BIG Flames

Mom and Dad went out of town yesterday which meant I was on high alert house security duty which meant I couldn't get on the computer. Grandma stopped by to let us out during her lunch time. Good thing cuz Mom and Dad left at 6 am and didn't get home until 9:30 PM!! Dad had a meeting in Denver and Mom went along with him and hung out and then they went shopping (and didn't buy us anything!!). The entire day was an adventure. They got stuck in the middle of traffic because of a wreck on the way there and then really bad stuff on the way home.

Some of you may have already heard about all the fires going on in Colorado right now. One REALLY big one is in Ordway. Dad says that's pretty far from us and then there's another one that I can't remember the name of the town. The one that is really close to us is on the Ft. Carson Army base. Dad's meeting was in Denver and to get to Denver from where I live, you have to drive through Colorado Springs and right by the base and the training grounds (Turkey Creek). It takes about an hour to get to Colroado Springs and about 2 1/2 hours to get to Denver. Mom and Dad were shopping and trying to avoid driving home in rush hour traffic when Grandma called them and told them the highway to get home was closed. That was a bummer because that meant they had to take the Interstate from Colorado Springs to Pueblo and then home which added and hour to the drive home. They took their time and stopped to have dinner and hoped by the time they got to Colorado Springs, the highway would be opened back up. Nope! When they first drove into Colorado Springs they could see lots of smoke and so Mom called the roads hotline thing and confirmed what they already knew. The highway that would bring them home was closed. They called Grandma and she told them what she was seeing on the news. At that time 1,000 acres had burned, they didn't have a cause and Gate 1 was being evacuated to Gate 5. Gate 1 is the first gate we drive by coming from our house. That's where all the new base housing is. There is a base in Texas (we think, Mom can't remember for sure where the base is that's closing) and most of the soldiers there are moving to Colorado Springs which means they've been really busy bulding new base housing. Gate 1 is also near the training grounds (called Turkey Creek) which is pretty much just open grass area with some mountains and trails. As Mom and Dad got closer to where they should have been turning off the interstate to get to the highway that would bring them home they saw lots more smoke. It was only almost 8:00 and it was so dark it looked like it should have been almost 10:00! Grandma told Mom there was a plane wreck, too. When Mom and Dad got home they found out it was one of the planes trying to help with the fire and they didn't have a cause for the wreck either. The pilot died which is very sad.

To get to Pueblo on the interstate you have to drive through a couple little towns. Right before the first one, Mom and Dad could see the glow from the fire. They didn't like that at all. Then all of a sudden they were right in the middle of black smoke. They aren't feeling very good now today because they inhaled some smoke. They needed to stop to get gas but the station Dad wanted to stop at was right in the middle of all the smoke coming over the hill so they decided to wait until they got to Pueblo. Then all of a sudden something caught their attention. They could see flames!!!!! Here is a picture of what the people from the news took from the highway Mom and Dad should have been on. When Mom and Dad watched the news when they got home they were showing other pictures of the flames that were going up the really tall pine trees which is why they could see the flames. Right now everything is so dry because we haven't had any rain or anything. During the winter we had a lot of snow so everything grew, but then it got dry because it didn't get any more water. It doesn't take much to start a fire right now. Mom and Dad could see the glow from the fire and could smell the smoke almost all the way home. Our town is a little hazey today because of it. The highway is still closed and they're still working on the fire. Last time Mom heard it was at 9,000-something acres and she's pretty sure that was an old number she heard. The families that are living on base are having to stay in a gym on the base. The army is taking very good care of them which is very nice of them. No buildings have been lost yet but last we heard, they still couldn't go home. Mom said she didn't like seeing the flames last night. It's not even summer yet and Colorado already has 3 big fires. A few years ago, before Mom and Sasha found Dad, there was a bad fire up on a mountain near a tourist attraction where Mom worked and a lot of her friends that lived in that area lost their homes and some lost outbuildings. The place Mom worked volunteered a lot of food and water to the firefighters and flame jumpers. That was a really bad summer for fires, too.

Anyway, Mom and Dad got home finally around 9:30 which was almost 4 hours after they had left Denver. Mom's butt was sore from sitting all day while Dad was in the meeting and then from sitting for that long in the car. Mom and Dad played with me for awhile and then we all went to bed. They didn't even get up at their normal times this morning. Mom and Dad left for work at the same time! That NEVER happens! Dad always leaves way earlier than Mom! They were very tired from getting up so early and then getting home so late. They had fun though and Mom has been telling everybody about her adventures last night so that's been kind of fun, too. Right now the highway is still closed from Ft. Carson to Turkey Creek which means you still have to take the long way around to get to Colorado Spinrgs. There's no other way except going through Pueblo or through Cripple Creek (that's a lot of mountain driving and takes a lot longer) so anybody that had to commute to Colorado Springs or to Cañon City this morning for work had to take the long way around.

To pay Mom and Dad back from leaving as home alone all day yesterday and not bringing us anything home, I decided to get in the litter box again. I haven't done that in a really long time. Mom had taken the baby gate down that blocked me from getting in because I had stopped getting into the litterbox. I showed them! I got a treat and made a mess and then I barfed. The cat poop did not agree with my stomache at all. Dad says he hopes I learned my lesson. I don't think I'll be eating cat poop again for a long time, but actually that made another giant mess my Dad had to clean up this morning so it also added to my punishment for them. HA! ugghhh I don't want to talk about cat poop anymore.

It's supposed to rain and snow starting sometime tonight so hopefully that will help with the fire at Ft. Carson. We hope it cleans the smoke out of the air, too because it's making Mom and Dad have sore throats and sore noses. We're about 50 miles (if you follow the highway, closer as the crow flies) so just think about all those poor people on the base that are much closer, or the fire fighters and flame jumpers working on the fire!! We hope the army familes get to go back to their homes soon and the firemen can go back to their homes and the flame jumpers can go back to their homes or wherever their stationed (a bunch are stationed in our town, but are from all over the country).

I'm going to go take a nap now. It's getting cold out so I better warm up Mom's blanket for her. Mom put a roast inthe crock pot for dinner and it's smelling very yummy. It's a new recipe so I hope it turns out.