I'll Shiver and Stay Safe, It's Worth It

I'm cold. We're experiencing an early cold snap up here in the Frozen Northlands, and I'm cold. I've got my winter gear out and my autumn jackets put away, I've already started wearing boots to the shop because it's no fun trying to walk on the asphalt without boots if there has been an overnight freeze, and I'm wearing hats indoors because my beautiful bald head is cold. (Frankly, I don't know how guys do it. I've been bald for more than a year and my head gets really cold in the cooler temps.) 

I don't mind being bald,. I look good 
without hair, but it's cold in the winter, 
so I wear hats all the time to stay warm. 

I wouldn't mind moving to a warmer climate, but there really isn't anywhere that we want to go, and the thought of packing, moving, and unpacking makes me sick. So no - I'm staying in the Frozen Northlands.  I think about a warmer climate often during our winters, but I enjoy the other seasons up here so much that I can't imagine living anywhere else. We get the snow in the winter, yes - a lot of it. And we get thunderstorms and the occasional tornado, but generally our weather up here is predictable and can be handled with appropriate outerwear. 

The Cameron Peak fire is threatening Colorado, causing 
evacuations just west of my Alma Mater and throught 
the foothills into Estes Park and Rocky Mountain 
National Park. It's a huge blaze, one of the largest fires 
ever in Colorado. 

It's quite different in the other places I've lived. Both New Mexico and Colorado have their share of serious wildfires, the Cameron Peak fire is hovering close enough that my cousin might have to evacuate her home. She's carefully watching the evacuation orders, and I have no idea what her horses will do if they have to leave them behind. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that, but evacuation orders have been issued within 20 miles of their home. 

The Cameron Peak fire is the larger one to the north, 
the smaller central fire has already claimed two lives. 
The evacuations are mandated from the western part 
of Fort Collins (on the upper right), down through 
Loveland. My cousin lives in Berthoud - between the 
two L cities of Loveland and Longmont on the east 
side of this map. 

I think I'll stay up here, instead. We have 10,000+ lakes up here, and although there have been serious wildfires in the past, they've all been far north of us and quite a long time ago. The one thing that can cause serious harm for us are the tornadoes, and they are very much a hit or miss thing. You can't fight a twister, just hunker in your safe room and hope for the best. So far (knock on wood) we've been fortunate. I hope that fortune will continue to smile upon us, even if I shiver in the cold. 

So I'll put on my boots and long parka and hat/gloves and head outdoors to the shop in a little while. I guess if an early winter is the least of my problems, I'm a very lucky person. Have an excellent weekend, please be safe and be kind, and please wear your mask. I'll be back on Monday. 

Stay-at-Home Day 17 - Life Goes On

Today was an "outside" day - a day when I needed to go to the shop, make sure everything was in good shape, pick up the mail, go to the bank, and pay bills, mailing them along the way. I actually had a single piece of mail waiting for me today, but there should be quite a lot coming down the line. The one piece was actually one I had paid on-line, so at least my payment wasn't delayed. 

There are some people who really do a great job, and our
firefighters are among them. They showed some real
skill when they fought this fire and kept it away from
the houses and other nearby buildings. 

On my way to the shop, I drive over an overpass which spans some warehouses and the Burlington-Northern Freight Train switching station  - LOTS of tracks, lots of boxcars, and engines and train things and generally a great place to perch to watch activity on trains if you're into that. Today it was the warehouses before the train tracks that caught my eye, along with a lot of flashing lights. 

According to statistics, older people with a poor sense of smell tend
to die about ten years sooner than their peers. I've always had poor
smell, though, and I have great hearing. DH, on the other hand, has a
great sense of smell, but lousy hearing. 

I know I don't have a great sense of smell. In fact, my sense of smell is pretty non-existent - an assist in smelly situations, but not great if I'm asked to comment on someone's perfume preferences or incense choices. This time there were flashing lights from two fire trucks, light smoke issuing from an array of blackened beams, and a warehouse that used to deal in electrical supplies, and before that had housed a limousine service was pretty much destroyed. The walls still stood - somewhat, but the roof was completely gone. To my amazement (and as a testament to the skills of the fire fighters on the scene), the houses across the alley from the destroyed warehouse were totally untouched. Of course, I didn't smell the scent of a drowned fire - like I said, poor sense of smell. 

There's something marvelous about the characters of
Sesame Street, and it's almost impossible to not smile
when you see them. At least I'll be able to smile while
writing checks and sending them out. 

So, as I bought three books of Sesame Street stamps for my bills, having only three stamps in my Woodstock 50th Anniversary book left. I had to smile. In fact, a woman behind me at the Post Office remarked about how she loved Sesame Street, and I responded that we all needed a little fun and love in our lives now, so Big Bird and the gang seemed appropriate. On that note, stay safe, stay home, stay well. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Burning - Fat, Time and Notre Dame

Notre Dame - what can I say. I'm horrified, stunned, and so very sad at the loss of something that was so spectacular as a total art piece. I was mesmerized by the live photos, and I'm speechless. So much beauty and history that went up in flame and smoke yesterday. 

The almost total loss of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was a
heartbreaker. Building began on the cathedral in the 1100's,
so parts of it were almost 1000 years old. What a tragedy! 

Hopefully everyone got their income taxes filed on time and are getting refunds. Isn't that the best of all worlds? Getting the government off our backs (temporarily) and getting money back from them is the ideal. Government is elephantine, however, and it never forgets. What it gives with one hand it takes back with the other. Meh! 

