Sept 28, 2012 Busy, Busy Days



Chinook helicopter carring water to the fire
on Wednesday



Whew!  Guess I was more uptight about getting up on the roof than I realized.  And the more that job got rescheduled, the more uptight I became.  Well, it's finally done for this year.  This is the first time I have used a brush and I could only get it down about six feet, which is about where the pipe inside the house attaches to the box in the roof.  Not sure why, but this is the first time I have taken the top of the pipe off to clean it and it didn't seem that bad for four years.  We will burn more creosote cleaner this year and buy a smaller brush for next year.  I'm not sure "filthy" completely describes how I looked when I was done, but it comes close.

After that chore, we drove down to Larry and Elsie's to pick up MAX.  We also borrowed their trailer and loaded three rounds of the Seattle wood to haul back up.  Then JB made two more trips for wood for a total of twenty rounds for the day.  He made two trips on Thursday bringing up a total of forty rounds.  And they aren't small!  I will be going down with him to help with the rest of the loads.

On Monday when JB was in town, he went to the Coastal store where one of the men actually took him to a splitter and showed him exactly how to take it apart to check for problems.  When he got home we did just that and found the broken part.  We should have it by Tuesday and can start splitting.  Yippee!!

We are using our Cobra walkie-talkies whenever we are far apart but still in the canyon, like for JB's trips for wood.  Thursday morning on his first trip down for wood he called me only a few minutes after leaving to tell me he had just seen THREE COUGARS on the road!  Two of them ran across the road in front of him and up the side, then he saw another one behind him who followed the first two.  What an experience!  Needless to say, he was thrilled and I am envious.  However we will both be packing while outside from now on.

Fortunately both days were fairly clear of smoke even though they were backburning on the fires to the southwest of us.  I worked on a few piles of branches,  getting several loads each day cut and stacked.  On Wednesday we could see the huge Chinook helicopter dipping its bucket in the reservoir and taking it to the fire (see photo above).  Even though the past two days have been fairly clear Up Here, we are socked in again this morning so we will be wearing our masks if we work outside.  Of course they are "one size fits all" and being fairly petite, I have rarely been able to wear anything sized in such a way.  The mask fits tightly but it completely covers my lower face from my eyes down.  Not very comfortable, but it does the job.

I think I have finally regained my sanity, or what little of it was left before this whole fire situation started.  I am constantly reminded of Helen Keller's comment, "Life is either one big adventure or it is nothing."  I realize that she was referring to one's attitude, but adventure certainly describes our life on the mountain.  Nothing boring about it.

Thought for the day:  The threat of people acting in their own enlightened and rational self-interest strikes bureaucrats, politicians and social workers as ominous and dangerous.  W.G. Hill