Driving back from Angel's parents this weekend we spotted a column of smoke rising from town. As we drove closer we realized that it was only a couple of miles from our house. This is the view from our front porch when we got home.

It turns out that the Baron Woolen Mill started was burning with considerable gusto. I was able to find this news article with links to video that are quite impressive. We were afraid that it was somebodies' home, but so far no injuries have been reported and nearby homes appeared to have escaped the blaze.

Watching the smoke roil and build less than two miles away was sobering. We sat down with Kanga and Tigger and talked about what to do in a fire. We'll be doing more of that tonight for Family Home Evening, complete with fire drill. I take comfort in the fact that we have home insurance for the physical aspects of our lives. There are things that I would miss and things that our be irreplaceable - Angel's ceder chest and its contents, or my mission photographs for instance. But the most important things to us are our kids and ourselves. I would hate to experience a house fire but I feel that we could recover from the physical effects of it. If we lost one of our own in said fire though.... thinking about it certainly puts perspective on things.