Any good news in your neck of the woods yet TK?
From CNN.com

Just that the fire hasn't arrived in New Mexico yet. It's certainly being blown this way, though.

Every evening, we get so much smoke in that it almost completely blots out the sun. Last evening, while I was out riding, the smoke got even worse than you saw in the photo. The sun was rose-red, you could look right into it without any eye pain or glare, and visibility was down to less than 1 mile.

This happens every evening. I am starting to get sick of that campfire smell coming through every single day.

Goodness, that sounds awful! So it's worse than I realized... I don't really watch the news very often (it gets too depressing, so I tend to avoid it). Are they making any progress in putting the fire out, or at least slowing it down?

Not according to CNN, Lady Syl - it's so hot and dry there, and the winds aren't helping.

I know what you mean about the smoke, TK. When Yellowstone burned in 1988, we could see the smoke (and smell it, if the wind was right) all the way in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The sky was yellow at noon. It was creepy.

Look on the bright side. At least you aren't dealing with this. Though I'm not sure it's necessarily worse than what you're going through.

Here's hoping the fire gets controlled soon.

I love Northern New Mexico. I almost bought a practice there fourteen years ago. Maybe I should have.

After Cerro Grande, I am no stranger to the fact that fire risk in my area is extremely high, and it is so easy for these things to get out of control.

So far, it's just smoke, but I think I speak for all New Mexicans when I say I don't want this to escalate into anything beyond that.

Amen, brother!

Has it been eleven years since Cerro Grande already??? Man, I'm getting old real fast! :facepalm:

Grits has been on vacation all week. Crystal clear water, toasty sand, helicopters overhead, and the thump of distant artillery practice. I love the beach.

Hawaii ??? Lucky you, but hurricane season is about to start down there, so don't stay too long, lol.

wow, I'm jealous. Today has been usual scotish weather. grey skies constantly and rain for most the day. NOT light rain either!

We’re in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Sounds of freedom courtesy of nearby Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point, I’m guessing.

The last time I visited family in Scotland, they took me to the beach at St Andrews. It was lovely and a lot of fun, so much so that I considered coming back to visit in the summer. Then I remembered that it was, in fact, mid-August. I hope you get a few minutes of summer sun, grif11!

My Scottish relatives are all in the Highlands, north of the Sutherland and Sinclair. My parents went to visit and were treated like royalty by everyone there, they loved it!

School ended yesterday, and we had a real graduation ceremony though we only finished ninth grade. It was great, and gave the chance to say a proper farewell. Yup, when the next term comes I'll be of to the gymnasium! It feels really surreal though, hard to believe that the four years I've had with my class are actually over and it feels like it wasn't long ago that I met everyone.

Since there probably isn't many here that knows much about swedish education I'll give you some info about that as well.
Six years- (The first grade of school which you start at the age of 6 or sometimes 7. Hence the name. You don't exactly study anything, I'd say it's a soft start so that you get used to being at school on specific times and doing what your teachers tell you to do.)
Grades 1-9- (The only part of school which's mandatory, the one I finished yesterday. Afterwards you're pretty much free to do what you want though you're not an legal adult yet. It's usually split up in two schools as well though some do teach all of the grades, meaning I went to one school for grades 1-5 and another grades 6-9. You only receive grades in eight and ninth grade now, but that's currently changing. You can of course skip classes if you're a genius.)

The gymnasium- (Usually a period of three years, though you can if you know enough do an exam for some subjects and not have to study them. This is also were you beginning choosing what job you want in the future and therefore you study only what you need. You don't need to go to the gymnasium if you don't want to, but it's going to be really hard getting a job if you don't. It's at the end of the gymnasium that you usually have a graduation ceremony and prom and all of that.)

University/High school- (The highest level of school that not everyone goes to and the amount of time it takes varies depending on what you're studying. Since I want to become an architect it should take me about five years.)

So yeah, I've got about another eight years left of school, but at least now I get to choose what to do and I'm so excited about that!

