Wildfires

There are two serious wildfires in our area of Colorado. The Fourmile Canyon Fire west of Boulder started one week ago on Monday, September 6. It destroyed over 170 homes and other structures and has burned thousands of acres of forested land. It has been contained but continues to burn.

Yesterday morning a second fire started west of Loveland. This fire has burned two homes so far and several acres. For a few days last week we had to keep our house tightly closed because of intense smoke in Estes Park from the Boulder fire. This week we can see smoke over the mountains to the east but it isn't blowing this way. Both fires were apparently unintentionally started by humans (not lightning strikes.) Fires are a hazard of mountain living and home owners are cautioned to minimize the risk to their homes in a variety of ways. Above is a photo taken from our deck of the smoke, which looked like a lovely cloud, from the Boulder fire. We saw smoke from the Loveland fire yesterday but haven't seen any today.

Longs Peak Festival

For the past few days Estes Park has been the scene of the annual Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival. Unlike last year, the weather has been gorgeous throughout the event. Mom and Peggy went with me to the parade on Saturday morning and it was lots of fun to watch the bands, clans, dogs of the British Isles and more. Wayne and I spent the afternoon at the fair grounds. We wandered through many of the exhibits, listened to a concert by the Brigadoons from Nova Scotia, saw sheep herding demonstrations, a jousting tournament and dancers. Wayne had his annual mug of Guinness and I sampled a delicious scone with strawberries and cream. It was a delightful day.