OKC – Obligitory Knit Content. Yeah, I know. But, gotta get you yarnies’ attention some how. The OCK is that no one has yet decided to purchase the rare gem – Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting. I know you are out there. I know it’s a high price tag, but one day soon you, me and the book will transact. If you want it really bad – as of 8:25 am MDT, there are about 4.5 hours left on the auction. For now Alice and I stay together.
The big new here is that it looked like Boulder was on fire – but scarier still was the reverse 911 call we rec’d stating that evacuations of our area were suggested but not mandatory. Reverse 911 is something you hear about on the news, or in stories, but not on your own phone. Honestly, all it managed to do was scare the crap out of Jack and the other 10ish year olds on the street. We spent about an hour discussing first which Pokemon stuffed toy was most worth saving, and then which was really more important, the Pokemon, baby pictures or the cat. Guess which won – it wasn’t the cat.
Bill seemed to think it was a good idea to occupy Jack by suggesting he pack a bag in case we really needed to leave. In five minutes I hear “Mom, I need another bag.” Just use your imagination to think about what a ten year old boy is going to put into two overnight bags to “save.” There was clean underwear – makes a mother proud.
The photo above from the Boulder Daily Camera is of the “rocks” at Settler’s Park. I very similar view can been seen from the street in front of my house. We live just east of Fourth Street – aka “the Lycra highway,” and the western most street running along the edge of central Boulder. Some places in town have little bits of streets 1-3, but they are dispersed here and there randomly.
The best part of the reverse 911 experience was every single neighbor walking out of of their front doors simultaneously with dazed looks on their faces and the telephones still in their hands. So, we spent a lovely warm and sunny Sunday afternoon watching slurry bombers and news helicopters swarm overhead. It was nice to talk to folks – and a little south of here on the University of Colorado campus another cloud of smoke was hovering overhead – 4/20 – the annual pot-smoke-in. Reportedly 10,000 folks all exhaled together at 4:20. That classic “only in Boulder” story can also be read at the Boulder Daily Camera online at http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/apr/20/cus-420-pot-smoke-out-draws-10000/
The story below is an excerpt of the fire report from the Camera at http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/apr/20/fire-burning-settlers-park/
Crews contain Settlers’ Park fire, monitor it overnight
Blaze scorched 1 to 2 acres of land west of Pearl Street
“Some of the more than 100 firefighters who battled a high-profile blaze Sunday, which came within yards of Pearl Street and threatened several houses, stayed on scene through the night to make sure the fully-contained grass fire stayed that way.
Authorities declared the smoky wildland burn was 100 percent contained about 5 p.m., but most crews were still at Settler’s Park past dark to continue to “clean up” and douse any chance of its rekindling.
“There’s going to be a crew of 10 to 15 people stay there overnight to sleep on the fire and make sure it stays the way they left it,” said Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
Additional firefighters, she said, will return this morning to continue “mop up” operations.
The fire, which started smelling like an afternoon barbecue about 2:30 p.m. and soon blanketed the Pearl Street Mall with smoke, was first spotted by hikers atop the park’s Lookout Trail. It initially was reported as a burning log, Huntley said.
In total, more than 100 people called 911 in reference to the blaze, she said.
As about 120 firefighters from seven area agencies — including the Colorado State Forest Service — arrived on scene, Boulder police sent out a reverse-911 call to 1,382 homes.
The wildland fire warning went to houses west of Fourth Street, between Canyon Boulevard and Linden Avenue — within a half-mile of the 1- to 2-acre blaze. There were no mandatory evacuations, but some homeowners said they were worried there would be.
“I was hanging out downtown and saw the flames and was concerned about my house burning,” said Fred Noelke, who’s lived in a house just west of Settler’s Park for eight years. “Now we’re just kind of watching it.”
About 6:30 p.m., officials sent a second reverse-911 call to let residents who’d left their homes know it was safe to return.
“But I’ve never seen a fire get this close to town,” said Bill Baker, who’s lived in the area for 15 years. “It’s a little scary.”
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said investigators suspect the fire was caused by human activity because there were no weather events that could have sparked the blaze.”
Earth-Sky-Tara 
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April 28, 2008 at 10:40 am
Suzanne V. (Yarnhog)
Oh, boy. I hope everyone is okay. We’ve been evacuated for fires three times in the past four years (we live in San Diego). The hard part is getting all the pets accommodated. Last time I was home alone with the kids when we got the call, and they both ran to their rooms and grabbed their respective pets (a gecko and a snake) and came running downstairs, pets clutched in their hot little hands, hollering, “What should we do with them, Mom?” My 10-year-old also insisted on running back into the house to rescue the handknit sweater I had just finished for him.
I actually looked up your blog because I just finished reading your Knitty article on stash. I’ve never taken the time to do this sort of thing before, but I guess you touched on something for me. I started thinking about my “guilty” pleasure in my stash, and it occurred to me that, for me, at least, it is the one and only thing I buy just for me. As a wife and mother, I shop a lot, but always for clothes for the family, or plants for the garden, or food for the table, or stuff for the kids. I have ambivalent feelings about my stash because it contributes nothing to the well-being of my family. This is compounded by my general, constant ambivalence about my position in the family and in society. Before I had kids, I had a well-paid, high-powered career. I stopped working when I had kids, and I’ve had a hard time valuing my contribution to my family and society ever since–ten years now. I am actually a lawyer, and do work, but I work in the practice I share with my husband, and serve primarily in a support role–doing research, drafting documents, etc. I rarely bring in clients myself and don’t see any of the money that comes in, since my husband handles the books. Although I spend most of my waking hours working (what mother doesn’t?), I suppose I feel that, since I have no “commercial value,” I’m not entitled to any commercial benefits, such as beautiful yarn and fiber. This doesn’t stop me from buying it; it just makes me feel guilty about buying it. If I actually made money from my spinning, knitting, or designing, I would undoubtedly feel more comfortable about my “stash closet of shame.”
This is probably far more information than you wanted, but as I said, you must have touched on something. And I love feedback when I write, so perhaps you won’t mind such a lengthy comment.
May 24, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Birdsong
I stumbled upon your blog after using Ravelry to look up the Sea Aran cardi and check to find out if Summer Net is still available…. I have lived for 22 years in a fire-prone region of the Sierra Nevadas, but have neveer received a reverse 911 call and am glad for your family it wasn’t necessary to evacuate. DH works on large fires throughout the west for the Forest Service and has dealt with evacuations on that end and it is so hectic (and heartwrenching). I work at the LYS in Grass Valley, CA, and am just getting a copy of Compassionate Knitting… lovely work!