Sunday ... day of rest

Actually, I don't believe there IS a day of rest for Susanna! She's either in the kitchen prepping, cooking, packaging, delivering or she's dealing with behind-the-scenes business such as shopping local farmers markets and other food suppliers, planning the menu based on the available seasonal goodness, writing and publishing the weekly newsletter, etc, etc, etc. She's an amazing business woman!

This summer, numerous wildfires have been burning across the state of Colorado, including the largest wildfire in Colorado's recorded history, the Pine Gulch fire burning north of Grand Junction. As of this date, it had burned 139,007 acres. It started with a lightning strike on July 31 and is currently 87% contained.

But what had been a far-off hazy nuisance and obstruction to our view of the mountains suddenly became very real. Today, we got a good whiff of wildfire. Haze infiltrated the neighborhood and ash fell from the sky. Air quality warnings had been issued all along the Front Range yesterday as the Cameron Peak fire intensified after burning into dead pine trees and spruce (the hot, dry, windy conditions did not help), sending a smoke plume 40,000 feet into the air (see yesterday's photos). Certainly not a day of rest for firefighters or for those being evacuated because of the encroaching fire. There was hope that the snowfall and colder weather expected in the coming days would limit this fire's spread.

It was a good thing that Noah and Rouse went for a good long mountain biking adventure first thing in the morning... before the smoke arrived. While they were sweating it up, Susanna and I had a nice visit over coffee / breakfast. At noon, we all sat down for a zoom visit with Susanna's parents, Lynn and Lee, and her sister Janet.

Rouse made it clear that he was willing and able to help with more home repairs... especially with bad weather on the way. Perfect time for indoor work. It's hard to turn down a good handyman's labor, especially when it's free! Noah and Susanna contemplated replacing the flooring in their kitchen. The calculations and decisions began in earnest.

Late in the afternoon, we noticed the smell of smoke, the hazy air surrounding us, the ominous brown sky. Despite temperatures well into the 90s and no air conditioning in the house, we closed all the windows. At suppertime, Susanna cooked down a pot-full of heirloom tomatoes, part of a delicious Italian meal. We carried our plates out to the Little Guy and ate in the luxurious comfort of air conditioning.

ominous brown sky

dinner at our place