Monitoring the nearby forest fire on our anniversary was not how I had evnisioned our day today. Yesterday was exciting (see previous posts). We slept at home last night and are fine. We slept well, mostly from exhaustion…
This morning the smoke is hanging low in the trees and the wind is dead calm. Looking up we can see blue sky. The consensus is that the morning will be good with the fire fighters (some 2000 of them!) able to do their work in containing the fire.
More worrisome is the afternoon when the winds are forecast to pick up to 20+ mph. The man in charge of the fire stated yesterday that once the winds reach 40mph there is little fire fighters can do.
The hot spot near us is to the northwest. The winds are forecast to be from the W or WSW. That pushes the fire away from (or at least no nearer to) us. Hopefully that is what will happen. In the path of the fire are Camp Richardson and the old 1920’s estates on the lakefront. It would be very sad if the fire made it all the way to the lakeshore, but at least it would stop there…
Mel and I had a tough afternoon and evening with emotions pouring through us and lots to do. We have grown to love one another in this house. The prospect of losing it brings tears to our eyes, tears I have as I write this.
I feel confident that the fire will miss us here in this neighborhood and that we will be able to stay today. We have a good bottle of champagne and Kim at the Cork and More who made our fabulous cake is making another for us to share today (not as large as a year ago). Dinner at Evans is probably out since it is within the evacuation area just down the street!
-Steve