thanks all. I've decided that roses in the snow will go to my sisters house this fall instead of the daylily sale. :)

Lynn, I am just so relieved to hear that the damage was minimal. (Although, of course, it never seems quite so minimal when it is your own place, and not someone else's.) If I were there with you now, I'd just give you a big hug and say how happy I am that you are OK, so consider yourself hugged long distance. : ) I know it is a terrible experience, especially as you're hurrying home and watching that big old plume of smoke, all the while wondering what has already burnt and what remains in danger. I am so proud of all the firefighters in Oklahoma--volunteer and professional--and the work they do. In our county, the 14 volunteer fire departments, the BIA and the forest service fire crews work together so well that it is just amazing. I'd like to second what you said, Lynn, about people supporting the volunteer fire departments. Most people assume that there is some kind of magical pot of money that the VFDs get from their city, county, state, or the federal goverment.....and that there is always enough money. That, of course, is not at all true. Most volunteer departments barely scrape by even though they are constantly working hard to raise money. On extreme fire danger days and extremely critical fire danger days, I am like a cat on a hot tin roof. I keep the fire radio turned on to the County Repeater so I can keep track of every fire in the county, instead of leaving it on the "pager" feature. And, I hate to get too far from home. We live in an area of rural mostly native pasture land too, and it can burn like mad. We've never had a fire as close to us as yours, but have had 2 on our land (but they were burning away from the house and outbuildings, and nowhere near fences of animals or anything). However, the ranch across the road catches fire at least a couple of times a year. (Their pastures back up to a highway and most of the fires start from the roadside.) For any of you wondering how to know when the fire danger is high, one of the easiest ways is to look at the NWS Enhanced Weather webpages. I check them daily, as they are informative and give info on all weather, and not just fire danger. On the enhanced weather page, the fire outlook is usually in one of the boxes along the right side of the page, near the bottom. Just keep scrolling down until you see it. You can click on it to enlarge it. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: NWS Enhanced Weather Webpage

The biggest threat to homes from brush fires is not from direct contact with the primary flames, but from the embers they send up. Such is why in the aftermath of many brush fires, one can see burned homes at random hundreds of yards away from the blackened hillsides which actually came into contact with the fire. So while it may be tempting to think sprinklers turned outward might offer the home a protective barrier from encroaching fire contact, the odds are actually higher in the event of wildfire that your sprinklers would be spraying fire-less brush as your home behind the sprinklers burned. The brush clearance was the best thing to do (as the odds of embers reaching your home decline with the distance they must travel), but I also echo the advice of others regarding checking the vents (the weak spot of many San Diego homes that fell to wild fire in the 2000's) and that it would be more practical to turn your sprinklers inward toward your home rather than outward. Your neighbor with the sprinklers on his roof seems to be on the right track too with regard to dousing wind blown embers before they land on his/her roof or enter his/her vents.

You defiantly want to isolate it away from the children and keep them at a safe distance regardless of understanding , use a lot of self protection to include: long sleeves, long rubber gloves, face mask, goggles and what ever else you can think of. (This one has a reputation messing people up real fast for a painfully long time. Generally they have been known to spray a fine sap if treated suddenly including the simple moving of the pot at the wrong time of day is something to be aware of. Misting the planned cut areas prior and as you cut will help slow down the sap flow.Continue to mist the sap flow to a stop helping to keep it safer and less exposure of toxic sap for you to do the deed. Oddly enough it wont stop the cat from spraying chances are better it wont. Not able to confirm by a more informative link but inner sap (and it's coloring) while moving may attract acute visioned animals such as a nocturnal cat. ' fire sticks' is one of the highest levels in toxicity at level three toxic meaning it has several ways to defend it's self