"Colorado On Fire" Is one of the things I heard from various people on the news sites.

10 Fires at the moment are burning in Colorado.

Our local Wildfire- Waldo Canyon Fire.
11,000 people so far has been evacuated, 6,000 allowed back home last home as the wind had changed direction.

News Brief at 8am this morning said that as of 11pm last night 3,486 acres had been burnt.

From the news channel:
[url]http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/Fire_Reported_In_Waldo_Canyon_160124015.html?abc=Du0buwgy[/url]

"Predicted wind gusts up to 25-20 mph, blazing hot temperatures and low humidity are expected to create difficult conditions for firefighters as the Waldo Canyon fire enters its third day.

Monday could be the most difficult firefighting day yet, officials predict. In addition to fueling fire growth, the heavy winds in the afternoon could make smoke columns a major issue Monday. Smoke columns can travel up to a quarter-mile carrying quarter-sized embers with them. These embers could spark flare-ups in other areas."

A few of the gas/petrol stations in the area are or have run out of fuel as some of the roads to get to them have been closed, today a few Fuel Tankers are going to get a Police Escort to get through and deliver.

Walmart today donated a large truck of theirs full of bottled water for the evacuees and firefighters.
Talking of firefighters - there are currently 450 of them fighting this fire at the moment, with more on the way from other parts of Colorado and from other states.

Last evening the wind changed and we were covered in a light veil of smoke and we could really smell the fire. Other parts had a heavier veil of smoke.

The helicopters are dropping water now and we have some C130's at our local airport getting ready to drop their large tanks full of water - but they will not be ready until tomorrow.

Today could bring the 3rd day on the run that we have reached 100f temperatures or higher - something that has not occurred before.

I can still see the plumes of smoke from various parts of this fire, yesterday I couldn't just the massive clouds of smoke all over the mountains obscuring the view, but the clouds were low and kept a blanket over the fire.

The real local baseball team 'The Sky Soxx' (a part of the Rockies team - it's the Triple A Team) are playing today at midday and are giving any evacuees free tickets to watch them. I think that is really great - for just a little while the people can relax and have a little time to recollect themselves.

I myself have offered help to a friend who has been under the evacuation blanket, to help him and his mother and his pet Albino hedgehog!

That's all for now, will update you again when I know some more.

Hugs
Elle xox

This morning I woke up approx 6am as usual ready to take my Thyroid medication. I laid back in my luvely, wonderful, loving man's arms for our morning snuggle I can tell you that there is no better way to start your day - and ours always starts like this. At nearly 7am I got out of bed and went and put the coffee pot on (at least today I can have my morning Coffee).
I went and pulled the blinds in the living room and opened the door, I could not see any of the mountains as they are covered in smoke from the fires that rapidly spread yesterday to 2,000 burnt acres and spreading! The Rocky Mountains are Colorado's pride and joy and are magnificent to look at - they have so many different aspects to them, it is a great shame they are now being vilified by someone who just likes to see fire no matter what the cost.
Now it is 9.30am and the smoke is now clearing and I can see the smoke coming from the fires causing a plume of smoke to go straight up.
Today's forecast so far is : So what do we expect today?

"The diurnal wind shift will kick in again in the mid to late morning. This will produce wind out of the the south or southeast until mid-evening. During this time-frame, I expect the northern flank of the fire to again become active and start to advance. The smoke plume will likely be more visible than it is this morning, due to lower humidity during the daytime hours than what is experienced overnight.

The large scale wind will be about the same strength as Saturday, with some occasional gusts between 20 and 25mph. Humidity levels will be in the single digits for the afternoon and fire growth should be noticeable on the northern flank once more.

One additional concern today is the slight chance of dry & gusty thunderstorms in the vicinity of the fire. If a thunderstorm with erratic wind gusts develops over or moves over the fire, it could cause sudden and explosive fire growth in varying directions and on different sides of the fire.

The diurnal wind shift is expected to dominate our weather pattern for the next several days and it will likely continue to cause a resource drain on firefighters as they have to focus on different sides of the fire and different times of day and night."

So many people are being xxxxxx to leave their homes, can you even imagine having to leave all your worldly goods behind in the hope that they are still going to be there when you are allowed to return? All they can take with them is enough to last them for approx 72 hours, shelters in schools have been taking in evacuees. Large animals are being taken to an Equestrian centre and smaller animals are being cared for at local vets/catteries/kennels/vets etc.
They fire dept. are asking for bottled water - yesterday a lady gave a truck load of bottled water to help the fire fighters stay hydrated - May God Bless Her!
Today we are at stage 1 on the wildfire depts. fire list and are expecting there magnificent crews to arrive today and take over the situation tomorrow.
Over the next few days the winds will change direction and push the smoke and maybe the fire further towards the city. This fire is jumping across roads and some roads are now closed!

