Where There's Smoke . . .

We pushed forward into Thursday.  Now the Sun was fully out but ahead looked like smoke.

It was very dark. I hoped it wasn't a home.

The closer we got, the more it looked like brush.   From the brush piled in several fields and the limbs cut off of trees along the highway we deduced that the extremely mild winter had allowed farmers and road workers to cut much more brush than normal years.

Burning brush must be a very satisfying thing to do.  You work real hard cutting and piling the brush and when you are finished, people can tell you have done something.  

Burning a brush pile is more than just hard work. There is a skill to it. Maybe even an art.  The limbs, branches and other matter must be stacked just right in order to have the pile burn completely away. All debris around the edges must be cleared in order to keep the fire from spreading.  Also, you shouldn't light the fire then just watch it burn.  As it organic matter is consumed, a good brush burner uses a pitchfork, and shovel to push brush from the edges onto the fire, usually laying it on end whenever possible rather than across the fire. Remember fire burns up more readily than across.