The Best Laid Plans...

I was planning on down-loading some new photos from my camera today and sharing them here on the blog... I never got around to it. I slept in (7:00) since it's a holiday, fixed my breakfast and walked Silver. At 8:55, I started over to Skippy's, pausing and taking scenic photos along the way. After arriving, I fed and groomed him, played with him, and wrote up my report. Feeling lazy, I called the cab company, which informed me there was a 60 to 90 minute wait for pick-up, so I took the bus, knowing I'd get home in 75 minutes. I walked east on Kalmia, then south on 19th, and stepped aboard the Skip bus. When we arrived at Boulder Station, I knew I had a 25 minute wait because it was a holiday, so I sat down and read the free college paper. When I finished that, I stood, stretched, and looked around me. The sky all morning had been completely cloudless, so I was surprised to see a huge white cloud behind and above the Guaranty Bank building on the corner - and then, as I watched, the cloud became a dirty grey, and then brown. I knew I was seeing smoke from a huge fire... I went on home, fed and loved the kits, read my e-mail, and turned on the noon news. I immediately called the kits back in, and made my way back to Skippy's house.

The fire started when a man accidentally backed into a propane tank on Four Mile Canyon Road; it currently covers an estimated 3,000 acres, and is completely out of control. We've had wind gusts up to 65 mph this afternoon; ash is falling from the sky like a soft rain; I've had to use my albuterol inhaler for my asthma twice after going back to Skippy's. The wind was blowing toward his house, so I went back and got out all the garden hoses, and wet down the Open Space grasses for 5 feet on the other side of the back fence; as well as wetting down everything within 10 feet inside the yard by the back fence. I had just finished doing this when the owners returned, so I was paid and given a ride back to Silver's, along with getting much praise and many thanks heaped upon my head.

Four Mile Canyon, Sunshine Canyon and Gold Hill have been evacuated; all roads going in the direction of the fire are closed; there are three evacuation centers for people, both Longmont and Boulder Valley Humane Societies have opened their doors for evacuated small pets, and the Boulder County Fairgrounds have been opened for evacuated livestock. Grandma Anne is up on Sugarloaf, and has her vehicle already packed in case she gets the call to evacuate - all she has to do is grab Tabitha, her cat, and start up the car. Kathy and Jim, both of their kids, and I have told her she's welcome to stay with us, rather than in a shelter.

The task force for this fire just said that it could burn for several days.... Oh, no!!