Fiber Fool

While living through one natural disaster is never the same as another, I know some things are universal whether you survived a devastating flood that covered more than 3/4 of a town like I did, a hurricane or a tornado like that the hit Moore, OK yesterday:

• It is upsetting to not know how friends and loved ones are faring
• It is stressful not knowing where your next meal is going to come from
• Or where you are going to sleep and when you might get sleep again
• While help may be coming it never seems like quite enough or fast enough or last long enough to find some sort of new normalcy

I am not in a position right now to make the kind of difference I’d like, but every little bit helps. Especially a lot of little bits. I’ve experienced it. And while it won’t be super timely, I know the citizens of Moore will need help for a while. I’d like you to help me help the tornado victims. I’ll be donating 10% of my Ravelry pattern profits through June 20th to the American Red Cross Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund.

I’ve you’ve been procrastinating on buying Nourishing Knits now would be a great time! I also have a lot of really great patterns for summer knitting, some as economic as $3 - Towel Trio, Stellar Facecloth, Cirrus Shrug, Ganache Shawl, Kate Shawl and of course tons of sock patterns.

On a personal note, I’m slowly finding my new normal while DH is gone and things are improving now that I have some part time work, my hands are out in the garden, and I’m back to the gym thanks to Christmas and birthday money from my parents and grandparents. Thank you to those who took the time to send me e-mail or Rav mail. I really appreciate it and will get back to you soon. I’ll update you all on what I’ve been up to over the coming days and weeks I’m sure.

In May we had the Hewlett Gulch fire. June 9th, the High Park fire started. Over the weekend there was a fire in Estes Park. Now there is one descending upon Colorado Springs that has caused a massive number of people to be evacuated and yet another started yesterday in Boulder.

The last I heard there were 11 wildfires burning in the state of Colorado. We’re experiencing days upon days of highs over 95 and setting records like crazy all over the front range. Relative humidities are in the single digits and winds are frequent and erratic. All things that spell disaster for getting these fires contained. Meanwhile we get glimpses of hope in the form of rain, only to have very little coverage of light rain for small periods of time and with it comes massive amounts of lightning.

Estimated containment date (note, containment does not mean it is done burning) for High Park is now July 30th. Well over 200 homes in that fire along are confirmed lost. Many of those homes housed livestock on their property who are also without homes.

My heart aches for those who’ve been evacuated for weeks and still have no word on the state of their homes. It aches for those who have lost everything. It aches for all the animals being uprooted from their homes - domestic and wildlife. I feel helpless.

As one of my friends who lost her home said on Facebook recently, “This is the big one..this is out and out WAR..this is our Katrina/Tsunami/get the picture?” It is so true. Every time it looks like we are getting a hold on containment, the wind stirs up or the heat kicks in and we loose ground like this last weekend. Now add in all these new fires in the last week. The damage is mind boggling.

If you have a means to help, please visit HelpColoradoNow.org and do what you can!

Another friend of mine is housing some extra animals for a friend of hers whom I’ve met who lost her home. She has been following statuses and learning a lot about wildfire fighting. If you want to know more, I’d recommend reading her series of posts on the High Park Fire which start here. There are currently 5 parts to the series and I’m guessing plenty more to come in her Current Affairs category.

I have no formal plans at this time to really make a Monday post each week about fires in the area, but thig High Park Fire is likely to be significantly impacting our lives for most of the summer. And it seems I’ve been unoffically updating the status of the fire on Mondays. So, for lack of a better post title, that is what you get :-)

As of this morning we are at 45% containment, 58,000+ acres. 181 homes are confirmed lost, making it the most destructive firein Colorado history. It hit a few older developments first where the now required fire breaks were not when it was built up and only some homeowners followed current guidelines. Or at least that is what I’ve been told.

Lots of the roads that were closed this time last week opened up later in the week, but now are once again closed. We are forecasted to hit 100 today and that combined with strong winds has us under a red flag warning so it is unlikely there will be any forward progress on containment percentages. The winds are also not in the favor of town so air quality will likely get bad again this afternoon like it did yesterday. I’m good friends with my N95 mask these days.

The photo at the top of this post was the view from our backyard last Monday evening after knit night. I was unable to capture the entirity of the flaming section nor the proximity it appeared to be with the naked eye. At this point it was less than 2 miles from our house. There was a reservoir and other housing developments between us and it. I will say, when looking at the IR flyover maps from Monday night’s flight and Tuesday night’s flight, they did a phenomenal job at securing the eastern (town-ward) flank. The photo below is what it looked like from the top of our street around 12:30 pm last Monday - scary! The little corner of garage at the lower right, at the end of the cul du sac is ours.