The military are on standby.

The zoo is OK atm but I do expect the animals are fretting as they smell the smoke.

Wild Bears are being spotted in the streets as their habitat is being threatened.

This wildfire now has a name, It is being called 'The Waldo Canyon Fire'

http://www.krdo.com/weather/Waldo-Canyon-Fire-Forecast/-/416922/15222338/-/141jkkjz/-/index.html

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This is damn scary people!
If I look out on our balcony I can actually see the flames. My camera has not a good enough zoom in too see them. But this is what we can see from our balcony and our living room.
There is an evacuation order in progress for some parts of the City and our local Garden Of The Gods Nature Park has been closed.

At the moment it has spread to over 150 acres of land.

local news channel link: http://www.kktv.com/news/wildfires

Well today came as I expected it would.
I was woken up at 11.45pm last night by an excruciating pain in my head, I managed to get back to sleep, then at 2.30am this morning again another pain, then at 3.30am another pain, then at 5.45am another one, another one at 7.30am. FFS All I wanted was sleep especially for today I needed all my muster
We got dressed and took our laundry down to the laundry room approx 8am, but alas someone else had beaten us to it, so back up the 3 flights of stairs to our apartment. We shall do that later this afternoon I said to Rocky.
Anyway's I had chronic stomach churning this morning awaiting the hospital appointment at 12.30pm.
We got to the place and did the form filling etc. I got a nice piece of papery bling taped to my right wrist lol with the information on it. Then we got taken to the waiting room, we was not there for long before a nice nursing assistant called my name. Rocky had to stay behind. I was taken to the CT Scan room - passed some pleasantries and then I laid down on the table/bed bloody hell that was hard on the back. I was asked if I needed a blanket, I declined - I prefer being a bit chilled rather than hot in these circumstances.
I had another nice CT nurse put an IV into my right arm for the iodine contrast.
I then had normal pictures taken of my head and then the automatic injector did it's job of pumping me with the iodine. The CT nurse told me I would feel either a few different sensations, one of which a sensation of peeing my pants OMG!!! I thought - I haven't brought a spare pair with me. Any way all I did feel was the warmth of the iodine flowing through my veins up my arm then into my chest and then up my neck into my brain area. Then I had some more pictures taken of my head/brain as I moved back and forth into the machine a few times more.
When all this was over, I was presented with a small bottle of water and a snack packet of lemon biscuits ( I had a choice of different ones ).
I was told that I must drink plenty of water today and tomorrow to flush the iodine out of my kidneys. I cannot have any caffeine for 24 hours poor Rocky I may be grumpy lol. I cannot drink any alcohol for 24 hours (not that I drink anyway) and cannot go out partying tonight! lol As if......
On the way out the CT nurse said the results will be at the doctors in 3-5 days, they will contact me if they find anything life threatening!!!
Well that's a bonus I guess!
I came away feeling ok until now several hours later my right arm aches where the IV was.
Afterwards we went to a local supermarket where I managed to find ...... RHUBARB ..... So I shall be making a rhubarb crumble or cobbler or something next week.
Rhubarb is not available at our local Walmart stores so had to go to a different store.

That's it for now.
I survived

Elle x

Well, it Is a happy day today for me!
My Oral Surgeon Phoned me this morning YES HE actually spoke to me.
He had the results of my Biopsy of the tumour I had in my mouth.

ALL CLEAR

The Tumour Was an annoying - Nuisance Fibro Pappiloma - that's what he called it.

Anyways, that is one thing done and dusted with.

Now to wait and see what the brain scan finds tomorrow - probably won't get the results for approx 10 days so that's another agonising waiting period to go through. Apparently I will be having the contrast(dye) type of scan. I have had that before when I had the MRI done a couple of years ago.

So Enjoy the day luvvies - I know I shall

And Before any one jumps to conclusions that this is about them IT IS NOT!

THIS IS TO DO WITH WHAT I AM GOING THROUGH AT THE MOMENT!

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I saw this bird in our local Lake at the Park and tried to get a real close up of it but it flew off. These are the best photo's I got of it. I'm not sure what it is - maybe a Crane or something - Dammit I just couldn't get closer......

[url]http://www.kktv.com/news/wildfires[/url]
&
[url]http://www.krdo.com/news/Springer-Wildfire-at-1100-Acres-Tuesday-morning/-/417220/15136056/-/ssxaka/-/index.html[/url]

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