Sunday Aug 12 John left the house early while it was 65 to water the garden and take down the old round pen. He hasn’t gotten to the latter yet, because of all the other chores. He did take Shay with him and she was a happy companion. Rascal was outside, but I haven’t seen him since the middle of the night when he wanted fed canned food. I need to get going and get to work on my research on Timothy Hay now that our friends from Lake Tahoe have come and gone from Ellensburg.
My day should have been less stressful, but it turned into just the opposite. Yikes; the airport says it is up to 70 now and worse that we will have 99 degrees today. Turns out we went to 100 and it stayed at 99 for several hours before and after the 100 recording. I surely hope the fellow gets here soon to deliver the round-pen panels. It will take a couple of trips, and luckily it’s only about a mile round trip, and that they offered to deliver it. It takes a much larger flat bed than is on our truck. We got a call from his mom at 11:00 that it would be later in the afternoon. Right in the hottest part of the day before 3:00 p.m. at 100 degrees. The hour ahead and the two after were 99. They were able to get all the panels delivered and John started setting them up, only to realize when the gate was the last panel delivered, that it had to be connected to one of the previous panels already standing. The gate had been welded with a connector about ½ inch off so a panel connector had been cut with a hacksaw to make the two fit. When they delivered the last pieces it was too hot to figure which panel, but later in the evening John determined which it was. Sadly he had a lot of work with no help to move the pieces and reconnect. I don’t think he’s through yet.
Much of my time was spend working with our computer that kept losing its connection to the Internet. I was trying to work on two major projects, one required searching the local newspaper for articles on the production of Timothy Hay in the Kittitas Valley (where we are located), and the other was to help advise an REM graduate about her interview for a job tomorrow morning. (Update, she ended up getting the job!)
Monday, Aug 13 Bad news came today with news a fire was started west of us near Cle Elum. The winds were severe and the dry brush, dead grass, undergrowth, and Ponderosa pine forest caused a horrible wildfire. It was a fretful afternoon, evening, and night. I think I may have some repeats in my story below, and in advance, I apologize.
We drove out at almost dark to see where it was. We got on Reecer Creek road and up to Hungry Junction, at the top of the hill and could not see flames. Deputies were coming to 1.5 miles west of us on Wilson Creek road telling residents to be ready to evacuate. We were pretty sure we were safe.
Tuesday, Aug 14 The fire was still raging and the winds were extremely high, consistently. Unfortunately, we are right in the line of fire (pun intended). I made a surveillance trip up to the north and west of us on Wilson Creek road, on my way to town. The one road up Lilliard Hill was too rough to traverse in my Subaru. I passed a neighbor driving to the spot I was seeking, whom I had never met before. He took my cell phone number and was willing to call me after he found out the situation and how close the smoke and fire was from above. He did call me before I got to town, and told me that he thought they had created a back fire to burn back toward the advancing one from the west. I continued my trip to deliver some squash, pick up some apricots for my neighbor to make jam, and to go take digital images of some of the historical photos in our city library collection on Haying in the Kittitas Valley. I’m co-authoring research for a presentation on Hay here in our valley, with a colleague who took over teaching some of the classes I used to teach. We are going to present it in Olympia the first week of October, at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers’ yearly conference. I was in the library about an hour, and when I came out I saw the plumes of smoke much worse than when I had left. I postponed the rest of my squash deliveries, and drove straight home. I was quite worried on the way home seeing the big plumes of smoke west of our home, and then I got a call from a friend who is a firefighter and was concerned we needed to get out of the path of the advancing fire. I also heard from another person that the fire had jumped the firebreak that was attempted. There were firefighters who claimed that it was going so fast that, if the winds kept up, it might well go all the way to the Columbia River before stopping. We would have been in the way of that advance. Very LATE afternoon we found the residents in the area within our country block square were being advised to evacuate, when a deputy came to our door, advising we should be “ready to evacuate.” We are on the east of that “block” on Naneum road. North of us is Charlton, South is Thomas, and West is Wilson Creek. We really never thought it would come all the way to us. They were bombing with retardant until dark, and John recognized the winds changed and found they were expected to change even more later–to Easterly. That’s very unusual for around here, as they are normally NW or WNW. Ours and everyone’s prayers must have been answered.
