We’ve had a break in the heat but little respite from the winds, and the Waldo Canyon firefighters would really appreciate a bit of the latter.
Said incident commander Rich Harvey: “I’d like to start by saying, I hate wind. I wish it would go away.”
Also, rain, please, and plenty of it. Thanks in advance.
Meanwhile, no fear here at Chez Dog. Today Herself volunteered for an extra shift at the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, which is boarding critters in the crisis. And I banged out a little word count on some area bicycle folks who’ve lost individual pursuits to the blaze. The worst of it around our little pied-à-terrier is smoke and ash.
A couple friends have lost their houses, and others are couch-surfing while they await word. One local official taken on a tour of the area hit hardest said entire blocks are gone.
So, yeah, what’s a little smoke and ash? I’ve seen worse at Interbike.
More as it happens.
Mad Blog Media 
Sounds like Chez O’Grady is OK- Thank Whoever[s] is watching over you! Our best wishes are with you! I was pretty worried about youse guys- as so many of us do.
Crossed fingers from here in Italy that your digs don’t end up like so many others. Noticed it was 36 degrees C in Denver the other day while only 32 here in Piedmont. We’re off to the mountains at week’s end for some Legendary (the climbs, not my performance on them) climbing in the Dolomites.
We got about 15 minutes of rain, which we badly needed, but all I could think was, I’d give just about anything to be able to donate it all to you folks down south.
Gotta say … I’ve done my time with FEMA, USACE, state responders … got a couple or three hurricanes and typhoons, plus a little thing called Katrina under my belt … so, I’m no expert, but I’m not a complete dolt, either …
And I’m way impressed with Colorado’s response so far. 32,000 folks evac’d, and it ran pretty much like a Swiss watch. If the same thing had happened in Georgia or Louisiana, or a handful of other states I’ve worked with, you wouldn’t be able to hear yourself think over the whining and complaining. The reverse-911 seems to have worked like gangbusters, while I can picture my former neighbors still trying to figure out where the eleven button on their phone was.