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| Fire to the SW of us, July 28 2010 |
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| Fire to the N of us, July 30 2010 |
During the third week of July we drove Down There to our storage unit and brought back a full trailer load of items. This allowed us to move what was left into the smallest storage unit available. Next summer, when we build the shop, we will be able to bring everything Up Here. In this load were the big speakers for our surround sound system. We installed the small speakers on the edge of the loft and put the big speakers on top of the book shelves on either side of the TV and Stereo. Wow! I had forgotten just how great surround sound is!
On the 24th we watched the baby wrens sticking their heads out of the bird house. We think there are at least three of them. The next day when we came out for our morning coffee, the whole family was gone. Hopefully one of these times we will get to see the babies learn to fly.
It has now been a year since we have seen our son and our grandchildren. Jake calls about once a week on his hour commute home, but I still miss them all so much. Thank goodness for Facebook and digital photographs.
On the 28th I drove Down There to buy supplies for our Second Annual Rose Camp BBQ and Potluck for land owners in our canyon which will be held on August 1. Had lunch with our friend, Cathy, in a wonderfully air conditioned cafe. Very hot outside. I arrived back Up Here at 4pm and an hour later an electrical storm moved in. There was thunder and lightening all around us. Then came a torrential downpour of rain and then hail, all of which lasted for about an hour. When the fireworks had moved on, we walked our ridges looking for lightening strikes. A couple canyons to the southwest of us we saw smoke and called it in. I was impressed at how quickly the helicopters arrived and started dumping water on the fire which they took from a nearby reservoir. As night moved in we could see the glow from a couple small fires that had moved over the ridge towards us. Still too far away to be concerned about.
That evening Larry called to let us know that there had been a washout on the paved road near where our dirt road meets it. There was a mudslide and they ended up having to walk about three miles to get home. Enough excitement today to last us until Christmas!
The next day the helicopters were still dumping water on the fire and it still seemed to be going strong. Fortunately we had heard that there were no homes in the area. We could also see at least one fire way to the north of us. My Aunt Nene called and said the news was showing several forest fires in the area. Larry called to advise that the county had cleared the mudslide from the road, but there is still a lot of work to be done to repair all the damage.
On the 31st we prepared everything we could for our BBQ the following day. This certainly has been the month for work and unwanted excitement. Lets hope August is a little more tranquil.
Now: July 28, 2011
Today is the one year anniversary of the big storm that caused the mud slides and forest fires last summer. The underbrush is much greener now than it was then, but there are patches that are starting to turn brown. Hopefully we'll get by with no serious fires this year.
Yesterday was a another perfect day for working outside. A bit warmer, but with a nice breeze. We installed two sheets of metal siding on the south side of the shop. The first one was a more time consuming as we had to cut the flashing to fit just right in between the house and the siding. Then we loaded the trailer with half the wood for RJ and drove it down to his cabin. Can't take the short cut pulling the trailer, so it was more than a eight mile drive round trip. We brought the clippers and saw with us so we could trim some bushes and trees along our road on the way back up. Was a two hour trip and the dogs walked the last mile up as we were stopping all along the way to do the trimming. By the time we all got back home, it was time to rest. (See photo below.)
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| Just too tired to get all the way onto the bed! |
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