I appreciate the kind thoughts, but to be clear I'm a long way from the danger zone. (As long as I don't get my head taken off by a thousand pounds of dangling cast iron windmill.)

My thoughts and hopes are with the people who have lost their homes and, to some degree, their community. And especially with the firefighters coming in from BC, Ontario, and elsewhere. We can use the help right now, and will reciprocate whenever we can. I believe there are also agreements where US and Canadian firefighters exchange resources as needed, though I don't think that is in play yet. Pray for rain. This news story has a NASA pic of the many fires in the area -- notice how the smoke plumes indicate an unvarying wind from the southeast. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Hundreds+homes+just+smouldering+rubble/4793473/story.html

P.S., Welcome back, Teslin. We need some boots-on-the-ground opinions to balance my comfy LaZBoy musings. Hope you have more pics of those wild BC mountains for us.