I hate summertime.

Another fire up here. This morning I woke up and the smoke was so thick that it blocked out the sun, it was raining ash. This evening when I got home from work the ash was almost 1/8" thick over everything. Nobody knows exactly where the fire is, and nobody who does know is going to bother to mention it to anyone on this side of the hill (until they want us out of our houses).
Like most folks I have a run bag packed, and all the essential paperwork sitting in a spare backpack in the front hall.
You really get a feel for what you can do without when you have to pack your entire life into a backpack and a duffel bag.

Its over 90 degrees outside, and my lungs are choked with ash and soot and smoke. I hate summertime.
This evening the smoke turned the sun a deep red, and the wind stopped.
Driving home the ash fell like snow in my high beams, and the smoke plume completely obscures the stars.
A semblance of winter amidst the conflagration.