Hot and dry
wildToday starts a long week of hot, dry and windy weather and that combination means I worry a bit.
A friend came up today and commented how much he wanted to live in the mountains. Unfazed by the Red Flag warning he commented on the gentle breeze blowing and he watched while the wind rustled the many Lodgepole pines on the property. He said it was much cooler up here and as he worked he wasn’t stressed as he is by the relenting heat of Denver. His plans involve someday moving up to the mountains and having a home like this one, something you can fix up and take pride in.
For me, summer is for watching the local media (forget local TV – I’ve had enough of hairsprays “reporting” the news, but I digress) such as Pinecam, 285Bound and the Mountain Area Scanner on iTunes.
A couple of days ago a big storm rumbled through and a friend who owns a mitigation company saw a lightning strike hit the mountain above the house. It smoldered for a moment and never materialized into anything but a hit that close had him worried.
There are several fires burning in Colorado right now – some human-caused, some started by lightning. A spark is a spark.
Today I uploaded more pictures to DreamVault, a tool from American Family Insurance. You can add pictures and descriptions of your possessions and it helps in an emergency. My thoughts lately center on being prepared and wildfire.
Wildfire doesn’t figure into my friend’s mountain dreams in any way. He had questions about evacuations and where you do when a mandatory evac order comes down but he’s not concerned about that moment the call to leave comes down.
He hasn’t given any thought to the work/hassle of taking down trees and worrying when the forecast calls for endless days of heat and wind. He hasn’t worried his woodpile is too close to the house for summer but it’s perfect for winter. He doesn’t know what’s in the gutters and is it flammable? He doesn’t have cat carriers lined up or Tupperware filled with scrapbooks, MasterPath discourses, pictures and other items precious to me.
I have to remember why I love it up here. It’s isolated and quiet, it’s cool and wild.
It’s hard to remember when the wind is blowing.