On African Thyme: July 2012

Where did June go? Seriously, I think this infuriating and incessant wind has blown a whole month away much faster than normal! I can't believe that July is here, although the scorching heat is now at least more realistic and normal than it was a month ago. Walking around our back pasture is just heart-breaking--there is so little green...my footsteps resound with faint crunching sounds as they cross the brown fields. One year ago we had waist-high grass and waves of green. Mother Nature loves to remind us of how, in the end, we are all at her mercy.

She's busy sending lots of smoke signals out right now, all over the West! My brother's family has been evacuated twice due to the High Park Fire and we have all watched as whole residential areas (300 homes, 2 dead) have been razed from the wrath of the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs. So many of us love to have one foot in Nature and one foot in Civilization, yet by doing so we often put them in opposition to each other and almost inevitably, one wins.

The other day, while washing the dinner dishes, I looked up to see the horizon filled with smoke. I stepped outside and, after smelling the strong, acrid smell of wildfire, I ran through a mental pre-evacuation list. This fire season has everyone a little more on edge than usual--as it should. It is dry. It is hot. It is windy. And, it is only going to get worse. So I worried a little more than usual, knowing that a fire could easily come rolling over the hill to the north of us. Chances are the road would stop it...but this year, fire is a wild and crazy beast that is running with a vengeance. So I think of what to gather and do. Sprinklers on, check. Important documents and computer external hard-drive, check. Everyone's 72-hour packs (but do they have clothes that still fit the ever-growing kids?), check. Dog's travel bag and food, check. Photo albums, pictures, memory boxes. The triage of what to take is not easy when you really think about it. EVERYTHING in your house has meaning, or it wouldn't be in your house. Some obviously mean more than others...but all of it has meaning. So, think now of what you will take and what you will leave because the reality of it is...whether it be fire, flood, earthquake or tsunami...none of us are immune. Take some time to prepare if you haven't--even if it is the mental checklist that I did--so that at least, when it is our turn, we are a little more prepared. My guess is, there are a number of people in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins that had wished they had done at least this--probably more--and are now sifting through the ashes that are left.

Colt has been home more than expected this June, which is crazy given the wildfire situation. He was in Nevada on a fire for a week, and he has been working long hours each day...but, he has come home most nights. He even made it to the celebration of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary (yahoo!) in Durango this past weekend. I have a feeling that seeing him home is going to come to an abrupt end as his crews and personnel return off of fires and it becomes his turn to go and help as a single resource. Please keep all the firefighters--on land and in the air--in your prayers as this is the type of season that not only gobbles up homes, but can also snatch the lives of those that dare to stand in her way.

Our June in pictures:


Madame Butterfly


Greenhouse on June 1st

First haircut!

First haircut at a real salon. After having her head shaved numerous times at the orphanage, she was dreading this, but my amazing friend did awesome and now she can't wait to go back!