The Mountain West or the Midwest?

Three of our children and their families live out in the Mountain West region: Kyle and his kids (Utah), Jessica and her family (Utah), Sarah, Todd, and Trinity (Montana), and the JCs^2 (Idaho.)

Beautiful country, very different from Indiana (not so green), and with a lot of pluses.

Like equine sculptures representing western life at roundabouts. 

Mutton busting for the grands

and rodeos for the grown ups.

It's a beautiful region, but at this time of year, inevitably Jessica sends me a photo like this one. And it terrifies me.

A photo taken from her front porch of the clouds reflecting the light of a mountain wildfire about thirty minutes from their home.

"It happens every year but it is always eerie nonetheless," said Jessie.

A photo of the same wildfire taken from the same spot but at night.

Fire is my greatest fear. As I young mom, I used to have nightmares about having a house fire and trying to get all six kids out and to safety. I still have those fears, only now they're about getting the dogs out of the house. (Although, it would probably be Pepper hustling me out of the house instead of vice versa!)

This may sound odd, but in all honestly, I'd rather live in a place where I dodge tornados rather than where wildfires rage for days on end and you watch their progress and wonder just how close they will come.

A tornadic storm with rotation approaching our home in 2022. Sirens were blaring; I snapped the photo and ran for the laundry room.

Tim in his backyard in 2025 after an EF0 came through his yard, just missing their house, and took out three of their trees.

Maybe it's because I've lived my entire life in Tornado Alley and I'm used to tornados and know how to be as safe as possible. (Snapping pictures while the sirens blow notwithstanding.) Safe rooms, basements, and underground shelters are all pretty effective when a tornado hits.

But fires? Scorching everything in their path and you have to be able to get away to survive. The Mountain West may be beautiful, but this Midwestern girl is staying put.

Canadian Smoke: Day 2

There was heavy smoke in the air all day yesterday - you could even smell it. 

This is downtown Lafayette looking into the town center which you can barely see. There are no clouds so the sky should be blue. At least you can see the sun! (Photo by Dave Bankert.)

We sit out and enjoy our patio a lot during the summer and early fall,

but with skies greyed by smoke and drifting particulates, we aren't risking it right now. 

The air quality today is still very poor but it is improving.

Our air quality index has dropped a bit and while we are still in the bracket for Unhealthy, yesterday we were at the top of that bracket at Very Unhealthy and just under the line for Hazardous. 

Who'd have thought that wildfires in another country could affect us so badly? I have never experienced anything like this.

It's going to be another indoor day.