Sweltering

Only one simple word comes to mind to describe the last few days here...Hot.  We had 5 days in a row with temps over 100.  Blech.  Those hot days, of course, are not helping in Colorado's fire fighting efforts.  Even though our local fire is growing smaller by the day more fires in other parts of the state seem to be springing up daily.  The latest one in Colorado Springs is also very tragic and growing rapidly, threatening thousands of homes at this time.  We continue to do a rain dance with little results.

The weekend started out our stretch of scorchers so, of course, we were doing a favor for one of Eric's friends and played Brewery Representative at the Fort Collins Brewfest.  Highs temps and free beer (for us anyway) definitely made for a long exhausting weekend.  But we managed to have a little fun.  Doesn't our tent look good?

Now, we don't have central air.  We haven't really missed it too much over the last 4 years we've lived in this house.  The downstairs stays relatively cool and it (usually) cools off enough at night that we don't have to put window unit in our bedroom until at least July.  Well, due to the smoke and inability to keep the windows open, the bedroom AC went in ahead of schedule.  And then these last few days have brought me to the breaking point to find a solution besides holing up in our bedroom all the time, since we can't all fit in the dryer...

 By yesterday I was feeling pretty groggy and crabby when a friend called and asked up if we could use an extra window unit that didn't work in their place.  I pondered this over since we have never tried to cool the downstairs.  We have an open floor plan including open staircase and upstairs hallway.  But it was worth a shot.  I went and picked in up and put it in the window myself, then got creative to manage the air flow

Classy right?!  But the important thing is that it is working and our downstairs is pleasant again.  I guess we'll just have to pretend we're in a tent for the rest of the summer. 

Back to Basics

We've been in a comfort-food mood lately, probably because of our local fire tragedy.  I was watching an old recorded Rachael Ray episode and was inspired to make "real" Italian marinara by Giada DeLaurentiis.  It is surprisingly very simple, easy, and delicious.  Here is the official recipe: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis-fusilli-homemade-marinara-sauce/

I used a giant can of crushed tomatoes that I got at a bulk store, then just threw the whole veggies in the pot and let simmer about 1.5 hours. 

It really was delicious and I knew that there were no "other" ingredients like you may find in the jarred variety.  I used about 2 cups for the pasta in the above recipe,

...saved some in the fridge which we used over frozen ravioli for a quick supper last night, and froze the rest.  I will definitely be making marinara like this again.  Very tasty indeed.

Now for some news on our fire.  It is at 58,000 acres, 45% contained, and has officially destroyed 181 homes as of today.  We had enjoyed clearer skies this past week as the wind were blowing west.  Yesterday they shifted again and the Armageddon cloud returned

 As the sun set it turned an eerie blood-red color, photos don't really capture it.

Today will be another difficult day for firefighters with temps in the high 90s, gusty winds, and humidity levels of 3-8%.  Please continue to pray for containment and rain. 

Some Updates

Well, I am sad to report, as I'm sure all of you are aware from national news, that the High Park Wildfire right in our own back yard is still burning and even growing.  The fire is now approximately 50,000 acres with over 100 confirmed homes destroyed and one life lost.  I continue to feel confident that we will be safe.  This view is from a block away from our home, taken a few days ago

  The fire is only a couple miles away but there is a large reservoir acting as a barrier.  We do have an evacuation plan and continue to watch closely.  The air traffic is pretty much non-stop above us with the aerial delivery of slurry to fight the fires and the smoke is thick for hundreds of miles.  So lots of sore throats, headaches, and even vomitting amongst the general public right now.

  This has been an incredibly emotional and tragic time for our community as we mourn with our neighbors over the destruction, and wonder both when this fire will finally be contained and fear for what the rest of this dry summer will bring.  As I returned to work on Monday I learned of co-workers waiting in limbo as they had no idea whether or not they still had homes, but thankful that they escaped with their lives and animals.  Some residents were allowed to go back and survey the damage yesterday while still others were evacuated today.

Tragedies like this do indeed bring out the best in the community.  Several fundraising events are already organized for this weekend and food and clothing donations started pouring in the minute evacuations were issued.  The local humane society and CSU vet hospital are tending to hundreds of animals free of charge at a local arena including medical care for fire effects and delivery of baby llamas.  In fact, one of my co-workers said it was such a relief to have these agencies encouraging families to leave their pets and assure them they would be fully taken care of while they attended to other worries.  And, this is Colorado so we are not just talking dogs and cats, there are  horses, goats, pigs, sheep, llamas, alpacas,etc.  Even a wolf sanctuary was able to evacuate many of their resident wolves (the others got to stay in recently constructed fire dens).  I'm feeling pretty blessed to live among such wonderful people.  The kindness of strangers is truly astonishing sometimes.

In other news I have been officially on the day shift for about 2 weeks and am really enjoying it.  I feel like a "normal" person and am far less exhausted all the time.  Plus, this is the first time that I have had a permanent assignment and I really love my busy rehab wing.  I get to build even stronger relationships with my patients which allows me to better advocate and follow-up with issues and collaborate closely with other disciplines such as physical and occupational therapies. My boss even asked me to start leading new hire focused orientation for nursing!  In all other jobs I have held I ended up training so I think it's a niche for me.  I should also start orienting to day shift charge nurse in the next month.  So things continue to progress and I can still say that I really love my job!  

