Drive!

 

This guy turned 15 last weekend.  We celebrated with Grampa Frank, who's birthday is exactly one week prior to Thane's.  They are two peas in a pod, that's for sure!

Thane has grown a LOT this year - both physically and in maturity.  He was  6' 5 1/4" a week before his birthday.  Keeping him in clothes that fit is practically a part time job, and finding shoes that come in his size can be a challenge.  (Although oddly enough, we find plenty of second hand wooden Dutch shoes that fit just fine.)  😂

Thane is in high school now, and his favorite classes are welding and CADD.  He's even considering an engineering degree at some point in the future.  He continues to be an outdoorsman, and he actually mentioned that he enjoyed hiking with us a few times this past summer (although he'd never admit it publicly!) Mostly, though, his tastes run toward fishing and hunting, with the occasional camping trip thrown in.

His latest passion, however, is driving.  He now officially owns a driver's permit, and he saved his hard earned summer cash to buy Grampa's old truck in anticipation of getting his license next year.  

I'm sure that the coming year will fly by - if the last 15 years is any indication.  We are so proud of the young man that you are - Happy Birthday Thane!

Elk & Elk Fire

 

Jordan's Dad arrived in town last week for the men's annual elk hunting expedition.  Grampa Frank opted to forgo this year, and Thane & I decided that we would wait until the weekend to join them since we had a full week of school and work.  There was a small wildfire picking up over 11 miles from camp, but it didn't seem like a huge deal when the boys headed up the mountains.  We are so grateful that both Jordan and our friend Troy tagged out opening day, as the fire literally blew up overnight and large swathes of our beloved Big Horns were changed forever.

Within hours of day 3, the fire (now known as the Elk Fire) had raged out of control and jumped from 456 to 20,000 acres.  

Jordan and the men made it off the mountain before things got too bad, although their normal route home was closed as the fire jumped the highway.  As the days went by, we were even more alarmed as friends in the nearby town of Dayton were put on pre-evacuation orders.  After a cold front came through the night after Jordan got home, the sustained 50-60 mph winds sent the fire raging across the eastern face of the mountains.  

Many days this is our view from the house.  The smoke is so thick, and it gets hard to breathe at times.  But the wind shifted and the weather cleared for a few hours two nights ago. The sight from our front porch is sobering.

Please pray with us for much needed rain.  There are over 800 men and women battling this blaze, including friends of ours who are volunteer fire fighters.  It's exhausting work, and their spouses and children spend anxious days waiting for news and a brief check-in.  The fire is now just shy of 75,000 acres and is only 10% contained.  Thankfully, only two residences have been lost thus far, and the town of Dayton is no longer in immediate danger.  It is anticipated that the fire will continue burning until snow falls.  Preliminary photos show complete devastation to the northeast end of the mountains, which is just heartbreaking.