Where there's Smoke...

There's misery.

I don't know how much you all know about the fire here, but it's the number one priority wildfire in the nation right now. Not the largest, but there is still lots of growth potential. Two homes, including one belonging to the son of our neighbor, have burned, as well as several barns and cabins. The fire started Monday night from a lightning strike--originally it was at least 3 or 4 fires, but they have now all burned together. We could see the flames from the closest one from our house--it was less than a half mile away.


That top picture was taken this morning at about 10 AM. The smoke cleared out shortly after, but has been back every night due to some sort of inversion. We've taken to sleeping in the guest room, the only spot in the house to stay clear. This old, leaky house of ours fills up with smoke pretty well--it's worse in here right now than outside. Unfortunately, it's also 100 degrees out there, so there's no point in opening the windows.

If you want to read the fire updates, the best place is actually the Chamber of Commerce website. Lots of nice photos there, too.

Tiffany and Mae at the Weinhard Cafe have been doing a good job taking care of the local, volunteer firefighters. I brought a couple sacks full of cookies on Saturday, and Tiffany just dropped off a bunch of paper plates, toilet paper, napkins etc. They were thrilled. Many of the local businesses have signs out on the highway thanking the firefighters (apparently there have been some sort of dustups between locals and the out-of-towners that resulted in the fire camp moving to Waitsburg, 10 miles away).

Anyhow, we're hanging in there, staying cool with popsicles and trying to blow the smoke out with fans in the evening. Send eye drops!