I should surprise nobody that since I live in a house made of Yule logs and have filled it with paper and books, *fire* is something I’m kinda twitchy about. So while writing the preceding posting, imagine how thrilled I was when the smell of smoke became overpowering. Fortunately it wasn’t my house, but instead the wheat field across the road. It’s that time of year when the farmers are burning their fields; I guess it quickly returns minerals and such to the soil, but you’d kinda think that just plowing the stubble back in might work better. I dunno, the farmers seem happy with the process.
Anyway, the wind was just right so that he smoke was blowing straight into my front windows. Joy.
Obviously, I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures. Had I been smarter I would have turned the smartphone video camera on and caught the dust devil that blew through. As it was, I only took a few inadequate photos of the mini-tornado; it went through the fire making a very, very brief firenado, but of course I didn’t catch that. All I caught was the smokenado/ashnado:
And one last shot as I was ducking out of the way… the ashnado shot across the road and plowed right into the deck where I would’ve been standing had I decided “nope.”
I took a bunch of telephoto shots as the trail of fire – created by dragging a propane flame throwing behind a four-wheeler ATV through the field – moved off into the distance. Most were better in theory than execution, but with a little cropping and fade correction, they’re kinda interesting:
