Boulder Wildfire in Sunshine Canyon

Boulder has been extremely dry - no rain, no snow.  The drought caught up with us this morning.  A man who had to visit the bathroom at 1:40 this morning, glanced out his window and saw flames on the wall of Sunshine Canyon, to the west of town.  He called 911, the emergency number, and reported it.  Thanks to his call, reverse 911 calls started going out, and over 1,000 house were evacuated.  People and small pets can go to the East Boulder Community Center, and large animals have been evacuated to the County Fairgrounds.
   Beatrice and I awoke to heavy smoke and the smell of burning this morning.  We thought that someone had set a trash dumpster on fire - but could look out the window and see smoke billowing up directly to the west of our building.  So we immediately turned on the local news and found out about the Sunshine Canyon fire.  It's a block to the south, and then 1.5 miles to the west of us.  At this time, 12 hours after the original call, the fire is 20 % contained, and has burned 70 acres...  Luckily, no homes or buildings have caught fire.  Besides fire fighters on the ground, both helicopters and planes have been dropping water and slurry to deter the spread of the flames.  I hope it gets contained completely soon...
   Usually March is one of the snowiest months of the year in, and around, Boulder.  So far this month, we have had 1/8 inch of precipitation - a 6-hour drizzle.  Our usual high temperatures in March are in the upper 40s and low 50s; yesterday we reached 82 degrees, and the regular high temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s.  Today we have a high wind watch, typical of March.
   I picked up a client from the Denver Airport last night at 8:30, and he asked me if I thought it would snow again this year, because he was thinking about taking his snow tires off his car.  I laughed.  I told it was going to snow at the end of this month, in April, and probably the last snowfall would be the second week of May.  He was aghast - and wanted to know if I'd read that in the Farmer's Almanac.  I told him, "Nope.  I feel it in my bones."

Photos of the Sunshine Canyon fire:

 

Lips and Fires

I looked really weird yesterday...  The inside of my lips and cheeks were swollen.  Very swollen.  so swollen that my lips were curled up, out, and back.  My upper lip was brushing the bottom of my nose, almost blocking the nostrils; my bottom lip was on my chin.  The interior of my lips were the size of a bratwurst sausage, and the color of fresh liver.  It was unbelievable...  And very ugly, too.  I finally went to an urgent care office. After six hours of icing and ten antihistamine shots, my lips were pretty much back to normal.  Neither I, nor the doctors or nurses, have any idea what started it off.  I have not eaten or drunk anything that I normally don't.  (I do have food allergies, and I'm very picky about what I eat, and whether or not I'll try something, just because I do have alarming reactions at times.)  Today, my lips are almost back to normal, but they are still producing a tingling feeling.
   We've had several more wildfires take off this morning - plus one on Rabbit Mountain near Lyons last night.  At last count, four buildings were lost.  The winds are horrendous today.  They started up around 2 this morning - pretty constant between 20 and 35 mph, with gusts expected up to 75 mph - and we've already had an 89 mph gust in Boulder this morning.  I had to take our welcome wreath off the front door at 3 this morning, and we saw our balcony foot mat out in the middle of the parking lot when we got up.  I haven't yet felt the building sway - that takes a gust of 90+ - but it will probably happen.  The winds are Chinook winds, and they dry everything out; the high temperature expected today is 73 degrees.  I really hope that we don't have any more fires break out!

