The Rime of the Ancient Fire Lookout (inspired by wildfire smoke from the burning American West)

[DemoTex]

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the peak did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

- with apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge


The sun above the Pinyon Peak, in thick drift smoke


Fire and Smoke map of 8/20/2020 (I am in the central Idaho wilderness)


Mid-morning at the fire lookout (9945 ft elevation) in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

[hatrack]

1. Is that a Death? And are there two? Is Death that woman's mate?

And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and burning face.

[DemoTex]

2. Her lips were red, her looks were free,

Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.

[flotsam]

3. That's why I dig this place...

I mean, they do poetry over at Free Republic, but there's only so many words that rhyme with "Nantucket"...

[Hekate]

4. Thanks as always, and stay safe!

Thanks for the map — it explains why my eyes and nose are burning after stepping out to see if the outside was any cooler. It is indeed cooler outdoors at 11 p.m. — inside it is 85 degrees. The sky has been increasingly overcast for 2 days, but it lacks the cooling moisture of our Central Coast fogs — because, smoke. I heard there’s a new fire at Lake Piru, 36 miles away...

Trying to figure out which of my masks are any good for smoke particles, after hearing some really contradictory info on the tv machine....

[Demovictory9]

5. Kick

[bluedigger]

6. We're getting it in the Four Corners as well.

Not as bad yesterday, but we could barely see the sun for the haze, Wednesday.

[kentuck]

7. We have the Grizzly Creek fire here in Colorado...

Outside Glenwood Springs.

It has burned about 30,000 acres and is only 4% contained, as of yesterday..