Once Upon a Time I Thought I Might Be a Guy Magnet

...except replace guy with natural disaster.

All I'm saying is the two springs when I lived in Hawaii we had tsunami scares. I move last winter, and was there a tsunami scare this past spring? (please note I'm using seasons for a frame of reference, not because Hawaii actually has seasons). Now I'm in Colorado and this is the year of the wildfires. Don't worry Californians, I am not planning to move out there. Y'all have enough smaller earthquakes already without me...not to mention I have no desire to put up with the ridiculous SEC vs.PAC 10 12 arguments (if you can call it that) much less deal with who the "real" USC is (it's South Carolina, by the way). One key difference is that the tsunamis never really turned into anything. This fire is definitely real.

 Let's time travel back to Saturday. After a fun night Friday including karaoke where I gave one of my more emotional performances of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and a few hours sleep, I woke up early to get my friend to the airport. Then I drove back to the Springs and got some Chick Fil A breakfast. I get home ready to sleep but then a new friend was all "wanna do a hike or the incline or something" and I'm all "sure! I haven't done the incline yet!" I blame it on the tired. The incline is a mile straight up where you gain 2000ft in elevation. It's like Koko Head in that it's all steps from rail ties. For whatever reason I thought it would be fun to attempt this on a day when we were well into the 80s by 8am and were on the track to set heat records (which I think it did). When we're driving I almost suggested that we go do the Waldo Canyon Loop instead (the only other hike I've done...a leisurely 7 mi loop with some good shade breaks along the way) but I decide to just buck up and face the stairway to heat exhaustion. On the way up the incline there was no fire, then on the way down there was. I know the fire started as the "Pyramid Mtn" fire and they evacuated the hikers safely out of Waldo Canyon but my black belt skills are (admittedly) a little rusty so facing a possible arsonist (they don't know for sure the cause, but it wasn't lightening and there have been arson-fires around) in hand-to-hand combat was just not something I needed to add to my plate. What has happened since is better seen through pictures.

***These pictures aren't mine. Snagged from facebook, more specifically from a Gazette page. Pictures are credited on the fb album.

Most Likely from Saturday, the first day

This picture is from a friend's fb,
but I don't like to use names on here so I'll call her M.

Looks like the incline...that stupid, stupid incline... 

On Tuesday evening, homes started to burn. I believe some belong to coworkers and other coworkers live nearby. 

I'm a couple miles from the mandatory evacuation line so have started to at least pack up some important items. I'm on the phone with my mom last night:

Me: Don't worry, I'm going to pack up important things like my birth certificate, passport, koozie collection and laptop

Mom: Stay safe, and oh! Bring that cute dress I send you too! You can't let that burn.

At least priorities are in check.

Needless to say the theme around here is pray. Pray for the firefighters (a co-worker's husband went to join the front lines last night). Pray for their families. Pray for the evacuees and that they are all safe because buildings can be rebuilt. Pray for the city/state/fed officials involved as they try to balance keeping us informed and endless inquiries all while still being responsible for managing/running a city. Pray for rain (sans wind).