Weather Report 8.23.13

Partly cloudy

Partly smoky

With occasional sprinkles.

Light breeze from the east

Shaking the sage 

Blowing away the dread.

Back to Normal

See how the smoke lifted this afternoon

And blew away to somewhere else

And brought back the clouds of summer

Puffy balls of cotton against bluebird blue

And suddenly its all as it was before

But without the visitors

And most of the summer nesters.

News from The Front

This is how we spend our day

Beneath the clouds of smoke

On the 11th day of Beaver Creek Fire

Under pre-evacuation orders

Awaiting news from the battlefront

And fretting the consequences.

Smoked

Like a thick blanket of fog

The wildfire smoke fills the valley

Making an orange of the sun

And blunting activity on the ground.

Quiet and still and solemn.

Ash fall

See the ash falling from the sky

From wildfires west and southwest

Flare Up

See how the smoke rises again

From Beaver Creek Complex Fires

Arts Festival

Arts Festival in Atkinson Park 

Charlie

Charlie of Sun Valley at East and Fourth

Smoke Clouds

See the plumes of smoke

Rising from fire north of Fairfield

Spreading northeast

Then coming south

Carried on downvalley breeze.

A smoke-filled night ahead.

Back in Time

Clock tower returns to Helm Station.

Weather Report

Red sky at dawn

And smoke lying in the valleys.

Down valley breeze is cool.

Flag at full mast for a change.

Scent of frying bacon

Wafting from Perrys.

Coffee at Java.

Stolid

The embodiment of stolid.

Weather Report

Cool and clear at dawn
With very thin layer of smoke to south from wildfire near Shoshone.
Promise of warm afternoon
And a chance of thunder.

This was the week of major blazes
In years past:
Sawtooth in 1989
Ro Fire in 1993
Castle Rock in 2007

Tragic Tuesday

Tragedy strikes without notice

On an otherwise pleasant day

Among the recreating and the satisfying

Where skies are clear and winds calm.

A dump truck with trailer

Can crush the life out of a body

No matter how fit or fed

No matter how happy or sad.

It happens unfairly often

And sadly sadly.