sethrak | Entries tagged with colorado

The boys got up and ate their breakfasts reasonably well. My stomach didn't cause me much trouble. We got out the door on time for Mark's scheduled parent-teacher conference, which went well. Then we made brief stops at JCP, to pay my bill, and Whole Foods, to get some dairy-free substitutes for a couple of my fave snacks.

Then we got home, and I started feeling wobbly while making the boys' lunch. I decided to postpone my own lunch, and laid on the couch a while, rousing briefly every so often to put on a fresh Netflix episode of Backyardigans or sip some water.

Just as I was nibbling on my own lunch, Mark, who'd been drowsing on the couch, suddenly let out a small shriek of pain. He bolted upright, ran into the bathroom, and screamed even louder. I checked on him. He'd thrown up massively. :( Gave him an emergency bath and clean clothes, and he went into his room of his own volition to lay back down again.

Cleaned up the bathroom, and am now trying to resume lunch, lest I get another hunger headache.

Not going to make vegan oatmeal-raisin cookies after all. Not feeling up to it, after that cleanup job. ::wrinkles nose:: Maybe tomorrow, if whatever poor Mark has passes quickly.

But dinner shouldn't be a problem. Keeping it simpler than last night's dinner, just grilled porkchops, bread, and some sort of veggie.

Last night's dinner turned out pretty damn good, even if, as expected, the Zodling Duo snubbed half of it. I adapted a fried rice recipe I found online to be Mark-safe (basically, just leave off the scrambled egg step), and it was great. :D :D :D I ate half, and Tom polished off the second half when he come home. All the boys ate was their baked chicken. More for us. :D

Right now, in addition to being just below freezing, we've got snow flurries. Denver is getting a heavier hit than that, judging by Facebook friends. Driving to Jack's PTC tomorrow may be tricky. ::crosses fingers::

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Almost Everyone Says Boinga Here - Alisha Keyes with the Backyardigans

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150929792498381&set=a.81766448380.78881.44428318380&type=1&ref=nf

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/539843_10150929792498381_296342177_n.jpg

Top link is the wall photo from a local station's FB displaying rate of growth of the Waldo Canyon fire. Bottom link is an attempt to copy/paste the image file for those without Facebook.

It's a couple days old, but it seems to show the hellish rate of growth has slowed considerably, and when cross-referenced with the map showing the entire fire for today, which doesn't seem too much bigger, it's cause for cautious hope.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150934046843381&set=a.81766448380.78881.44428318380&type=1&permPage=1

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/561152_10150934046843381_1637700433_n.jpg

Current Mood: sleepy

One of Tom's photos of the fire fighting efforts got onto the USA Today slideshow.

http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Wildfires+burn+through+Colorado+and+New+Mexico/G3991

Currently it's first on the list; it's a C130 dropping a large reddish plume of flame retardant.

Current Mood: proud

But sometimes paranoia is a useful survival response, or at least coping mechanism for stress.

So! ( Bug Out Bag list within, mostly for own reference )

Tom came home for lunch and said he had the official word already that his leave next week was cancelled. He's been temporarily loaned to another unit and expects to be operating under near-deployment conditions for the duration.

It could be far worse. We went to the home of one of his superiors last summer for a going-away party - gorgeous house, and the backyard, while steep enough for mountain goats, had a path leading to a tiny patio overlooking the entire city and a good way onto the plains.

He's deployed. Wife, kid, and dog are still here. Their house was one of the ones destroyed last night. The family's ok, but damn. :(

Current Mood: worried

Photos sent to local news station KRDO: http://www.krdo.com/news/-/417220/15282990/-/jw3x1j/-/index.html

Map of the mandatory evacuations: http://www.springsgov.com/units/communications/Waldo_Fire_6_26_12_MANDATORY_rev2_11x17.pdf

Thankfully nowhere near us, but I am still fretting. A faint tinge of smoke scent is getting into the house.

Grand Junction trip is cancelled due to acts of Zodling; assuming they don't cancel Tom's leave next week because MAJOR NATURAL DISASTER ON NORAD'S FRONT YARD, I'm thinking Salida. Or maybe the Pacific Northwest the long way around, and stay there a while with friends after Tom has to go back to work. o_o

Current Mood: sick

When it makes the lining of my Verra-bedamned MOUTH hurt.

The foul taste in my mouth, fine. The lightheadedness and assorted abdominal unpleasantnesses, sure.