However, John kept working to right before dusk to contain the horses. I spent all my time searching for valuables and packing them into the car. At 11:00 p.m., I drove over 2 miles west to Wilson Creek road to check for signs of fire. I saw none. The lady who cuts my hair lives on the road south and west of us. I saw her lights on at 11:02 so called her and asked if she would call us before they took off in their 5th wheel. They are much closer to the suspected advancing line. She will do that, so that means we can get some sleep.
Our travel trailer was almost all packed and my Subaru had all our musical instruments in it (except keyboard, piano, pump organ), plus meds, my ICD checker, tax receipts, the external backup for my last two laptops and some clothes, shoes, work boots, pillows & snacks. John fixed a safe haven for the horses away from the trees in the middle of our pasture over the irrigation ditch for water and gave them hay. He carried panels to keep them contained (like a big round pen, yet it’s multi-angled to keep it standing). They were comfortable there and we didn’t have to cart them away. Thanks to all our friends offering trailer assistance and pasture (many of our friends did, and that was a wonderful offer). Thanks also for offers of packing, transporting, spending the night at friends, and encouragement to keep a positive attitude and not to stress out.
We took Rascal out in a crate with hard and soft food, and left him a couple hours in the travel trailer. The reason we did, is that he is an inside/ outside cat and if we fed him, he might have left and not come back till after we left, had we determined we needed to. Once I was home from the recent surveillance trip, however, I decided to let him out again. He came back in the house with us now, after stepping out of the trailer. I’m sure he had no clue what happened, but the fact it had a happy ending was positive. He had two plates (canned food & dry). He ate all of the canned and somehow transferred a full covering of the saucer with hard food from the other bowl. We figure he was making a statement, but it would have been interesting to see how he managed it, and to understand the reason for his actions!
Wednesday, Aug 15 We awoke at 4:45 and John took off to run the run I had previously been doing to check for fire progress in our direction. His was a round trip of over 10 miles, but it gave us confidence this morning when John could see no smoke or fire, and the winds were calm. The temperatures went to the 50s and the wind direction changed from WNW to S and E (winds take their names from the direction from which they come).
Facebook, which I almost never do was active this morning, when someone sent me a message through there and I was notified by email. I figured I could notify a lot of people if I could figure out how to post to my Facebook Wall. Here’s something similar to what I wrote:
Hoping this makes it to my wall and to all of you. I wrote this to a friend in Bend, OR, after she contacted me on FB, sending it to my wall. I’ll add to it, but wanted to let you know we are fine. Thanks for everyone’s offer of help. We were right in the line of fire (pun intended), and served notice to evacuate late yesterday afternoon. We packed our travel trailer with crates for dogs and cat, and waited to leave till the last minute. Right before midnite I drove to where I could see and didn’t see any flames or even a glow.
We stayed knowing we would hear from a friend 1.5 miles closer to the fire when they decided to leave. At 5:00 this morning, after a little sleep, John took the trip I had been taking (plus farther and more) and saw no signs of fire or smoke. The winds are calm. Thanks for your prayers. We all in the neighborhood were spared. LUV, Nancy
It worked and almost 60 folks replied. It has been hectic, stressing, and all adjectives you can think of. We were right in the path and it got to within 5.16 miles of us (measured on Google Earth, by my friend, Miriam in Indiana who got access to the fire data of the hot spots. I will eventually put it on line with a link for you to see it. Her map has our house on it; talk about personalized. Very neat and nice of her to do. We were in the advisory zone for evacuation, so we fixed up our horses (John did) in the middle of the field behind the pole building (now completed), and put panels up to contain them away from the trees and in a wet area actually over the irrigation ditch so they had access to water and gave them hay. We kept a watch on the fire from a hill about 6 miles down the road. Every 5-6 hours or so.
Previously, John moved our travel trailer up closer to the house, put crates in for the dogs and one cat (ferals were going to have to fed for themselves), and hooked to the truck, heading out the driveway. While John was building the place for the horses, i packed and loaded things into the travel trailer, but mostly into the car. I got really tired carting all that stuff outside and packing. Then at several hour intervals I drove to see if the flames were any closer. That day the winds were blowing severely from the west, bringing the fire right toward us.
We did not evacuate and the fire was stopped with fire retardant from airplanes. The winds changed and we were spared. The fire continues on the west side of Hwy 97, and north into the timber. It has flared up tonight on the north side of Hwy 970, the road that goes through the Swauk Prairie and near the Teanaway, where we have a friend living.
