Fire in Nifferland

There is a fire just west of where I live. On the way home from the airport the other day, I saw the most red sun I've ever seen. Half the sky was filled with clouds, all sourced from the same spot in the mountains. It's a big fire. And now, after a couple days of trying to control it, the papers say it's 0% contained. Ouch. No one really knows how many houses have been burned, though I heard one source say the number is around 100. The entire Boulder valley smells like campfire and I find it strange that a smell that I love so much can also be so depressing.

It's one of those things that is just impossible to fathom until you see it with your own eyes. How quickly can a house go up in flames? Check out these photos above to see (and click to see the next few photos). And if you question the speed of those frames (I'm certainly no expert), then check out this series of photos.

My heart goes out to those families who have lost everything. There was once a time when I was convinced I'd live in the mountains when I grew up. Being raised a mountain girl, I love the outdoors. I miss the cool crisp air and the bugling elk in the fall. I miss it all. However, now that I have a family of my own and have started to build up my own home of treasures and memories... Oh man. I get a knot in my stomach just thinking about all the things that one could lose. Let's not even touch the idea of losing family members... I'm simply talking about the memories that one stockpiles into their homes.

My husband and I talked about it again last night and wondered if we'd like to move to the mountains some time in the future. There are advantages and disadvantages that I never considered when I was younger and so certain. In this conversation, though, my husband said "I think I'd have to be completely certain that I would be ok losing everything in the house."

But how is that possible? Sure you can store MOST of your photos in a secure location, but you'd lose the recent ones. And my mind starts to wander to the other items I have that I would NOT want to part with... my grandma's dresser, my grandma's steamer trunk, my other trunks, Michael's grandma's bedroom furniture... my treasure hunt list.

Oh God. My heart hurts. Let's just not go there. Find a happy place, Niffer. Find a happy place. I think I'm going to go find myself someone to hug... maybe someone half my height or less. Maybe someone whose hands are smaller than my own. Maybe someone who... doh. Who is asleep right now. Hubby, here I come!