Early reports were startling - the flames pouring out and the
later collapse of the spire and later again, the ceiling. It was
a vivid reminder of the power of fire. 

I'll be posting regularly this week, but my schedule is toast for most of it. I can get to the gym today and tomorrow, but then I'm forced away until next week Monday. Tomorrow afternoon I return to my tattoo artist for a touch-up on my eyebrows (which I'm still totally in love with) and to get extremely thin permanent eyeliner tattooed on. The usual strictures apply - minimal water and no sweat for 72 hours, so that eliminates the gym for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is an off day for me anyway. I'm going to have to be really cautious about what I eat, if I can't exercise in my mornings for a few days. 

There are sculptures and reliquaries and that amazing
organ and the rose windows - probably mostly lost now.
I know the firefighters tried to save as much as possible,
but the entire building was a work of art and the
building burned. 

Today though is a normal day, and I'm going to try to really push today. I'll be entering the second half of my eight weeks without the pool on Thursday, and I want to leave the first half in good shape and attack the second half so that my stamina is still up there when I hit the outdoor pool at the end of May. Silly to be looking ahead to May? Heck no. This year is flying by and I have SO much to do before I can "retire" at the end of the year. 

So, on that note, on to find photos of Notre Dame. Have a good Tuesday and I'll return tomorrow with a much more thoughtful post about Notre Dame. 

Heroes All - The 19 Who Died Remembered and Le Tour (of course)

Yesterday I awakened to the news that nineteen firefighters of an elite group were killed overnight fighting a lightning-caused forest fire in Arizona. The group, "Hot Shots", were air dropped behind the fire lines to help establish firebreaks and to try and begin getting the fire under control. As always, they were equipped with their standard fire-fighting gear including their pods - body-sized bags in which they could protect themselves from burn-over. Unfortunately the pods only protect to 500 degrees F and this fire blazed much hotter than that.

The "Hotshots" from Prescott, Arizona lost their lives in the
Yarnell forest fire about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.

The western US is normally dry, but this year it's been hotter than normal and the rainfall/snowfall was less over the winter, leading to extremely dangerous conditions for wildfires. This fire has now been burning for more than 24 hours and still is considered under zero control. Homes have been lost, and lives - nineteen lives of young men ranging from age 21-44, men who were proud of their profession and willing to put their lives on the line to help save other people and homes. Many of these young men came from fire fighting families - fathers, brothers, uncles involved in the fire fighting profession. They knew the dangers but still had no hesitation about performing their jobs. They left behind grieving families - parents, spouses and children, and a nation shocked by the largest number of fire fighter deaths since September 11, 2001 - the fall of the World Trade Center towers.

The Yarnell forest fire has already burned hundreds of
homes and now has killed 19 fire fighters. Arizona is
a state in the southwestern part of the US, bordering
California, Utah, New Mexico and abutting with Mexico on the south.

If you would be interested in seeing pictures of the individual fire fighters and reading a little bit about many of them, this link will lead to the New York Daily News' story.

Fires this large can create their own sire tornadoes - whirling columns of
superheated air and flame. This photo was taken yesterday at the Yarnell Fire.

I grew up in the western US and I know how devastating forest fires can be and how quickly they can move. It's one of the reasons I hesitate to move back to the places that I love - at least in Minnesota I have a more humid environment and lots - lots of lakes. We have devastating fires here too, but things rarely get as tinder dry as they can get in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.

Today's stage is fairly flat and quite short for the Team Time Trials.

And in Le Tour - today is the Team Time Trial in Nice. The peleton has finally reached mainland France where they will be for the remainder of the race, and it starts on a 15.5 mile course for one of the more exciting team events. It is unlikely that the race would be won at the team time trial, but like all of the early stages - it can't be won, but it can be lost. I'll be catching the race in between errands today but it's a shortened day because of the type of event so all is good.

Fires and Floods and Writing, Oh My!

My post today was going to be very mild, concentrating on the fact that I have the day off and four stories awaiting my attention. But my youth is under attack. OK, I know that sounds rather strange, but it almost seems as though Colorado is burning up. There are fires on the eastern slope near Fort Collins, where I went to school. There is one up the canyon near Boulder where my ex-fiancee, Seth, grew up and a city/town that holds many special memories for me throughout my youth. There is a huge blaze near Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs. That one has grown so quickly and become so dangerous that tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and the Air Force Academy has been closed and evacuated. It's frightening. The fire dangers are one major reason why I have stayed in Minnesota instead of moving back to Colorado or New Mexico. I don't recall them being this bad when I grew up in the area, so I'm wondering about what changed to cause wildfires to be such a major thing over the past ten years or so.

The background in this picture of the Air Force Academy chapel is sunset, but pictures taken now might show the deadly orange of flames on the horizon instead.

And, in the southeast we've got rain. A LOT of rain, the result of the passage of Debbie (hurricane or tropical storm depending on wind speed). More than 30 inches (76.2 cm)of rain in just a few days in some areas. That much rain in that short of a time means vast flooding and intense damage to life and property. My heart goes out to them.

Hurricane Debbie also spawned a number of tornadoes including this one.

So, that's our latest disasters in this country. Somehow having all of those things happening makes my computer issues seem so minor in comparison. I'll go to an early breakfast with Meghan and her delightful young son, and then a few errands ending up with as much writing as I can fit in. I want my AinA complete by the end of the day, and I also want a start on at least one of the four stories I have waiting in the wings. It's going to be hot today and I'll be sweating in the computer room, but I need to get in gear....