2 Waldo 2:16 - 17

This ash landed in someone's yard. The verse at the bottom is the beginning of 2 Thessalonians 2:16, which along with verse 17 reads:

"Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work".

Waldo Canyon Fire Update

My parents, along with most of the areas south of Rockrimmon and east of 30th were allowed back into their homes tonight. The threat of the fire spreading to more houses seems to be over.

Local authorities were able to take an inventory today as the smoke cleared. The reported count of homes burned is currently at 346, making it the most destructive fire in the history of the state of Colorado.

Waldo Canyon Fire

On Tuesday, June 26, the Waldo Canyon Fire that had been burning on the other side of the mountain arrived in Colorado Springs. Before today, the fire had only been a nuisance. Most people weren't concerned that the fire would make its way across the valleys and down a mountain face because fires just don't normally do that. However, when multiple factors come together and create the perfect storm, normal doesn't happen.

We've been experiencing drought-like conditions for a few years, but today the major causes of the fire spreading were wind and temperature. We reached an all-time high of 101 degrees, the hottest day ever recorded. At the same time a nearby thunderstorm blew in, and the 60+ mph winds blew the fire east, across valleys, and eventually down the mountainside into the neighborhoods in Colorado Springs in a matter of hours. The yellow area on the map shows how much the fire spread in one day, tripling its size.

I was coming home from a training in Denver and was actually on the phone with my mom when the flames crested the ridge and started heading into town. A few hours later my parents and 32,000 other people made up the total number of people that had been evacuated from their homes and businesses. People had time to get out, but not much time to plan what to take and what to leave behind. My parents decided to stay at their business overnight to tend to the 50 animals that were still in their care.

Ash and smoke filled the entire city while we all watched the "hundreds" (reportedly) houses burn to the ground on the news. Ash as small as a pinhead and as large as someone's hand ended up all over town in people's yards, in their houses, and in their cars. Not many people slept that night, to include the now over 1,000 firefighters and other personnel battling the blaze. With that many people evacuated, most people knew and even housed friends and family that had been affected.

The good news is that despite hundreds of homes being burned to the ground, many more were saved. No injuries or deaths have been reported, and the crews seemed to now have the fire under control after a successful Wednesday and Wednesday night (green area on the map). The area burned could have been much worse if it hadn't been for the crews on scene. No one could have planned for a fire like this, evidenced by the fact that many seasoned personnel said they have never seen a fire act like this one did. The crews couldn't completely fight the fire until the terrain allowed them to do so, which in this case began in the neighborhoods themselves.

Although very sad and unprecedented, many people on this side of town live in a fire zone. Although Colorado Springs is the seventh safest city from natural disasters in the country (according to a recent study), a fire in these areas shouldn't be a surprise. I think the magnitude and how fast things happened are what's surprising, but a fire shouldn't be. We all know we live in a giant tinder box right now, and the local authorities were already working with other neighborhoods to reduce risk, clear out areas, etc. I guess a good way to sum it up is that this was probably a wake up call for a town where nothing like this has ever really happened.

I kept copies of some of the more amazing and sad photos to share with everyone. Some of you have probably seen a few of these already. As I write this, the fires in town seem to be almost gone. Things appear to be almost over, at least in town, as today is the first clear day this week. We can see the mountains and all fires that came over on Tuesday are pretty much gone. You never know if another area of the fire can come over the mountains farther north or south, but things seems good now. I hope the worst is over and the community can now move forward and pick up the pieces. I have no doubt we will.

Air Support

A close up video of the helicopters fighting the fire in Estes Park.  In about 20 seconds they sucked up over 2,500 gallons of water that they would drop on the fire a few minutes later. Pretty cool...

Wally World

This weekend the family headed up to Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park. We've been trying to do more things since the kids are getting older and more manageable, but this epic fail of a "family vacation" reminded us why spending hundreds of dollars isn't worth it yet.

We were able to borrow my parent's 4 Runner since we needed a little more space and working air conditioning. The drive up went fine. The minute we arrived in town on Saturday a fire broke out. Traffic was a mess, so we decided to check into our hotel. We planned on doing some sight seeing around town, but because of the kids, the congestion, and the fire, it quickly became a bad idea.

Highlights from the Econo Lodge include:

• Jonathan vomiting all over the bed and himself after being in the room a mere 10 minutes
• Julia crashing off the other side of the bed while playing
• Stacey whacking her shin on the bed frame that was sticking out
• A pillow hitting the ceiling and knocking popcorn texture all over the floor
• Julia talking in her sleep and then falling out of her bed in the middle of the night
• Despite moving the bed back, Jonathan falling into the bed frame, cutting his head, and gushing blood all over Stacey and himself
• Julia and Dad spending time swimming in a questionable pool
• Jonathan vomiting a little in his crib when he woke up in the morning
• Jonathan falling head first between the bed and the nightstand trying to get the phone
• Dad not sleeping between the hours of eleven and one in the morning 
• Grandpa calling to tell us that a new fire had started outside of Colorado Springs 

Although the pictures look nice, this was far from a vacation and not a good use of our time and money. Then again, the kids had fun. After we checked into the hotel we went back into town and were treated to an air show by the helicopters fighting the fire. We hiked down to the waterfront and watched them suck up 2,500 gallons at a time and then leave to dump it on the fire over and over again. Jonathan and I really liked watching them and having them buzz us on the shoreline as they took off.

Twenty houses and/or cabins were burned to the ground, but they got the fire put out. We almost just headed back home but the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park was again open the next morning. The area was pretty, but we only made it to one of the three ponds with the kids...probably a total of a mile. Jonathan vomited his feeding while on the trail, probably from all the effort spent riding on my shoulders or being carried. Julia was no different - most of our progress was made while we carried them up the trail.

A little ice cream and some water in the plastic pool on our back patio might be better for all. At least we tried.

Unconditional Love

Julia: "I love you lots, Mommy, even when you're grumpy."

Boys Will Be Boys

Jonathan is something else. Every day he surprises us with something that Julia never did, let alone would ever do, at his age. We're both really glad that we have one of each so that we get to experience all aspects of this crazy ride.

The other day Jonathan got a hold of Stacey's electric hair trimmer. Since I cut everyone's hair but Stacey's with clippers, he knew just how to use the trimmer. He was only out of sight for a minute, but that was enough time for him to turn on the trimmer and take four chunks out of his hair. There are four very straight lines and hairless spots on the back and right top of his head. The funny part about the situation is that he was very proud of himself for cutting his hair all on his own...

The past three days we've had record high temperatures. Last night we decided to eat dinner on the back patio and spend some time playing together outside before bed. The kids were horsing around and eventually, as it often does, turned into Jonathan chasing Julia. This time he got a hold of her around the waist, and although she tried to turn and run, he kept her wrapped up. You had to be there to see it, but he essentially executed his first football tackle in perfect fashion at age two. He wrapped up and took her down in the grass with ease, ending the play with everybody laughing heartily. What made it even more funny is that he knew exactly what he was doing, gritting his teeth as he chased her and took her out...

Father's Day 2012

No, really - the kids think Grandpa and I are the greatest thing since sliced bread - I swear!

Julia Jane

Today I replaced a few boxwood in our planter bed that were struggling or almost dead. It's been three years since I planted these guys, and since half of them are doing great, we decided to make a few minor modifications and try again with the other half. 

Friday we had a department offsite, so I was already a little bit tired from playing laser tag and bowling out of my mind. I bowled three sets and averaged 150 points in each game (high of 154), a remarkably high and consistent performance considering my past performances. Although I was active during the day, I picked up some soil and a Red Bull and had the old bushes pulled and wood chips completely removed from all areas by Friday night. I'm officially wood chip free, which is a good thing since they blow away and create a mess.

Leading up to this project I just assumed that the bushes died because they weren't the best of the lot (we put the nicest looking in the front), they didn't get enough water, and possibly had a bad winter. After I pulled them up I noticed that they were sitting in a lot of heavy clay. I had amended the soil, but these guys don't like to get their feet wet, so the soil had probably contributed to their decline.

I removed a ton of clay soil and used a soil amendment for clay, in addition to planting them a little higher then soil level and digging a channel and filling it with gravel for the water to run off. We'll see if it works. We bought the replacement bushes from a nursery this time, instead of where we got them all last time (Home Depot). All these positives give me hope that they will last longer then three years.

Jonathan and I took my truck to Pioneer Sand and picked up some gorilla hair mulch. He loves going because he gets to see the big trucks in action. It was probably the highlight of his day to watch the loader dump mulch into the bed of my truck. As it stands right now, I'm done with the major outdoor projects that I wanted to accomplish this summer. Time to have some fun!