July 6^th, 2006

OT-HOT-HOT!!!!

Monday - My company left and went back to Oregon. Lightening storm the night that did not seem too exciting. I saw 1-2 flashes. It was really really really hot... really.. so we all bailed and went to the preferred swimming hole down at the river and spend 7 hours there. On our way, not far from our driveway, I inquired to the guys if they smelled smoke.. they said no...

I was wearing a new swimming suit and was thinking I was being careful and with the cutout in my suit, it looks like I have a Bull's Eye the size of a dinner plate on my back. OUCH! However down at the river, I drifted down (sans tube) the river multiple times and came up with new ideas to write on. I am pretty excited about one topic.. the kids played with a kid (that must be 50 years old going on 12) and they all had great fun in the river, playing, fishing and rock collecting. They even caught a nice trout. We stayed all day and it was lovely.

We had the water tank in the back of the truck as we are hauling water for our well again and we filled up at my bf's shoppe with the fire hose on our way back from the swimming hole. As I am holding the nozzle into the tank bracing myself as to not go flying, waiting for my bf to turn the water on, he spooked up a 4 point buck with only one horn. I am looking around and look towards home and see a plume of smoke.. I am sure it is a forest fire. I ask my honey who is a former smoke jumper for wildfires.. he says it is not smoke. I keep questioning and he says it isn't. I have serious doubts.. and watch it all the way home for 30-some miles. We get home and are dumping the water down our well and the neighbor comes over and I mention the supposed fire and he thinks it is too. I have serious doubts about my guys fire fighting abilities at this time. For a smoke jumper/wildfire fighter guy, I lost my confidence in him for a few until he redeemed himself.

I decide to drive with "Kid" out to where there looks like smoke and pick up my friend "A" who had no idea what was going on behind her cabin. We throw "A" into my truck and we continue to cruise down the road.. looking at this ominous cloud the whole time. We get to the social area of the area.. which is a single building and get the skinny that it is a wildfire and it is HUGE and moving fast. We dump "A" back off at her house and cruise home. This wildfire is all in bug kill.. a sea of red trees which you can see from outer space now. It is one of my biggest fears of where lightening might hit. As of last night. 16,000 acres was burning or already burnt. The flames are 300+ feet high. This is what Bug Kill looks. There were over 100 wildfires started since Monday night in our district I was told.

Tuesday- "Kid" and I went on magazine rounds and found a few Winter issues which had not sold at a place and they will be mailed out to some who are waiting tomorrow, unless we have to stick close to home due to the wildfire. The smoke was 150 miles out from our home. And the fire is on the other side of our home. We were on standby for going and evacuating 2 families and then both my friends had a personal crisis.. which is another total story.. geez.. it is not even a full moon. I was up until 3 am and I was sitting in the dark on our front porch and could see the glow of the fires on the other side of our mountain.

Wednesday - At 6pm tonight... [I actually started that above part of the post hours ago and am just back again].... the smoke is heading our direction again. I now have a sore throat and my nose is stuffy again. The sky is a brown haze and looks probably alot like Los Angeles, CA. The updates are so very far and few between. As we are mostly ranches, forestry and aboriginals out here, no one really cares and they are letting it burn. There are virtually no firefighters on it. My bf's aunt works in the forestry department here, but a different section than the wildfire section. She does hear of things trickling down and she said that she did not advise us to start packing yet, but to plan what to take if we have to get evacuated. We were well ahead of her and since Monday night have located places to place 51 chickens, 5 turkeys, 3 horses, 1 goat, sled dogs and 3 hogs if need be.

We are cautious, but not too worried yet. We are told we will have around 5 hours warning (though I am taking that with a grain of salt), but I think we can get out of here in under 2 hours with all the stock, photo's and personal objects we do not want to loose. We have fire insurance..

Next update.. I just got a call a few minutes ago.. my friend "A" that we went to her place the other night to get her to go see where the fire was.. it is about 10 miles from her place now. Tomorrow we are bringing in horse trailers and trucks and bringing the horses up into the front pasture. Depending on where the fire is advancing to, we may be pulling out animals tomorrow.