Fires and Floods and Writing, Oh My!

My post today was going to be very mild, concentrating on the fact that I have the day off and four stories awaiting my attention. But my youth is under attack. OK, I know that sounds rather strange, but it almost seems as though Colorado is burning up. There are fires on the eastern slope near Fort Collins, where I went to school. There is one up the canyon near Boulder where my ex-fiancee, Seth, grew up and a city/town that holds many special memories for me throughout my youth. There is a huge blaze near Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs. That one has grown so quickly and become so dangerous that tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and the Air Force Academy has been closed and evacuated. It's frightening. The fire dangers are one major reason why I have stayed in Minnesota instead of moving back to Colorado or New Mexico. I don't recall them being this bad when I grew up in the area, so I'm wondering about what changed to cause wildfires to be such a major thing over the past ten years or so.

( pics of places and things below....(of course) )