And, just because it was yummy, I made fried chicken last night.  I figured we needed some comfort food

     I have actually never made fried chicken before.  My mom made some when she was here and it was so very yummy.  This was no where near as good as hers but I consider it a success since the chicken was cooked through and juicy and the skin was (mostly) crispy. 

That's all I've got!  Please continue to send prayers for the 1200+ firefighters and displaced residents.  And to our beloved mountains:  I hope you feel better soon.

Close Calls

Let me start by saying we are OK as of now regarding the wildfire but I'll get to that more in a minute.  This summer Eric and I decided that, since I have to work every other weekend and summer is too short as it is, we will do something fun each weekend that I have off.  This weekend was camping which we were very excited about.  For anyone that has watched any news recently it is no surprise that we are having a difficult summer already for wildfires.  There was just one a few weeks ago that was pretty close to us but was 100% contained so we were were ready to go.  Now usually when we go camping it is to a very remote, middle of no where, just find a spot to throw a tent, type of camping.  We did engage our critical thinking skills prior to departing and knew that it would be safer to stay at a managed, permanent, campground.  So, we knew that there were many, many options up our beloved Poudre Canyon so just decided to drive until we found one we liked.

Obviously many other folks had camping plans this weekend as well because we passed campground after campground and they were all full, until we got about 50 miles up the canyon and got lucky enough to snag the last site at the Sleeping Elephant Campground.

  See? A Sleeping Elephant!  You don't see it you say?  How about now?

This was the view from our campsite so we were definitely feeling lucky.  It's amazing how quickly life's problems seem to dissipate for me once I am out in the mountains with no cell service with my own little family (sans cat of course).  It really restores my soul. 
The next morning dawned with beautiful Colorado blue skies.  A perfect day for a hike.  There was a trail that I had been wanting to hike just a few miles up the road so we got a nice early start to complete this 10 mile trail.  It was (mostly) lovely.  We crossed the river multiple times and had great shade from the mighty conifers. 

Can you find the Dogbert?

We had actually gotten some rain recently so everything was pleasantly green with wild flowers everywhere.  I loved this little babbling brook.

Unfortunately for us the last mile of the trail did not prove to be so pleasant.  There there multiple downed trees that blocked the trail so we had to get in touch with our inner boy/girl scout and navigate around the obstructions and find the trail again.  Over and Over.  At least Cass was pleased with her discovery of snow where she left many a doggie snow angel.  At this point we were pretty fatigued and a bit grouchy from scrambling over fallen trees and crossing streams.  But then, the summit came in to view.

And it was all worth it.

It's amazing the clarity you feel at 11,000 ft, at a secluded mountain lake with no one else around.  I enjoyed the best PB&J I've ever had.

We then headed back down tired but happy and looking forward to our campsite dinner and a beer.  But, alas, our luck would be tested once again.  I had left the ignition on a click when I rolled up the windows and the car battery was 100% dead.  Doh.  Remember how great I was saying it was to get off the grid and be unplugged?  Not so much at that moment. We were out of water and at least 5 miles from our campsite.  So, Eric took a walk down the road and I waited and hoped that a fellow hiker would return to their vehicle and also, miraculously, have jumper cables.  Well, a random string of events played in our favor and, I won't go in to all the crazy details, but Eric did manage to track down a kind soul who had stopped for a bathroom break and happened to have cables.  He gave us a jump.  We gave him beer and I proclaimed that he was going to heaven.  So an hour later we were back at our campsite  ready to enjoy the evening.  

It was a bit breezy so I had to get creative in keeping our camp stove lit.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and were thankful to be back at our campsite.  Then we played a new card game version of Monopoly, which was a lot of fun (and much shorter than regular Monopoly.  

 The next day dawned in similar fashion with bright blue sky.  We had breakfast and packed up the gear.  As we headed back down the canyon we soon reached a road block stating the road was closed.  We pulled up to talk with the State Trooper who said it was closed due to wildfire and looked at us rather puzzled when we questioned when and where this happened.  We had seen no smoke and had no evacuation notices from our camp host.  We took the detour and it soon became evident, our canyon was on fire.

As we got closer to home it got scarier as we realized that this was pretty bad

 We we finally got cell service again we learned that the fire had started the day  before and rapidly spread to 12,000 acres.  There are many homes in this area and the situation is very grave at this point.  Had we gotten "lucky" at a closer camp site we would have surely been evacuated in emergency fashion.  2 hours later the news reports that fire has now consumed 14,000 acres and 12 structures with one person missing.  The plume from the fire stretches for hundreds of miles.  Here is the view from our front door. 

 Although it looks like it on top of us we think it is about 8 miles away at this time.  Too close for comfort.  We made sure our phone number was up to date with the reverse 911 system and are watching the news closely.  Please send prayers for all of the firefighters and people waiting in agony for news of their homes.  

And let's hope that this was the worst thing to happen to us on our close call camping trip weekend.

Have you Hugged Your Cat Today?

Because, apparently, today is National Hug Your Cat Day!