i am just smart enough to be a hindrance to myself

that's it. that's all I've come up with today.

The Mountain Goats

hiding

I was drawn to the title of a newly released book called Happier at Home because I thought it would be a journal or celebration of the author's existence within the four walls of her house. Instead it seems to be a self help kind of thing about becoming happier at home (I'm not entirely sure that's accurate but it's my first impression from visiting the author's website). Anyways, one post on her blog caused me to pause and think. It asked readers to 

"pay special attention to anything you try to hide."

Hmm... I won't spill my guts and answer that question here since that would seem disingenuous. Still, it's definitely worth mulling over as I imagine that what we try to hide, and our deepest motivations for doing so, probably reveals a lot. 

on being a cow...

Gilead Fire Ariel Ignition

Photograph by Kelsee Spurrier

8000+ acres but not substantially closer

Photo by Clark Smyth

Gilead Fire

Photo by Fresh Air Foto

An email I wrote to my sisters yesterday:

Hey,

I just got back from the fire meeting. I'd been expecting a little info and reassurance that it will never get to Story. Instead, it was part defensive...why we didn't do anything when it was only 5 acres and how it went from 10 acres to 700 in just one day...oops, and the rest was instruction on how to make your yard less combustible and how they're going to go about issuing evacuation notices. The good news was that they were reporting it to be 6 miles from Story and tonight they said it was actually 8 miles from Story and a pre-evacuation order won't be issued until it is 4 miles from Story. The bad news is that they said even a few thunderstorms (none in the forecast for the next 7 days) won't put it out and that it will take a "season ending weather event" (aka snow) before it will be be extinguished. They also said they can't fight it because it is unsafe for the firefighters, that they don't have enough firefighters because most of them have gone back to college, that they can't get enough equipment because there are so many fires country wide, and that they are discussing calling in the national guard if necessary. They do have some trucks on the way from New Mexico. Apparently helicopter drops alone won't put out a forest fire, only helicopter dumps in conjunction with firefighters on the ground chopping down trees and digging ditches will work (and they can't risk putting people on the ground). They are going to start stock piling pumps and trucks up here this week just in case and are making plans to evacuate everyone to the college if need be. Part of me wants to puke and the other part of me thinks it's silly and unreal and will never happen. Hopefully that part of me is right. I am going to photograph everything in the house for insurance purposes tomorrow and start working on the yard although it's hopeless. We have just too many trees too close to the house. Luckily it sounds like we will get 48 hours evacuation notice which should be plenty of time to get the animals settled. Other than that I think it will be a long term wait and see since it could get here in days or never or weeks. Who knows. My earliest recorded snow event for the last 10 years (I write it on the calender) is Sept. 16th but we certainly almost always have snow and freezing temps by early to mid October.

I'll let you know if anything significant changes.

Much Love~Sharon