Oct 3, 2012 Clear Skies!



Oooops!



The wind came up as predicted on Monday evening and the skies were clear yesterday.  Still clear this morning with no wind and very little smoke to the southwest.  Sounds like the Forest Service is letting the fire burn inside the lines they have drawn.  For the past several years there has been a really bad beetle problem in Blewett Pass, but the environmentalists would not let them go in and cut down all the dead trees because of an endangered species of bird (Spotted Owl?).  I guess Mother Nature finally said, "Enough is enough.  I'll take care of the problem."  Thus the lightening storm.

JB cut the last tree we wanted down on Monday (see photo above).  None of the boards in the fence were broken, so we just hammered them back up.  I limbed the tree and JB cut it into 16" pieces that I stacked to be split.  Then JB chipped all its branches and the ones left over from the other trees and spread the chippings on the driveway to the south of the house.  I gathered, cut and stacked two large loads of branch wood.  On Saturday I had discovered a treasure trove of large, dry fir branches on our neglected west slope.  Better than a BOGO at Macy's!  (Although I'm sure Sandy would disagree with that statement.) 

I had to wear a mask til mid afternoon because of the smoke.  There was a lot of helicopter activity during the day, one flying directly over the house going to the reservoir with its bucket.

I made broccoli soup for dinner.  Had forgotten how very good it is.

I went Down There on Tuesday, mainly to pick up the part for the splitter that was supposed to arrive by Monday.  Of course I had nine other stops to make and ended up having to go back to the UPS store at the end of my errands because the package had not arrived in the morning.  Fortunately it was there the second time around.  After we make two trips this morning to get the rest of the Seattle wood, we will fix the splitter and start using it tomorrow.

It was finally chilly enough in the house last night to build a fire in the wood stove.  Our first of the season.  It was 38 outside by 7:00 p.m., and got down to 36 during the night.

So nice to see the mountains again, and we are so thankful that the fire was contained before any homes were lost or firefighters injured.

Thought for the day:  Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.  Dwight D. Eisenhower