Grits - sounds great, glad you enjoyed it.

grif - speak for yourself, the I had some great weather yesterday. Off up North next week so hopefully the weather will be nice.

Talking of nice weather, those with long memories might recall I damaged my knees last june. The weather was nice enough yesterday that I got out running for the first time since, just a short one (and hellish slow, a year of sitting doing not much has taken it's toll) but I did manage to run with only moderate pain which went away quickly so I'm pleased with that.

Saquin - congrats on finishing school. If it's anything like the system here it gets dramatically better.

Saquin - Congratulations on your graduation! Yeah, so it's only ninth grade - so what? We had graduation from eighth grade (at age 13-14 years), and it's still a big milestone. Sounds like your gymnasium is close to the American high school. Here, either those are your best years, or your worst. They were the most boring years for me (not to discourage you - I didn't, did I?). I liked that I could pick and choose classes, which I geared toward admission into college (similar to your university/high school). And here, too, it's hard to find a job without that high school diploma. So great job!

I've got my own good news to share. First I got my Intel Mac back yesterday. Oh, it is so good to be back on Mr. Speedy again! The old G5 worked fine, but it is just slow, and the screen is soo small compared to the Cinema Display that came with my Intel Mac. And it doesn't stream video very well, so it was frustrating to be unable to use all of the online resources in my coursework. So I'm catching up on things better left up to this Mac.

The other good news requires a little bad news first. For the past two weeks, I've been dealing with a very painful and swollen right elbow. At first I thought it was tendonitis, but to make a long story short, it's an Pasteurella abscess. That's a bacteria common in cats' mouths and notorious among us vets for causing really nasty abscesses. I likely got it when one of my cats poked me with a claw while walking up and down me in her 'breakfast prowl.' Let that be a warning to all of you who have cats: if you get poked or bitten by a cat, wash it immediately! Superficial scratches aren't a problem, but deep punctures (such as bites, or the poke I got from my cat) are ideal for abscesses to form. And if you get a painful swelling there, see your doctor immediately! Be sure to mention the cat bite/scratch you got before it started.

Saquin, congratulations again.

Grits, sounds like you had a nice vacation. Lucky you!

Back from the beach, what a fast week!

saqin, congratulations! Will you see some of your old school friends at the gymnasium?

Olen, I’m glad you’re back running. And I hope today you’re still back running.

h.e.r., yikes! I hope it goes away completely. Congratulations on the return of Mr. Speedy.

....

noted. :/

So since you say good news, I take it that you got medicine and you're healing up?

An update - my primary care Dr. wasn't happy with how slowly it was healing (TBH, neither was I), so she referred me to a specialist near home. He drained some of the fluid off with a needle (I tried to convince him to just stab it with a scalpel like we vets do, but I guess I wasn't convincing enough). Because it is likely compartmentalized, he couldn't get it all off, so he put a compression bandage on it and put my arm in a splint to minimize elbow movement. I go back to him for a recheck Tuesday morning, and if he still isn't happy, then it's off to surgery to cut out the infection for me. Hopefully not.

Right now the damn splint is bugging me more than the abscess is! I haven't had a good night's sleep since he put it on Friday! Ironically, I slept like a baby every night since this started. Until Friday, that is.

Holy cow, hautee...



Get well soon!!! To think I missed this!!!

Yep - I know a thing or two about being cut up....

Here's a for you!!!

OK- that's it. NO MORE injuries to any of us!

hautee- take care of yourself, as you are already. Recover quickly and without need for surgery (fingers crossed).

TK- sounds as if the fires are getting somewhat better?

Grits- glad to have you back- and that you had such a good time.

Actually, trey, the fire has just jumped the border into New Mexico.

And it's only 18% contained.

Winds are blowing the smoke southward right now, but come Thursday, that's probably going to change.

Fires suck.

And it gets better! Now there's ANOTHER one up north now between New Mexico and Colorado that has completely cut off I-25 (the freeway is closed) and is causing major damage to a local watershed.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Jun 15 2011, 12:39 AM