Fire

In addition to the fire that started several weeks ago, numerous brush fires have sprung up around Central Florida in the past few days.

When our neighbor told us of the brush fire spotted a couple of miles from our house late Sunday afternoon, all I could think of was the classic exercise to help crystalize what's important to you: if your house was on fire, what 10 items would you want to save and take with you?

This is what it looked like on the road that runs parallel to our road on Sunday night:

Malcolm Denemark, Florida Today



This is what the neighborhood looked like on Monday morning:

Michael R. Brown, Florida Today

And, as scary at that looks, it is nothing compared to what the people who live south of us are experiencing.

Michael R. Brown, Florida Today

Over 50 homes have been totally burned or badly damaged. The most sad part about their situation is arson is suspected.

This incident has shown the best and worst sides of people.

Goodbye, Blackjack

When I came home from work on Monday, I noticed that our neighbor's fence was gone. Not a good sign.

The fence had weathered many a storm, including hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, one of which dropped a palm tree on it. In spite of being battered, the fence stood.

Now it was gone. That meant one thing -- Blackjack was gone.

Blackjack was our neighbor's dog. He was a sweet-natured pound puppy of medium height and weight and unknown parentage. His name came from his coloring. He was solid black except for a triangular shaped white patch at his throat. I guess you could say he was the dog equivalent of a tuxedo cat.

Although he was our neighbors' dog, Blackjack was part of our lives, too. He would greet us as we passed his yard on our way up and down our driveway, and when he was outside of his fence, he would come back to our yard to "patrol the perimeter". We always felt safer with Blackjack on guard.

I like to think that right now Blackjack is patrolling Rainbow Bridge.

Goodbye, Blackjack, we'll miss you.