What a year for football. Roll Tide Roll! and Go Broncos!

photo from Google images and link to Tebowing.com

This map of tweeted reports from the boulder fire takes a minute to load but is an amazing use of the technology.

photo from Twitter.com#boulderfire

I have a new appreciation for Twitter.
#boulderfire has been alive since the inception of the fire with updates, offers for help and needs posted, links to images galore and real data from the boots on the ground + helpful local bulletin boards established.

We took $$ to Longmont Humane Society where they are housing a lot of the mountain horses and a case of new socks and some vits/minerals to the fire camp at the Res.

So many people are volunteering in the area - 3000 people evacuated but only about 25 showed up to the RC shelter. 550 new firefighters and and Incident 1 Command team in place to relieve the original heros, many were with local volunteer fire departments.

Got about 1" of rain yesterday that was the equivalent to 7,000 slurry bomber drops. These helicopters are loading from a lake that's about a 10 minute walk from here.

The chickens at the CSA farm are still busy. We extended the season with a Fall Share and this week we got some great greens and root veggies plus fresh pork and honey.

Yesterday I took part in a hospital emergency drill.

Nobody told me ahead of time that it would involve a 'vertical evacuation' meaning: they needed to test some equipment going down flights of steps. I got to try out (as a 'patient') a chair with some kind of slide mechanism on the back and something called a chute. The chair was not too bad but a little 'heads up!' about flipping me backward and bumping on the stairs would have been nice. The chute was corrugated plastic that I was strapped into and dragged down 2 flights of stairs in. It was really pretty funny - bumpity, bump, bump. Glad I bundled my coat under my head.

The two teams I worked with were interested in learning how to use this equipment but one team told their 'patient' volunteer that they didn't have time to do the drill.

The things I do to keep from getting bored...

Yesterday ended 2 weeks of early voting at CU and what a trip!   We thought we were hot at the end of the first week when we processed 500 voters with 3 election officials.  Yesterday, the count was 1500 and thankfully, we had a full staff.   It was an amazing experience, helping all those first time voters.  

I'm exhausted.  Try saying  "What's your last name?  Ballot goes in the box face up, arrows in first, green stripes sticking out the top.   No, other way.  Yes, now the back page, too.  No, almost, yep you got it, now spin it around, arrows go in first.    Great!  Here's your sticker."  several thousand times with a smile on your face  and you'll know what I mean.  

I think half of Boulder has already voted.

picture came up on 'exhausted puppy google search'

I'm working the early vote and have found out that a lot of people don't realize that mail in ballots are real live ballots.

People, you only get to cast one vote. If you receive a mail in ballot, that is a ballot and that is yours. You can mail it in or drop it off at an early polling place (or where ever the instructions tell you to).

If you change your mind about voting by mail and want the thrill and excitement of voting at a polling place, you will be given a provisional ballot. That ballot has to be hand checked to ensure that you didn't cast the mail in ballot you requested. So don't be mad or disappointed - your vote will still be counted.

I'm curious to see how all the provisional ballots will affect the timing of the election results in this remarkable election year.

I stayed up into the middle of the night reading an old friend's book,Family Bible. I'm amazed at times to be reminded of the fact that there were interesting people in my home town. If I had stayed, I would have been one of the local eccentrics, probably, but I had to leave in search of something that I've actually been finding along my way. It was quite a trip to read about places where I grew up and find out what my friend's life was actually like.

Now's a good time to send some money to relief agencies.  I don't know how the others are doing, but the American Red Cross is having to borrow millions to feed and shelter the people affected by all the recent hurricanes. I spoke with a local RC fundraiser who told me he had gotten only one call after Gustav!   Try to send some money, even if just a little.  If you don't designate where the money should go, they are able to put it where it goes the farthest.                           

(image from wikipedia.org)

I was an election judge for the first time yesterday. I knew it was going to be slow but it was a good dry run for the general election coming up. Luckily I got my own precinct and got to be the Sign In judge so I could see this view all day long. The mountains were pink at 6:30 am.


There were a LOT of mail in ballots this election! Plus a good number of people got the mail-in ballots but wanted to come in to vote anyway. I had a great group of judges to work with. What a long day - but a good time.

I've been getting involved with the Red Cross lately, hoping that this will be an organization I can settle into for years to come. Sometime before or after Katrina, I did some RC training at the now defunct local office but was never called to volunteer. That particular training didn't win me over but the organization seems to have gone through some changes and I'm finding it a better fit.

I've signed up with the Disaster Action Team and that means being on call for periods at time in case something happens (probably house fires, which are the most common disaster). And I'm taking a class on Sheltering to prepare for the DNC, in case there is a need.

Funny, I'm not looking for disasters but at the same time, I hope this training will be put to good use sometime.

The Boulder Rural Fire Department outdid itself with their open house on Saturday.  Flight for Life stopped by after dropping a patient off and let the kids come on board to see all the equipment. 

  The Boulder Emergency Squad was there showing off the Jaws of Life.  Right when I walked up, they popped out both windshield into pieces and had the 'victim' out in a matter of minutes.

Code 3 Associates impressed me most of all that day, though all these heroes palpably inspire me.  I've never heard of Code 3 before, a disaster response team for animal rescue.  They're equipped with a huge rig to house the team and treat the injured animals.  They travel to disaster nationwide and don't charge for their services.  

On top of all the inspiration, the day was just a lot of fun.