Living with the threat of fire

It's been really dry here in East Texas for a while now. It's been months and months since I've thrown a cigarette out the window.

Yet these last few days have been frightening. Just, what, 48 hours ago we had a forest fire burning within 10 miles of our home. It was fucking scary.

Last night, the unflappable Mr. Sunshine finally realized the gravity of the situation and made some preliminary preparations to move the magic bus in case it became necessary. He also walked me through the rudimentary basics of how to finish prepping it for a drive, should it become necessary while I was home alone.

I do reasonably well in panic situations if I have been prepared for them, and he prepared me. Even helped me make a checklist so I didn't forget to disconnect the propane tanks and drive off with them bouncing down the road.

So far, we are safe. There are two big-ass fires burning close by, but the immediate danger 8 miles away has been contained. The winds are in our favor for now. I'm staying calm. For the moment. The two that are burning appear to be the biggest fires burning in Texas for the moment, and you can see the fucking smoke from them in outer fucking space. They're bad. But I'm staying calm. They're far enough away that I will have enough time to get my house and my Mollie out of here.

I will have to say that it makes it so much easier to remain calm when it is this easy to pack up and move in an evacuation situation. I took everything I might want to keep out of my car and placed it in the bus. I'll sacrifice my beloved little car to save my ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSE filled with all of our THINGS.
It really takes a lot of worry out of the equation. If I can get into the neighborhood, I can save our house and THINGS.
That takes so much worry out of the equation, so much of the not knowing.

I watched what people went through after Katrina, when news reports were full of the flooding, fires, and looting. They didn't know. It was horrible for them.

So, as stressful as it is having the threat of forest fires hanging over our heads, it is easier knowing that I can get our home out of here and not have to worry about it.

As for my beloved little car, I would have to get over it. And his Harley? Well, it has replacement coverage, not Kelly Blue Book value coverage. So it could actually be replaced.

As for the wildfires burning out of control here in Northeast Texas, y'all pray for those directly in its path. And for the love of all that is holy, pray for the men and women fighting to put it out. They're running in when they're telling us to evacuate. They are the heroes.

We're safe for now, the imminent threats have been contained.

I think I'm going to ask Mr. Sunshine to do a rain frog tonight when he gets home. We need it so desperately. I can't take much more of constantly checking NOAA's fire detection program page and counting on somebody on the west coast to monitor that page after I go to sleep knowing that if the red dots move east, I'll get that "get the fuck out now" wake-up call. So a rain frog is definitely in order. Those firefighters need it.

As the child of a firefighter, I would ask you guys to pray for those brave men and women who are fighting these fires more than you pray for me. I'm going to be OK, I can get this beast of a bus out of here. They don't leave. Please, pray for the firefighters.

That is all.