I sure hope the firefighters know how much they are appreciated! Many business around town have changed their signs to read “Thank you firefighters” and similar sentiments. I’m not sure how much they are actually in town though. We really are so lucky we have people like them to do such a dangerous job and do it so well!

I did go on that hike on Saturday and will share stories and photos from that later in the week. I also did a little natural beauty cooking and then lots of photo editing yesterday afternoon and evening while half watching a couple of movies. What did you do this weekend?

I’m sure most of you have heard about the High Park fire now. It was discovered around sunrise on Saturday morning, about 20 miles west of Fort Collins. It is suspected to have been started by lightning. That combined with lots of beetle killed pine trees and winds that have been strong and erratic, what was a 200 acre fire Saturday morning is now nearly 37,000 acres and still growing!

It has spread as fast as 1.5 miles per hour and is now burning in Lory State Park and on our side of some of the ridges. Gateway, Bobcat Ridge and Reservoir Ridge Natural Areas have been closed with other foothills parks and open spaces being watched carefully. Most every outdoor program has been canceled city-wide. The Poudre school district has cancelled all indoor and outdoor programs for the week.

The picture at the top is what it looked like from our house (on the west side of Fort Collins) around sunset on Saturday evening. The below photo is about 4pm Sunday and that is the same house in the both images.

We are not in any immediate danger, other than smoke-related respiratory issues. And I’m not going to lie that smoke has been a real problem at points. Especially since we have no AC to help keep particulates in the house down. Last night just after sun down we could barely see the houses across the open space.

100s of homes are evacuated to the county fairgrounds on I-25 between Fort Collins and Loveland. A top level national management team is to be taking over the efforts to control the fire today. But prayers and positive energy are greatly needed right now. For those managing and those fighting the fire, for those displaced and who have lost their homes or waiting on word about the state of their homes, for the medical personel in the county who are treating those dealing with smoke issues and for all of us worrying about people we know who have evacuated. We could really use some help from mother nature in the form of reduced winds and very measurable precipitation.

Two years of unknown mold exposure in my apartment in North Dakota has left me predisposed to bronchitis. Despite that, I’m doing okay. I can only assume part of that is due to my improved fitness. But immediately on Saturday I started allergy medication and Mucinex and increased my water consumption by an additional 24 ounces to keep things flowing and hopefully keep me free of bronchial problems. I’ve not exercised since early Saturday morning as during the last fire it was measurable smoky even in the gym. I do not need to be forcing those smoke particles deeper into my lungs at this point. I miss it though, especially with the stress - exercise has become my outlet for stress.

I’m taking some comfort in the fact that it was likely started by nature. That is a much better answer than it being a careless recreator throwing a cigarette butt out their car window, or starting a campfire despite a fire ban. While it is massively destructive and disruptive, at least there is a bit of awe-inspiring beauty in it all. I do wish I were looking on from a bit more of a distance, however!

Thank you to all who have written expressing concern! Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

I kindly asked Drew to take a look at my tire pressure on Tuesday and he discovered a fully flat rear tire on Isabel. I had my tires slimed and I’m unfamiliar with whether slimed tires can be patched and without a proper stand am a bit hesitant to deal with the rear tire myself. Add to that the fact that I’ve passed the 200 miles mark on the bike and I figure it is probably about time to get the cables and everything checked now that she’s been broken in. So I’ve not biked this week.

While I miss the calorie burn of bike to/from work this week, it happened to coincide with my monthly lower-intensity exercise week and also a peak in some sort of pollen or something that has had my eyes burning like mad this week. So all-in-all I guess not a bad week to be off my bike.

Well, aside from the fact that the shop is busy and unless I get my bike dropped off yet tonight (and they are only open unti 6pm) I will likely be without Isabel all of next week too :-( So, dinner plans which fit so well into my nutrition plan for today have to be shelved as we can’t get the bike dropped off and dinner cooked to be eaten at a reasonable hour. And, having tonight’s planned dinner tomorrow night is going throw off tomorrow’s nutrition big time. *sigh* Just once, I want our menu plan (especially for dinner) to hold for the entire week!

I also aparently need to leave the mascara in the make-up bag until the eye burning has passed… (see smudge on tissue in the top photo)