A Smoke-filled Morning

This morning I had the kind of scare that causes the heart to race and the brain to freak out.  I'd been focusing intently on finishing up a tricky email to a parent and when I was finished went into Bruce's office to chat.  Only then did I notice that the strong odor of smoke was coming through the windows. 

 I ran out to the carport and saw that the sky was brown and the hills were blurred.  I yelled, "There's a fire!" as I raced back through the house to scan the hills on the other side -- the sky was as brown and blurry as the one's seen from the carport.  

The same was seen drifting heavily through the hills in back of the house.  Same for the front.

The smoke was everywhere and I couldn't tell where it was coming from.  For all I knew, a fire was completely encircling us.









Bruce got on the phone and called 911.  I can only guess that many people were calling at the same time, because he was quickly told that the wind had shifted and this was smoke from the Rim Fire.  He was told to call back if he saw a column of smoke or actual flames.  The smoke is so dense that it burns the eyes, but it comes from miles away...

Even as I'm weak with relief that our own hills are not burning up, I'm upset anew by the thought of what's happening in our Sierras.  Ironically, with the fire now over 80% contained, today is the first day we've actually been in the smoke -- the wind always blew it towards the northeast. For my own inner well-being, I've made myself not check in on the fire for the past few days, but I need to get on the satellite sites and see what things look like now.

On a much happier note, yesterday Bruce and I drove to Sacramento for my bi-annual cancer checkup and my nurse practitioner gave me an "A+" for everything.  My health is excellent and every sign points to my cancer being completely gone from my body.  As fate would have it, this is (almost to the day) the five-year anniversary of the surgery to remove my ovarian tumor.  Bruce, I and the new truck had quite the festive ride home.  It is a blessing being alive!