Life on the High Plains

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3) It was a somber day in Colorado Springs.  I think people are in shock over what happened last night.  The initial report is that 200-300 houses were lost, but thankfully not a single fatality.  President Obama is coming on Friday to view the devastation.  It's awesome that he is coming to support the community, but at the same time I'm not sure we want to spread our law enforcement resources even thinner when they have to provide additional security for his visit. Tonight it's calmer in Colorado Springs.  We can even see t...

The winds turned today and the fire has moved into Colorado Springs. Houses are burning. The Flying W Ranch has burned to the ground. The Air Force Academy is preparing to evacuate. Thousands of people are being evacuated.  The roads are jammed with cars trying to get out of their neighborhoods. We are enshrouded by smoke even as far away as we live.  It smells like there is a grass fire right in the backyard. My heart is breaking.  I feel so useless.  I'm sitting safely at home wanting to help, but not knowing what to do. Lord, help our city...please.

The most exciting thing happening in Colorado Springs these days is the Waldo Canyon fire.  Our local news stations have had 24/7 coverage of the fire since it started on Saturday.  It's up to 4,500 acres and is now 5% contained.  A Type I Incident Team took control of the fire today.  Apparently they are like the "Navy Seals" of fire fighting.  I cannot imagine fighting fire anytime, but especially in 100+ degree temperatures in rough terrain.  The Air Force started supplying the big air tankers today also. This morning I was on the west side of town for a doctor's appointment.  It did't look so bad early in the morning. By this afternoon, it looked completely different.  Very impressive and very sad at the same time. Here's a shot of the new office building which is located on the eastern edge of town far from the fire.  It's kind of cool how the smoke is floating over the top of the steel beams. Mary checked w...

Cody just ran in the house scared to death.  I could tell by the way he was acting that something was going on in the backyard. Look what he found. Right outside my back door in the flower bed (that the dogs have dug up).  I guess even the snakes are looking for some relief from the heat in the shade.  Since he didn't look dangerous I chased him away by squirting water on him.  He didn't like that at all.  Why is it that Irv is never home when I encounter a snake? Gross!

Irv, Mr. Beans, and I headed up to Fort Collins earlier this week for the state 4-H horse bowl contest.  There's a huge forest fire to the west of Fort Collins, the High Park fire.  So far this is the costliest fire in Colorado history.  Last I heard there were 191 homes lost, the cost of the fire is around $20 million and the size of the fire has grown to 81,000 acres.  The town has been invaded by fire fighters. I was really touched by the signs people had put in their yards thanking the firefighters. People were even lining the streets as the fire crews came back into town in the evening on their way to the fire camp.  I thought that was really cool.  My dad was in the US Forest Service and he went to many fires during my childhood.   I remember him coming home totally exhausted.  In addition to it being very dry, it has also been unusually hot.  I was in Denver with friends today to see The Addams Family musi...

Whew! Is it ever hot! You would think we lived in Arizona or Texas. We are in desperate need of rain. I even got my car washed in hopes that would made the rain gods appear. It hasn't worked yet. Looking forward to tomorrow and a high of 95.

Happy Father's Day to some of the best dads on earth... My sweet hubby, father of my three wonderful daughters and my best friend. My dad, such a role model of what a father is supposed to be. And Irv's dad, also known as my dad #2. So, what did we do to celebrate Father's Day?  Nothing!  I spent the whole day getting ready for the state 4-H horse bowl contest on Thursday.  I've been co-superintendent of that contest for about five years now.  A couple months ago my co-superintendent resigned because his home burned down.  Perfectly understandable.  In the last couple weeks I have realized how much I miss his help.  I have a new co-superintendent who has helped out whenever I asked, and Jillian wrote the questions (about 350 of them) so I've had help, but it's still a lot of work.  Oh well, it's something I love so the work is all worth it.  I've recruited a lot of help this year--even Mr. Beans.  He's going to come be my l...

Due to our Alaskan cruise, I've been on "vacation" from school for the last several weeks.  I have really enjoyed it. Reading for pleasure rather than for the purpose of completing an assignment. Having time where there's "nothing to do". Going to movies on Saturday afternoons. Becoming addicted to the TV especially HGTV and "So you think you can dance". Going hiking with my beloved husband on a Sunday afternoon. Not having the stress of completing 4-5 assignments per week. Not pulling my hair out over a Java programming assignment that I just can't grasp. I could really get used to this.  Working full-time and going to school three-fourths leaves little time for anything else. I have to admit that I've had thoughts of giving it all up and just enjoying life for a while.  Then I got an e-mail from my college advisor on Friday.  It was entitled " How to Apply for Graduation ". Wow!  Yes, I am that close.  Five m...

We've had some crazy weather the last couple nights.  Actually, our house has gotten about 3 drops of rain, but to the east and west of us there has been unbelievable hail, tornadoes, and flooding rains.  It does make for a beautiful picture. We're in the middle of two big storms right now.  Irv and I decided we better come up with a plan in the event of a tornado.  Crawl space or closet in our bedroom.  Hmmm.  Possible snakes in the crawl space.  No thanks.  So it will have to be the closet.  It might be a little crowded--Irv and I, two dogs, two cats, two geese, and two horses.  Okay, maybe the horses will have to worry about themselves. Hopefully we won't have to put our plan into action. Boy, am I going to be upset if my garden gets messed up.

So I've been told that I need to keep up with my blogging.  We just went on this fantastic Alaskan cruise and I haven't shared any of the photos and/or stories yet. Alaska was cold and wet, but we did get a couple days of sunshine.  I slept better on that ship than I have in ages.  My favorite part of the trip was, of course, spending time with family.  This is the first time we have spent a week with Irv's parents and Scott and Kim.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of the six of us together. Dinner was the time that we would all be together.  We had the late seating and probably the best table in the dining room thanks to a mistake the cruise line made when booking our dining preferences.  Right in the middle of the back of the ship.  This was our view as we watch miles and miles of ocean behind us. Dining was an event that took a couple hours. For some reason, every night we were always one of the last tables to leave...