Thursday Thirteen

 

1. We saw the Northern Lights Tuesday night. The sky above us looked like velvet, and over the top of the mountain ridge we could see green, white, and orange lights. I'm not sure the orange wasn't from the Bald Mountain fire, as that is the direction we were looking. Unfortunately, my iPhone doesn't have a night mode on it, and I didn't take out my good camera.

2. The lights were supposed to be visible Wednesday night as well, but the smoke from the fire was so heavy we couldn't open the door to go outside to look. The fire sparked up again today, along with some back-fires the firefighters were setting to try to control the burn. I think it's over 3000 acres now.

3. When I was writing for the newspaper, I covered a fire. That meant getting up close and personal with the orange flames. I hitched a ride with a Forest Service Ranger that I knew, and he let me out as close as he dared, which was pretty close. I could feel the heat, see the flames, and watch the men with their shovels and rakes.

4. One other time, I was close to a forest fire because my new husband was fighting it. I went to the grocery store and loaded the car up with bottled water to take the firefighters, and they let me drive the car close to the fire. That fire was in the Catawba area, a very long time ago. The firefighters appreciated the water.

5. Being a news reporter afforded me many opportunities for activities I might otherwise not have attempted. I seldom thought twice about going after a story when I was young. If it called for me to ride in a hot air balloon, up I went.

6. Once I went up in a small twin engine plane. I was gone for hours, and my husband had a fit when I told him where I'd been. But I'd been all over the county.

7. I also went into a burning house once that firefighters were training on. No mask, no gear, just my camera in hand, trying to get that great shot in black and white, because that was 1987 and that's what the paper printed in then. Somewhere I have this really great shot in black and white of an entire wall of flames, with a firefighter off to the side. I have no idea where that picture is, but it was a good one.

8. Other silly things I did while I was writing for the paper included taking long hikes just to talk to people, jumping in a ditch for a picture and nearly breaking my ankle, and driving down roads that I thought would surely lead to the ends of the earth before they came out somewhere.

9. I also stalked the sidelines at football games and prayed some linebacker didn't crash into me. Same for basketball games. Please don't let the point guard hit me, I would think as I clicked away, trying to get a shot for the paper.

10. I also once climbed up a ladder and onto a roof to interview a roofer while he worked. He kept roofing nails in his mouth, so it was hard for him to talk and work at the same time. I finally convinced him to take a break so he could tell me about his job. The nails, by the way, were in his mouth from habit, something he developed when he was a youngster learning the trade from his uncle.

11. Those days are behind me now. But that doesn't mean something like seeing the Northern Lights doesn't get me excited. It's a rare phenomenon for it to be so far south.

12. I also can be excited by the vast plumes of smoke that rose today from the forest fire. Mostly now, though, my concern is for my asthma and the health of others who have breathing problems.

13. There are plenty of other things to be excited about: read up on Comet Atlas, for one. It's been hard to find good information on that with NASA shut down as part of the government, but I'm hoping that will be rectified soon.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 933rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.