Rabbit Mountain last night

Weld County yesterday afternoon

This and That

At first I couldn't figure out why I had awoken this morning - then I realized that the apartment building was swaying, thanks to heavy winds.  There were several huge gusts, and then I saw all the lights go out (I keep my blinds/curtains open at night).  I got up and turned my computer off, even though it's power light was on (this was at 2:05).  The recycling fan was still on in the bathroom, too.  I went back to sleep and awoke at 4:10, with more building movement in the high winds, and realizing that the apartment had absolutely no sounds.  Surprisingly, my landline telephone was working, so I called in the power outage and was told that a wire had come down at 2:10.  They thought power would be restored at 6.  The phone went dead as I was thanking the company representative.   The power was restored, including the phone, internet and television at 6:50.  The power went off again at 7:45.  This time I called the power company using my cell phone, and was told a transformer had just blown - power should be back on around 11.  I had toasted waffles when I first got up.  Beatrice hadn't yet made coffee, nor fixed her breakfast, when the power went out again.  She headed down the street in search of an open restaurant, where she finally got breakfast.
  In the meantime, I wrote out postcards to send to the White House and to a Colorado congressman whom I dislike.  I don't write anything that is threatening, but I admit that some of it is mean-spirited. My cards to the White House say "Attn: President" on the front, but on the back read: "To:  bannon/putin/trump"   One to the circus peanut states that I understand he is upset about leaks from his office - has he had his pump-up erector set checked for nano-transmitters?  I send two postcards a day, and have about 30 written so far, as well as stamped....
   The high winds I spoke of earlier are gusting between 40 and 103 mph.  The winds at 2 and 4 this morning were measured at 93 mph.  They are not helping, in any way, a huge grass fire to our north, where hundreds of people have been evacuated since the early morning hours.  The land there is broken and irregular, with a combination of agricultural fields, pastureland for cattle, horses and llamas, and many creeks and arroyos at the foot of the Rockies.  So far, according to reports, no lives have been lost, and livestock is being sheltered at the County Fairgrounds.  There are two fires burning, and each has covered hundreds of acres.  The winds are supposed to die down tonight, and rain is also forecast for tonight.  Let it be soon, for all the critters!
   I rejoiced last night when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 3 to 0 in favor of keeping the circus peanut's executive order against immigration and travel stopped.  I laughed when the orange idiot tweeted; "See you in court..." in all capital letters.  I had an even bigger laugh when it was announced that the tangerine tyrant had had Cory Louie, his cyber security chief, escorted from the White House...  because that happened several days ago!  The itinerant idjit has been without a chief of cyber security for almost a week!  And he was always screaming about HC's use of her personal computer - his telephone, or whatever he tweets from, is totally insecure...   Sad.  So sad.

Just Stuff

It's sunny out, but the sky looks ominous; heavy, dark clouds are piled up underneath higher, lighter colored ones.  It was a little cloudy this morning, but the winds are picking up and the snow-bearing front seems to be barreling in from the west.  The current winds, which are predicted to last until midnight, are at 30 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 75 mph.  The wind was so loud, that when I stepped out onto the patio to put some nuts out for the neighborhood squirrels, Nedi stepped outside and immediately back inside.  Usually the only thing that drives Nedi back inside is hail and window-rattling thunder.
   Well, I enjoyed seeing the Redskins win yesterday, and I have to admit it was much nicer to watch them win, than to watch the end of the Colorado State Rams game...  The Utah Utes stomped the Rams; and the interim head coach, who hoped to step on into Jim McElwain's shoes, informed the news people that every single football coach at CSU had gotten their pink slip.  Ouch.  Now it's a waiting game until Monday night for the Broncos to play the Bengals.
   The new season of Downton Abbey will begin on Sunday, January 4; and I'm looking forward to new episodes of Gotham, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, NCIS, Person of Interest, How to Get Away With Murder, and Blue Bloods, starting on the 5th.  Then, I will be in my glory (ho, ho!) when Vikings starts their third season on Thursday, February 19.  I'm really looking forward to seeing Rollo sack Paris; and to visit all the other clan members, especially Floki, Athelstan, Lagertha and Ragnar Lodbrok.  And I suppose that we'll also see Bjorn Ironside make some moves on his own...
   For once, we have no set plans for Christmas - I have volunteered to cook a fat hen, a pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy for Kathy and Jim this year - as long as I don't get a cold between now and then.  With her first chemo treatment scheduled for the day after Christmas, she shouldn't be exposed to colds (or ill people in general) until she's finished both the chemo and the radiation therapy.  Both of those things will lower her immune systems tolerance, and none of the family or friends want to be responsible for making her worse.  From Boxing Day until the second of January, I will be running around like mad, taking care of four and five (and possibly six) houses full of critters.  It'll keep me on my toes, anyway!
 

Big Winds, Little Wildfire

Well, the high winds blew one of 12-foot-long panels of our 6-foot-high privacy fence down yesterday evening.  And there was a small wildfire on Flagstaff Mountain (on private property) yesterday afternoon, which the winds made difficult to douse.  For only a half-acre fire, it certainly put out enough smoke...  This is the view from the second story of my apartment building:

In the foreground one can see Folsom Field, our CU football stadium, as well as patches of snow on Flagstaff.  I am so happy that the ground was wet and muddy from the snow melt!

  My kits are a little apprehensive about the fallen fence panel - they can now see the tennis courts at the Millennium, as well as the sidewalk that runs on the other side of the fence.  There are lots of runners with their dogs these days, so the kits should be wary.  Not to mention that the sounds now carry much clearer on the air - and, from that direction, it's usually fire and/or police sirens.

  Had a great time with Rosie and Boo this morning - then went and visited with Lynn, getting paid, and checking up on her critters.  We've agreed to get together at 2 on 9 March to begin work on her family tree, which should be very interesting.  And, while typing this, I'm eating Cheerios and blueberries, and getting ready to go meet with a couple that might be new clients.  The new folks have cats and chickens, and were given my contact information by a current client - and they're only a block from the nearest bus stop! (Hooray!)

  Much more tomorrow....

Windy In the Foothills

It's 29 degrees outside, and, currently, the wind is calm, and the sky is cloudy.  We've been told that we can expect occasional snow flurries until noon...  I'm just happy that the wind is calm at the moment.  Our Chinook winds have been blowing since last Friday - they are pretty much straight-line winds, but here in town, the winds tend to swirl around the buildings and cross streets.  Why am I talking so much about the wind?  Well, on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale, winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour are considered a Type One Hurricane, while winds from 96 to 110 mph is a Type Two - of course, these are sustained wind speeds, but I can tell you that single, swirling gusts of wind at these speeds are dangerous, too. Last night, there was a wind gust of 102 mph recorded by the National Weather Service at Evergreen, a town west of Denver, in the Rocky Mountain Foothills.  Just up the canyon (west) of Boulder, Nederland had wind gusts all day that were between 64 and 92 miles per hour.  Gold Hill, one of my favorite little Gold Rush villages, to the west of us had gusts recorded from 54 to 92 mph...  When you step outside, you never know whether the wind will be calm, or if it will be turning buses and 18-wheel trucks over.  Definitely makes for an interesting day!
  It's now snowing 40 miles north of us, in Fort Collins - and the sky looks like, and the air smells like, snow outside.  My kits had a blast running around outside this morning - last evening, the wind seemed to be a bit much for them, and they stayed inside.  I put out food for the squirrels and ravens and crows this morning - and they stuffed themselves.  One of the older ravens came up and pecked at my patio door, as if he wanted more food, once they had cleaned up what I had put out.  And, with the cold, the snow has such a thick crust on it, I can walk along the edge of my patio and not break through - now, that's amazing!
  I was lazy last night and watched 3 and 1/2 hours of television.  First, I enjoyed Jeopardy! and was happy that I could question the final answer correctly.  Then I watched Almost Human, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows, even though it is rather violent.  I followed that with a new episode of Sleepy Hollow, and loved the way they "tipped their hat" to The Exorcist for this one.  The Blacklist was my nightcap, and, as always, James Spader delivered a terrific performance.  He really is phenomenally good as a man with no conscience in his roll of Reddington.  I do love him as an actor!
 

Five Wildfires Burning in Colorado

After the wet April and and first of May that we had, it's incredible to realize that Colorado is still in a deep drought condition.  We've had almost record-high temperatures yesterday and today, and it's also been pretty windy.  I feel lucky in that none of the fires are threatening the Boulder area, but other places are not so lucky.  There is a fire burning in Rocky Mountain National Park, in Big Meadows, near the Green Mountain Trailhead.  There is a rapidly growing 300 acre fire near the Royal Gorge, which has already destroyed homes.  El Paso County has a fire burning in the Black Forest, whch hs already destroyed at least 5 homes.  In Huerfano County, there is a wildfire burning to the west of the town of La Veta.  And there's also a fire in Aurora (metro Denver) that has caused multiple evacuations, and there are at least three homes burned.  It's currently 97 degrees, and the humidity ranges from between 4 and 10 %; the winds are blowing at a steady 15 mph and have been blowing at 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph expected through the afternoon and evening...  My prayers go out to all the people, pets, and wildlife that are anywhere near these conflagrations!

Smoke from the Big Meadows fire in RMNP this afternoon