Links worth watching regarding the wildfire has some striking photos.
One of the better reporting places is King5 news (Seattle); this is an earlier one:
Thursday, Aug 16 Report on Aug 16: http://www.king5.com/news/local/Kittitas-Cle-Elum-Taylor-Bridge-Wildfire-Wednesday–166245586.html I have never completed writing up my story on the fire, and needed to finish sooner to get it off to people who are asking. Where does the time go? I never made the report to send out on email, and decided to try to keep this blog entry up-to-date, so I could just use it for both needs.
Here is another link that shows a lot of pictures on the situation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wastatednr/7789659164/in/set-72157631083674982
Our morning was filled with chores, meeting with the county agent who came to review/inspect the new pole building’s completed state, and pass on it. That went well. Two visits, at the start to look at the holes for the poles; then at the end to be sure the bolts were properly in the trusses and the purloins were done properly, and maybe something else inside. There was no viewing of anything on the outside, not even the poles. That required building permit is going to cost us $750. Yesterday, I called about putting it on our insurance as an outbuilding. We cannot because of the wildfires, a moratorium on any new additions to insurance was imposed. John went with me to play music today, and we went ahead and ate at Burger King. Last time there (several weeks ago), we got the food to go, and didn’t realize till we got home that it wasn’t the complete order we had paid for. I called and talked to the then manager, Alex, and he said he would give my information to his supervisor and it would be sent to Yakima and I would receive a free coupon. I never received anything. That story has a happy ending. We got our lunch and part of dinner free today. I asked my favorite checker and she called the manager (now Rhonda). She was extremely nice, and told me they would replace my missing chicken sandwich with two, along with small fries and drink, and I had already gotten a cheeseburger for John to eat with the one chicken sandwich I expected to get, originally. Ended up when she tried to write that separately, it took it and put it on her card, and they paid for our whole meal (and we had leftover a full original chicken sandwich we brought home in our cooler). We had taken the cooler full of squash to share with the people in our music group. The Geography secretary for 27 years (Lois) is now living at this assisted living retirement center. She is in good shape and loves to dance still, so as we played waltzes, she came to the front and danced.
Friday, Aug 17 Today was a wonderful lunch at the Adult Activity Center. It cost $3.00, but wow–what a meal. I wish I had known there would be leftovers because I could have brought a cooler for taking home a bought plate for John, but the meal started at 11:30 and I didn’t leave town in 100-degree temps without a cooler until almost 3:00. Here is the menu: BBQ (large beef ribs, baked beans, cornbread, and strawberry shortcake), with coffee & lemonade. Then I left to go to two close-by garage sales, and got some neat stuff for 25¢ (small mirror on a fold over stand), 50¢ for a pair of down boots with leather bottoms; and a bunch of free stuff (pillows, tongs, plastic CD holders, and a nice heavy plastic carrier for a Skil Saw). The neatest part of that sale was two Melodicas for sale. One had twice as many keys as the one John’s sister Peggy sent me, and the other was smaller. They had no clue what they were, so I explained. They’d looked the one up on Ebay and found their asking price of $70. I would not have bought it at that price at a yard sale, even if I didn’t have one. I returned to the center to lead my SAIL exercise class. Another group member led Wednesday when I was still getting through the excitement of the fire. I cancelled all activities in town that day to recuperate. Next week I will lead the group again on Wed. and possibly Friday. Another person in the class is sharing leading when our “leader” is feeling bad, gone for some reason, or out of town, as all next week. It’s nice we can keep it going. There are several people who are over 86, one man who’s 89, and a neat lady who’s probably in better shape than all of us, who is 92.
Friday night newspaper reported on a house that escaped the fire in the Bettas Valley. This is an interesting story:
Tonight I waited for a 6:00 p.m. phone call from someone needing music at a place west of Cle Elum, the Ensign Ranch. It never came. I guess I’ll wait longer. (still not here by 7:00 p.m. Saturday). Hmmmm. It came finally a few minutes after I sent this to John to review and post, and we will not be able to do the “gig.” The plans were for a singles group from NW Washington, Mt. Vernon, Bellingham area, Everett, and they wanted “music in the woods.” With the age and conditions of our group and the location, I declined. Several of us have been there before, and it is not a pleasant experience. One time we had to ride on a raft across the river and carry in speakers.
