We’re in the middle of a burn ban. Not even the middle, it has been on for months. In a bigger city, you would know about the burn ban by reading a paper or catching the news on radio or television.

 When you live in the middle-of-nowhere, you have to get that sort of news on your own. You might happen to see a banner posted out on the highway as you go in to town. That, too, depends on which direction you take. There are no local TV stations and the radio is not exactly blasting out the news on a regular basis.

 So, we are more or less dependent on common sense around here. We hope that even if someone does not know about the burn ban, they’ll be smart enough to know it’s stupid to burn their trash since it hasn’t rained in eight months.

 We also hope they’re savvy enough to know that the volunteer fire department has to muster before any water can be used to put out the fire – and that can take awhile. We keep our fingers crossed that we continue to live in a spark-free, idiot-free middle-of-nowhere East Texas place.