But why does the soft tissue inside my MOUTH hurt? x_x

I didn't even throw up; just felt close to it a few times last night.

***

Apropos of the above, and the lingering hangover-like effects today, my inner Belldandy is not in the building. My inner Urd Onee-sama is taking her place, and the boys will find themselves going to their rooms so fast there are tiny sonic booms in their wake if they test me today. x_x

There's going to be a lot of Backyardigans and Blues Clues on Netflix while I hide on the couch, I can tell you. No going outside, quite apart from the heat, the smoke on this side of town is definitely smellable, and none of us need that in our lungs. The haze over the mountains obscures but at least today isn't completely concealing them. A LOT of people on the west side of I25 are being evacuated. My bare-bones go bag is ready, and if I can shake off the remnants of this latest illness enough, I'll add to it just to reassure myself.

Current Mood: sick

or at least partial recon for a reduced adventure at a future date.

An old friend of mine and Tom's, from back when he was stationed at Offut AFB, is flying to Denver tomorrow with her husband and baby daughter. She invited me and my boys to come up and maybe attend the Denver Children's Museum with them, sometime Monday through Thursday. (Tom was included in the invitation, but has to work.)

The idea sounds awesome - I haven't seen Vanessa in years, and would love to meet little Caroline and introduce them to my boys.

Unfortunately there's the not so little matter of my panic attacks on freeways and finding some sort of route to the museum that avoids them.

Tom is guardedly against the concept, as he will not be able to come along and provide assistance. Understandable, and very loving of him. But I am very very tired of not being able to get as far as *Denver* without the aid of a man who only regards the place worth visiting for Bass Pro Shop, and even then hates driving the Denver freeways sufficiently we've only gone there twice since we came to Colorado. I also want to figure out some semblence of a route up there in case I have to take the boys to a medical specialist while Tom is on a deployment.

So. Potential route. Sans freeways. Sans roads that are overly busy, in case I find myself needing to make lane changes. And a nearby Burger King to feed my allergic Zodling Prime would be nice. (There's only one Culver's in all of Denver Metro, and it's not easy for even Tom to get to.)

The printer's being a pain in the neck again, so I wrote down the reference points for the turns so I can recreate the route after restarting both computer and printer. (On the upside, I discovered google maps has an option button for avoiding freeways and tool roads.)

Peterson AFB. Castlewood Canyon State Park. Bar Triple C Park. Skyridge Medical Center. Park Meadows Mall. Oak Brook Shopping Center. Brookridge Shopping Center. Columbine Shopping Center. Children's Museum. Burger King near Denver. (Which Google Maps kindly interpreted as a BK mere blocks from the museum, and which is accessible by regular roads, not the nearby freeway, huzzah!)

When I get a chance later, I will recreate this on google maps, and show it to Tom. Anybody with local experience (

thenakedcat, perhaps?) who would chime in with advice would be greatly appreciated.

Current Mood: contemplative

Out on the Eastern Plains, sure. Especially around Eads; that town is usually the epicenter of summertime severe weather reports.

But here? Not so much.

Nonetheless...

Enough hail, albeit of a small size, to resemble snow on the ground, fell on base housing between 8 and 9 pm night before last. Elsewhere it resulted in flooded-out cars and homes, whose people needed rescue; and the news reported local authorities were using snow plows to remove massive amounts of hail around south Chelton St. and the Citadel Mall parking lot. I didn't go anywhere offbase, but there was plenty of eroded mulch and gravel around sidewalks and roads as I drove to the gate to get Mark's therapist.

Last night around the same time we started getting small amounts of hail, gradually building up to really noisy hail that made me concerned for the windows and for Tom's truck, which we don't keep in the garage. I tried watching from the front porch: not enough light to see anything but vaguely tossing trees and the remnants of the sunset behind the clouds. I tried watching from the back porch, but the hail ricochetting off the garage and porch roofs rapidly made that too dangerous. Checked on the boys, who were fast asleep and whose windows were intact; went to talk to Tom who was puttering in the garage.

He asked how big the hail was; I said I couldn't get a good view because of the ricochets. He promptly hit the garage door button so he could check on the truck.

A lump of hail careened in before the door was halfway up. That was mildly interesting. Then four more ricochetted in at us in rapid succession. That prompted Tom to hit the button again.

Truck's fine. House is fine. No idea about the rest of town yet.