up at the lake it seems they have a crew out cutting the limbs away from the lines. Here, our lines are underground.

Our power company is not so diligent. We reported trees touching the power lines along our road months ago. So far nothing has been done about it. Maybe now that these fires are known to have been caused by trees on power lines they might listen when I call again. Worth a try...

careyanna that is a beautiful rose. do you know the name?

porkpal i have been saying to myself for some time that i wouldnt' be surprised if new state legislation didnt' come from this. after katrina mississippi has been removing all trees within a certain distance of power lines. that's why so many of them lost power for so long in the central and northern parts i understand. while some places did get wind damage mostly the problem was trees on the lines. everywhere at once.

texas lost over 5 billion dollars in agriculture this year i read. that is a staggering amount. there has to be a lot of hurting people all over texas. and do yall know of any local growers/ranchers who've sold out because of summer 2011?

crops just would not grow this year. sun in march and rain in april then 110. and the poor poor animals. it is sickening.

somewhere west of fort worth that i can not recall at the moment there is a man who lives in colorado but has a house in that place and also horses and pays a man to take care of them had his horses, all of 5 or 6 of them to die of thirst back in august i think. did yall hear about that? the caretakers said they were watching the horses from a distance and they were all standing and looking fine but never went to check on them up close. they had had no water for a long time. i think the caretaker lived across the street from the horse pasture.

Somebody needs to file charges against those lazy caretakers! That's abuse of animals!

mamajack - it is David Austin 'Evelyn'. Smells wonderful Unfortunately the sparse buds I've had since May have burned before opening.

i had evelyn and let it die. i plan on getting another one soon as my daughter who is e.v. is called evelyn by some family members. the flower is beautiful.

and looks like they did get charged. just sad all the way around.

http://www.examiner.com/pet-re...

mamajack, I'm going to need to thin the branches out later this fall (I've just held back because of the drought) but I'd be happy to send you some cuttings.

thanks carey but i plan on making a run to tyler at some point this fall and will pick up another plant. thank you though.