Smoky 4th

Yesterday was the 4th of July (and my mother's birthday, you can read about it here), and we woke to extremely smoky skies.  While we don't have any fires burning in our immediate area, we are surrounded by wildfires, some of them very large; one has reached 250,000 acres burned, and still going.  Chad and Megan were scheduled to run the Firecracker 4 Mile race at 7 a.m., but due to the extreme smoke, I didn't want Megan having to breathe that (I didn't want Chad to run in it either, but he was determined, and did run the race).

I went outside just before 7 a.m. to place a few flags around the yard, and snapped a few quick photos.  The sunlight was eerie and red from the smoke, and I imagined this might be what it looks like on Mars. Just that short time outdoors had me coughing, eyes watering, and head pounding.  When I came back inside, I smelled like I'd been in front of a campfire all night!

Our red, smoky morning.

The camera cannot do justice to the color of the tree. It was glowing orange, and looked like it was on fire.

Thankfully, as the morning went on, the wind changed direction and cleared out much of the smoke, so we were able to enjoy some time outside.

Later, as the sun set and the moon began to rise, we were treated to a cool sight.  The moon was very orange from the smoke in the air, and looked a lot like a block of cheddar cheese.  Since the fireworks show was cancelled in our town, seeing the beautiful moon was our 4th of July nighttime celebration in the sky.

It was sort of a strange 4th of July, but overall, it was a very pleasant one.  How was your 4th?