Wind and Fire

I hate the wind. I've always hated the wind. It may be the only kind of weather I hate.
I love sunshine, I love the rain, I even like the snow, but I can't enjoy the wind.
The wind doesn't gently warm your skin, you can't splash in wind puddles, you can't throw windballs at people or build windmen. It just messes up my hair, throws debris in my face, tosses my car around, and causes the traffic to suck that much more. I suddenly require lotion and extra chapstick and am constantly thirsty.

Yesterday the wind was intense. We were at Bobby's parents' and at time it sounded like the wind would just pick up the entire house. Driving home through the canyon, if you closed your eyes it would sound like hail - but it was dust. When we got home, Lucas, who had been cooped up inside all day, was anxious to go outside. I let him out, and he immediately wanted back in. In the back yard the table with the umbrella had been picked up and thrown across the yard into our chiminea, which was now done for.

Today it is not just windy - it is hot. There are something like 12 wildfires raging throughout Southern California right now flanking us on what seems like all sides- one of which is not too far from my work. I hear the one in San Diego is possibly their worst on record, besting the wildfires in 2003.

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I remember those fires. Walking out of my house in Anaheim it looked like it had snowed lightly on my car, you could see the ash in the air and the sky was a gloomy grey. And it smelled - not like burning wood, but like burnt wood. I remember the sky looking like that for at least a week.

This time the sky is a gloomy grey and again hot, but you can't see the ash in the air because the wind is blowing it all so hard. The dry heat from the fires that the winds are blowing around has permeated my building - not long ago I was complaining about the freezing temperatures in my office... now I am baking. The air is not just dry, but I feel like I'm sitting next to a campfire with the smoke in my face. It makes me tired and my head hurt.

I feel bad for those trying to put the fires out. With this wind efforts must seem futile. I worry that the traffic home will be that much worse now that some of the toll roads are blocked off. I hope this all clears up soon.