Oregon Trail: Ames Edition

I’ve seen Fire and I’ve seen (almost no) rain

07.21.26

Fine. I suck at updating.

It’s been another month. I know.

For what it’s worth, I’ve thought about jumping on here. There’ve even been some days where I’ve had the spoons. But alas.

I digress.

Everything is on fire right now. Canada. Colorado. Minnesota.

And Oregon.

I knew there’d be wildfires. That’s par for the course on the west coast. I just didn’t think I’d be coexisting with a 15k+ acre wildfire less than 20 miles away from me — and basically everyone acting like nothing is going on.

Okay, that’s not true. It’s not like we’re all acting like nothing is going on. But we’re also not running around in a state of absolute chaos.

Day one of the fire I was at work and the fire alert popped up from Watch Duty (the absolute best app for tracking fires, floods, and a myriad of disasters). I started to panic but all my work fam were like “eh, that’s 15 miles away.” Like, 15 miles is not that far! But I guess it can be when that 15 miles includes mountains and gulleys and burn scars and creeks and such.

It’s been two weeks of this fire? Almost two weeks? In the early days it was growing by several hundred to several thousand acres a day.

Terrifying.

Especially when the evacuation zones keep popping up closer and closer to you.

And then the fire took a swing toward the north and east and that seemed better. Not great. But better.

We didn’t really get the smoke right away and I had a few moments of feeling like I’d dodged a bullet as I watched everyone back east getting slammed with Canadian wildfire smoke. But then when the smoke settled in it started to suck.

To be honest, the smoke really hasn’t been as bad here in the valley as it could have been. There have been moments, and I’ve gone out to my car in the morning to find it dusted with ash a few times. I invested in a few air purifiers since mine are still packed up back east, and I bought an AQI monitor for my apartment. That’s been pretty handy.

I’ve been watching the fire growing every day and I’ve certainly been concerned about my colleagues working closer to the fire. Also shout out to all the wildland firefighters out there — I have no idea how you do what you do every day. Seriously.

Smoke cloud on Day 1; this was on my drive home
A few days later the smoke had settled in
A day or two later. This type of cloud is called a cumulonimbus flammagenitus … I think. It’s giving volcanic eruption?
The smoke really settled in!
An ashy Batmobile

Despite the fires, and the 90/95 degree days, and the smoke … THERE’S STILL NO HUMIDITY HERE!!! That’s almost worth it.

It’s nice that my lungs are only being assaulted by smoke right now and not the humidity on top of that. Plus it just makes the heat more manageable.

But as I’m learning, no humidity means no rain.

(#iykyk … and if you don’t you weren’t a 90s kid)

The lack of rain and humidity took me down a rabbit hole of learning about wildfire thunderstorms and “dry lightning” and elusive fire tornadoes. FUCKING FIRE TORNADOES!

It seems like the fire is starting to slow down a little. It was 17% contained as of this morning which isn’t too shabby. There are a few more fires popping up in neighboring counties but if 15 miles isn’t enough for people to freak out — 50 seems like even less reason to panic.

And, we even had like 10 whole raindrops today!

Still. Wildfires suck and they can be prevented. Not all of them. But like, a lot of them. Smokey the Bear wasn’t just talking out of his furry ass all these years — he spoketh the truth, y’all.

In other news …

July has been much calmer at work. Less taxing on my emotional spoons. I also, like a grown-up, found a new mental health provider so I’m getting all of that on track. I even have a primary care appointment scheduled for next month and I’m giving serious consideration to scheduling an eye doctor appointment. No promises, but the thought is there.

I’ve also been prepping for Dragon Con. I might actually cosplay this year. I have half a Season 2 Steve Harrington cosplay pulled together, and I might actually have the hair for Ferris Bueller if I can get my hands on a fancy vest. No particular reason for wanting to do Ferris Bueller other than it might be fun, and would make good use of my unruly mop.

I did a Hobbit rewatch and these two — omg. We stan some moody kings.
Tried Del Taco. It was mid. Their fries were bussin tho, and this sauce was 🔥🔥🔥
I read this book, last week? Five stars. Mushrooms with tats ftw.

Annnnnnnyway … it’s almost mid week and I’ve got a date with an exterminator tomorrow to chat everything ants taking over my kitchen ceiling.

Yeah. The ceiling. I know.

I’m going to try and gather my thoughts to share some less chaotic wildfire-related thoughts. I also think, if I can manage, I might try to escape to the coast this weekend. It’s gonna be tough with part of the trek to the Redwoods on fire, but I could always head north up the I-5 and try out the Oregon coast. Alternatively, I wouldn’t mind dropping back down to Mt. Shasta in NorCal for a burger and a beer.

We’ll see.

Drop me some howdys in the comments along with your top choices for a Burn Baby Burn (wildfire) playlist and a Soon It’s Gonna Rain playlist. I’m working on both to soundtrack the rest of my summer.

Burdened with glorious purpose,

Ames

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