I've just been in a funk. And it was no secret. My boss noticed, my parents noticed... and poor Pete has been trying anything to catch my attention on focus off of whatever was bothering me.
And what has been bothering me you ask? I don't even know. I've just had a very full plate. And I like being good at things, having things that come easy, feeling success. As we discussed at lunch today, we all need small victories.
I took a couple days respite with some vacation time that worked out last minute and had 4 glorious days of not having to worry about the restaurant. But 6 days and nearly 70 hours later, I was desperate for my weekend to come. I had dreams and ambitions of achieving a fabulous adventure, cleaning the house spic and span, cooking wonderful meals, and maybe even having a fun date.
We were putting together our Saturday still lying in bed when Pete commented on his daily reading of the police blotter, "A fire just started in Waldo canyon."
"Oh, that isn't good." I responded. "There is so much overgrowth back there." Colorado is in this unique situation of having record high temperatures and record low humidity. Add that to the dry winter and spring and the situation isn't great. But, after that brief commentary, we put it out of our minds.
We were having trouble deciding if we were going to be outdoorsy despite the stifling heat or go to a movie when I walked outside to take the trash out.
A plume of smoke was rising in front of our beautiful mountain range. Black and ominous, and overwhelming. I looked at my watch. Only 2 hours ago Pete had mentioned the fire has just started. Holy crap this wasn't good.
I called Pete out to look at it. The already rather low mood of the day fell even further. We spent the day moving between facebook reports, news reports and going out into the yard to look at the smoke plume.
Our street at times, looked kind of like this
We talked to the neighbors more than we have... well, ever I think. "Did you hear how it started?" "Is Manitou going to be okay?" "Gosh, I can't believe how big it has gotten."
The mood was saddened. Depressed. One of the huge perks of our wonderful home are the beautiful mountains rising to the west of us. To see them obscured by smoke is heartbreaking.
This was taken about three pm Saturday. Since then, the fire has grown to almost 3000 acres and nearly 10,000 people have been affected by evacuations. In some areas, these evacuations have been lifted and in others they have not.
Unfortunately, this fire is small but take our attention is on it here because it is so close to town and so ominous. But currently, it is one of eight fires burning in the state, one of which (the high park fire in Fort Collins) is now the second largest in the state's history and has been burning for two and a half weeks.
Just like my four day weekend, we need respite. We need rain, lots of rain, less wind, lower temperatures, and every willing firefighter available. Please pray, hope, cross your fingers, rain dance, whatever you can to send good vibes our forest's way. And if you have the opportunity to hug, kiss, buy dinner for or at least thank a fire fighter, do so... Because every bone dry matchstick like tree saved on our beautiful mountains will be a small victory. And with so much fire, even a small victory can be celebrated.
No comments:
Post a Comment