Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
My backyard is on fire again. Yesterday our forecast was calling for atmospheric energy that would cause dry lightening right over part of our Sandhills that had not burned but is so tinder dry. Around 10 o’clock last night the wind kicked up and while we were out checking heifers we watched the lightning start sparking off to our southwest, working east. We kept watch on the south horizon for a few hours, guessing that it was right over the top of the Highway 2 corridor, through the heart of the Nebraska ranch country. I’m pretty sure we have never turned on the sprinklers on our lawn at 11 pm at night, in the middle of March, but alas, it helped calm some anxiety. We prayed and slept for a few hours and awoke to the horrible news that fires had indeed sparked in the areas where we were seeing the lightning. They quickly roared with a vengeance! 4 fires in 50 mile-ish area starting under the cover of darkness and in an area underwhelming short of fire fighting resources. According to our local radio station, The Twister, the fires swelled to an astonishing 80,000 acres in 6 hours!
Our local rural fire department called us this morning to ask, “which of your windmills are turned on and can you get to the rest of them and get them turning.” After we got cattle fed this morning and put a heifer that had started calving in the barn, my husband bundled up and headed out on the 4wheeler to get to down to the furthest south pastures of our ranch and get windmills turned on. Unless you live out here, I don’t think many can comprehend how far you are from water sources out here when battling these wildfires. There is no road leading you to a fire hydrant at the end of the block.
I really wanted to talk about all of the fine Nebraska kids that are at state FFA Convention, including my own. But, Mother Nature just can not seem to play nice with us. Please, stand with Nebraska and pray for rain!
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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