Big Fires

This is not a sunset.

This morning was the longest afternoon I've ever experienced. Since 9 AM it has looked like one of those mid-summer late-afternoons when golden-red light streams into the windows casting long shadows and making you thirsty for a cold beer. This weird time-warp continued all day as the smoke from the wildfires obscured the sun's light rays. Along with the smell of distant smoke, reminiscent of campfires (or in my case, the romanticized memory of Vietnam, where they still burn agricultural waste) and a distinct dryness in the air- a condition that always sooths my desert soul, I was feeling downright groovy. If only it wasn't for all that destruction going on out there.

It's strange being in a secure area where everything around you is combusting. Just down the road at the mall, there's evacuees sprawled throughout the parking lot, living out of their RV's for an unspecified amount of time. Anyway, you've all seen everything there is to see on TV. I've never been so popular. I get all kinds of calls and e-mails now. I noticed especially high spikes of concern after CNN runs their San Diego Firestorm stories- the calls really start flooding in after those CNN dramatizations.

Our hygrometer is off the charts. Carlsbad has 3% humidity.

The only real visible effect to our property was the ash falling all over.