Fire in my beautiful state

Hi, I'm still here. I haven't disappeared or anything. It's just that there are several fires burning in my beautiful mountain state of Colorado.

One is in Colorado Springs, and started a mile from my in-laws home - they were evacuated last night. I normally hate to watch the news, but since yesterday afternoon I've been glued to the TV, or constantly refreshing the live feed on my computer, calling & texting friends who live in the area, or have family in the area. Thousands of people have been evacuated, 8,000 acres burned, with zero percent containment so far.

A wildfire broke out by the Royal Gorge (south of Colorado Springs), which is heartwrenching. It's a beautiful park area, and I have rafted through the Gorge several times.

Another fire broke out in Rocky Mountain National Park Monday evening. Yesterday afternoon was a haze of smoke, and the smell of fire.

that's the sun as I was leaving work yesterday afternoon - from the smoke from the fire in Rocky Mountain National Park

this is the smoke & haze from our apartment, looking west

We still went to play our weekly softball game, even though our hearts weren't in it. We were missing quite a few people, and played short-handed. We lost. Big time. D & I were OK with that though - we went straight home to watch more news.

Last summer there was the High Park Fire northwest of Fort Collins - the smoke made the air quality terrible. The fire crews had a staging area right next to my work, so I drove through a check point every day. There were a few days where we could see homes going up in smoke, just across the reservoir. 

And then, just a few weeks later, the Waldo Canyon Fire broke out on the west side of Colorado Springs. My parents were on pre-evacuation notice with the cars loaded. We were ready for them to come stay with us. Fortunately, they were not evacuated, as the fire stayed on the other side of the interstate from them. However, tons of families lost their homes & livelihoods in the fire.

After last summer's fires, and now this summer's, I feel like I'm learning so much about fire: what makes for "perfect" fire conditions (heat, wind, low humidity, and fuel), evacuating (I have only ever evacuated before for hurricanes in FL), air quality, the hard work of firefighters, and waiting. Waiting for news, waiting for no news, waiting for updates, waiting to help evacuees.

That being said, it feels frivolous to talk about my clothes, and what I wore, and why I wore them. Knowing my in-laws & several friends had only a few hours to evacuate their home has made me ask myself:

"What would I take? Could I leave it all? I should leave it all. Why am I so attached to THINGS, when PEOPLE are what matter?"

So, that's what's on my mind today...