My mother took this photo while visiting my uncle in Gunnison, Colorado four years ago.  I believe this is a look at the Gunnison River along the Black Canyon and Blue Mesa Reservoir area of Gunnison National Park.  The river drops an average of 43 feet (13 meters) per mile as it passes through Black Canyon, one of the steepest descents in North America.  I have yet to visit Colorado myself.  Hopefully, I may be able to do so within the next few years.  The Rocky Mountains are places for great adventure and relaxing vacations.  Hehe, not to mention...REAL mountains and not those damn oversize hills we have on this end of the United States.  

A final, and dismal item.  The ravaging wildfires continue for the third day throughout much of Greece.  Above is one of many photos taken by the Associated Press of the damage by these intense blazes.  Most of the fires are in southern Greece on the Peloponnese Peninsula, though there have been some as far north as Thessaloniki.  At least 60 people have been killed so far, most of them in the community of Zaharo southwest of Athens.  As I looked at the forecast for Athens earlier today, there is no rain in sight this week and temperatures will be in the 90's (Fahrenheit) once again.  Occasional windy days were also expected, which will make firefighting very difficult...especially in the mountain regions.  Some of you may have noticed on my weblog friends list that I have a friend who lives in Greece.  She is currently doing okay, although there is quite a bit of smoke throughout Athens due to a number of ongoing fires in the outlying suburban areas.  We just hope things don't get much worse over there.   A ton of ancient history exists, and it would be devastating for much of it to go up in smoke.  Ancient Olympia is already threatened, site of the first ever Olympics.  Pray and wish for a miracle.  

Most of these wildfires are said to have been considered arson and some arrests have been made.  There have been some issues in Greece between land developers and the government wanting to preserve area forests.  As a result, some of these developers intentionally set fires in protest.  That's totally uncalled for.   Other factors have involved involuntary negligence by residents, such as outdoor cooking and controlled burning during dry conditions.  Either way, it's one of the worst incidents in Greece in decades.

Speaking of dry, it's been like that here in North Carolina although some areas got significant rain earlier today.  Most counties are under severe drought conditions.  There is a statewide open buring ban in effect as some area wildfires throughout North Carolina started back up again.  It's nothing widespread as like out west in Idaho and Montana, but the situation here is still serious.  A number of towns and cities are under mandatory water restrictions due to the lack of rain.  The Atlantic hurricane season has been fairly quiet so far, but peak time is forthcoming.  Although we don't need the high wind and excessive rain from those storms, any amount of precipitation would be more than helpful.  WANTED:  WATER.   

I'm going to be eating soon, so I'll talk to you all later.  Buh-bye!        

P.S. Special thanks to Tonia for some scenic photos she provided me for placing on my website from her trip to New Brunswick a couple weeks ago.  They are posted on Foxx Trotter's Cavern.