Last night after supper, the big guy took Jack for a walk around the block and he noticed black smoke in the not so far distance.  Because I'm nosey, we put Jack in his pyjamas and loaded him into the car so that we could go see what was happening.

This spring has been hot, windy and dry.  The winds have been ferocious and make me quite grumpy.  There are fires burning all over Alberta.  A week ago my manager and her husband lost ten acres to a fire caused by assholes in the next field over.  I don't know how much damage was done to their neighbor's property, but the bill from fire services was going to be $80,000 for the neighbor.  

We drove towards the dog park which is 6 kilometres away but were turned east by police.  We then drove down highway 21 and again got turned east by roadblocks.  At one point we could see flames crossing highway 21 and it looked like the dog park was going up in flames.

This morning we drove to the dog park and it was spared thankfully.  The fire which looked close enough to touch last night was in fact 1 kilometre south of the dog park; the flames must have been huge.  No houses or barns were destroyed, although a lot of people were evacuated.  The fire itself burned a narrow strip through farmland.

I feel like this tree right now, still standing, but surrounded by scorched earth.  Work is busy, my knee hurts a lot, which is making my toes spasm.  Jack is with us six nights a week again and he's not spending time with his mom alone anymore.  He is also very suspicious of his grandma and auntie, worried that they might be taking him to his mama's.  When they come to pick him up, he hides under the coffee table now.  I wonder again if I should be taking him to see a therapist.

This morning he asked us why he has so many parents.  Last night he asked me if his dad was dead.  I thought raising my own kids was hard, raising a grandchild is next level.