A great day for a bonfire...

A great day for a bonfire...  It was cloudy and drizzly, exactly as forecast.  From a safety perspective, that's perfect weather for a big bonfire – no matter what happens, I wouldn't set the valley on fire. :)  I started the fire with a bit of packing material and a bag full of shredded documents (those burn hot!), and within 60 seconds of striking my first match I had a roaring fire going (first photo), despite the steady drizzle.  I worked steadily at this for about 3 hours, dumping 18 large forkfuls of brush on the fire.  Each one of those was over a cubic yard, compacted – I'd guess around 25 or 30 cubic yards of compressed brush in all.  The tractor did all the heavy lifting while at the same time keeping me at a comfortable distance from the fire.  That was one hot fire – so hot that I could see raindrops flashing into steam before they even hit the bonfire.  When it rained heavily (which it did only briefly), that steam made a sort of dome around the fire.  As I write this the fire is down to the last embers.  I've spread it out over 100 square feet or so to cool.  Done!