My first experience with natural disaster
Fires are pretty fucking awful around here. There are tent cities of firefighters from places other than Wyoming (as far as California!) down the street from me. All of Albany County is under Evacuation Prep. Ashes are falling from the sky. It is scary!
On Tuesday I met with my site director and asked if we could donate the leftover soda from the Dead Dog to the local evacuees. He was definitely down, so I schlepped like, 100 cans of pop to their evacuation center. I was a little nervous: as I drove into the fairgrounds, there were many Red Cross vehicles and the parking lot was PACKED with county 5 (that's Albany county, which is where the fires are! And where Laramie is!) cars and trucks. I steeled myself for some depressing shit and brought one load of soda into the building (which was plastered with NO MEDIA ENTRANCE signs). I walked into a big herfy meeting being presented by some national State of Emergency dudes. I found a Red Cross person and told them I had stuff to donate, and they were all STOKED. So that made me feel better.
Also, the families hanging out in there were fairly chill, so it was not a scene of major bummer. It seemed like the entire community has come together to really help these evacuees, which was awesome. I gave my contact info to the Red Cross people, and they said to check back for further needs.
I left feeling like I did so little, but still like I helped quite a bit. And now I am not so freaked out by these situations. It's just people helping people, natural and not weird. I definitely plan on helping more, but holy shit I hope these fires end in a hurry.
Seth and I discussed our evacuation plan (which is very unlikely, but...fucking possible right now). I kind of want to be that person who stands on the yard with a hose blasting the house, shouting THE HELL WITH YOU, FIRE. So hopefully it won't come to that. ;) Furthermore, I am horrified just thinking about what to do with the pigs if we do have to pack out. Bah.
So on that note, happy Independence Day. Eat popcicles. Grill things if that's still legal where you are. Send some vibes to the firefighters in Wyoming, living in tents down the street from me working their asses off. They are doing the Lord's work for sure. And of course, keep all the evacuees in your thoughts. I can't even imagine what they are going through.