So, I leave work today five minutes early. If I time it right, my trip home is about 15 minutes (to go 10 miles). Otherwise, I get caught in the 5 o'clock rush, and I spend closer to 25 minutes, and with gas prices like they are... Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, as I turn off the side road where I work to the main street, I see it. This huge, black cloud on the horizon. Except it's not a cloud. It's smoke.

A seriously MAJOR brush fire. They shut down I-95. They shut down Rt 1. And my drive home turned into a 50 minute parking lot, veering off the road as police and fire vehicles passed us out, racing to the scene. I think I could have walked home faster...

This is wildfire season in Florida. Well, it is almost ALWAYS wildfire season down here, but spring tends to be the worst. We end up going without any real rain for a month or two, sometimes more, and when it does rain, lightning strikes set the dry brush and grass ablaze. And those fires are usually off the beaten path. All we have to worry about is the smoke in the air and trying to breathe.

This time, however, it seems that some moron decided it would be fun to set ten fires in a residential area. Drive up, toss something out of the car, and then take off. A few minutes later... FWOOSH! Instant brush fire!

The fires are about a mile away from where I live, as the crow flies. Luckily, the winds are blowing out to sea, so we haven't had any problems with breathing or having to worry about the fires coming towards us. However, a lot of people weren't so lucky. Last time I checked, seven homes were burning, people were on their roofs with hoses trying to keep the fire at bay. All of it brought to us live thanks to news choppers. WESH 2 ( [link] if you want to see it. I am near the Palm Bay fires.) was keeping a live feed of everything going on. It was frightening to be watching it all happen, knowing it was only a change of wind direction away from us.

It floors me how stupid people can be. It is bad enough with the jackass gangs around here now, racing around and shooting at each other (Last weekend, two teens decided to have a gun fight at a park a few streets north of us. 6 PM, on a Friday, while the place was full of little kids playing.), let alone this bullshit of setting fires. The most likely outcome of this? It'll turn out to be somebody under aged, who can't be prosecuted, and will have their record wiped clean when they turn 18.

I am honestly, really, REALLY hating this place right about now. I do not like feeling unsafe in my own home. When we moved to this house a few years back, it was remote, quiet, cozy. Once in a while, we'd have the odd four wheeler take a shortcut through our side yard, but nothing too bad. Now... I am rattled.

So, now I am sitting here, watching weather patterns and news reports, with hoses at the ready.

Bah.

But, on a plus note, the first Kantele from our manufacturer arrived today for review. It needs a few tweaks, as does anything going into production. They are really minor, though. Things get lost in the translation, going from the U.S. to other countries, but we are all getting better at understanding A) what I want, and B) what they can do. Overall, they did a nice job of it. Hopefully, it will all be ready in a month or two, and I can see how well the public accepts them.