Saturday, Aug 18 Started at 8:00 a.m. at a yard sale down the road and over from our house, at friends of friends of ours. It was on a dead end road (narrow) and we didn’t know there was parking at the house. So we started walking and then the owner met us on the road to tell us. John went back for the car, but I continued walking to the house. Guess I got my exercise for the day. There John found a book on Seattle that has “then and now” pictures of the Smith Tower my grandfather worked on at the start of the last century. And, he found a 2 gallon gas can like this but older:
http://openairenergy.com/images/418ji3maaql.jpg
The company has been sued repeatedly – They say people used the cans to pour gas directly on a fire; lawyers say the things were poorly designed and dangerous. John says: I have no idea, but an article is here:
http://www.miamiok.com/news/article_3841b81a-0bf7-11e1-b0d0-001cc4c002e0.html
John says if anyone is close enough to a fire to pour gas on it from any type of container – he or she should get a Darwin Award, not a financial reward. A better plan is to partly fill a small can (tomato, peaches) and throw that from a distance – once launched, run like hell, but watch over your shoulder as the fire returns along the vapor trail. Entertainment before the digital age!
Then we decided to go back to another couple of sales in EBRG, and found some neat stuff. Our first stop was where I bought a few things yesterday and saw some containers in which I can pack sweaters. They were still there, so I grabbed them. The nicest find was at a different sale, a pair of new (worn once, maybe?) boots for $3.00 that fit John! They’re leather on top and rubber on the lower part, something like this (by Northside Boots)
http://astore.amazon.com/nortcom-20/images/B002HWS5K6
We couldn’t find two more streets that have been extended away from the city and are unattached. Came home and found them on Google. (I hit them later in the afternoon, when I went back to Briarwood to play music. The last place we stopped was a great find for me. There was a very nice cowboy hat (I participate in several musical events where the theme is western), and while talking the lady down on the price of the hat, I saw 3 music stands in excellent condition with “make offer” on them. While I was debating, she took my picture with the hat because I said, I need a mirror to see what it looks like. She showed me on her phone and I said, well, I will pay half your original price, I guess. She said, how about you give me $10 for the hat and the 3 music stands. Wow! If I had made the offer it would have likely been for a little more for the stands, so I got a fabulous deal. She even took my email and shipped me the picture she took.
We managed to unload most of the stuff in the trailer and the Subaru when we got home. Now we are grabbing a fast bite to eat and I’m returning to town to play music at Briarwood, and deliver some squash and yellow beans. If I have time, I may stop at one of the two sales we missed earlier. ( I did). Bought too more packing crates for half price, at the sale where we were this morning, and they had reduced all the quarter items to free. I grabbed more things and carried them away in one of my tote boxes. Stopped by another sale we had missed earlier, but got nothing. Also found another we had missed, and bought for 50¢ a pair of insulated flannel bedroom shoes with leather bottoms. The others I got this morning are a little large, but might be all right with heavy socks in the winter. On to the place where we were playing music. Only 6 of us showed up today, but we had an involved and interested group, plus they fed us amazingly again (as usual). On the menu was: Oriental chicken (cold salad with slaw), macaroni salad, hot bread and butter, grapes and cut cantaloupe, cheese & crackers, homemade zucchini/pineapple bread made from one of our zucchinis I took by to the cook, Bill. The dessert table was full. Two types of brownies, one with German Choc topping, and the other with choc. Peanut butter homemade cookies, 3 other store bought cookies, and the best peach cobbler I think I have ever had: made with maple syrup and pecan crumbles; covered with real whipped cream. I do not need any dinner. For drink, I had pink lemonade. People who wanted coffee could have it. Really cool, my former student, Glenn, has just moved into Briarwood Commons. He has eye problems now as is being hearing impaired, but I wanted to introduce him to the people there, and have him join us for our music and for the food. They welcomed him and were really happy I invited him. I think he enjoyed himself and got full.
I’ll get this to John now for his additions and posting, and meanwhile I will try to start work on putting put some recent photos out on a web page to share. I might not get it done until next week — or even later, but perhaps I can get a preview soon to catch you up on all our recent happenings.
Hope your week was a good one.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan