Here is a satellite image of Central Washington on Saturday morning.
The straight lines (aqua color) are Longitude and Latitude.
The northern parts of Ellensburg are at 47°N. That’s ‘E’ and I’m the star north of that. I’ve labeled the Columbia River (Col. R) where it turns east; the ‘R’ is on the Hanford Nuclear Site. Mt. Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Adams are labeled.
The Schneider Springs fire is between Mt. Rainier and Ellensburg, and with only a slight breeze the smoke is following the Naches River Valley down into the Yakima area, through Union Gap {a river cut notch in Ahtanum Ridge} and spreading across the lower Yakima Valley (YAK).
The fire is now about 75,000 acres, burning in forested steep hills.
Friend Sonja, South Lake Tahoe, is in the path of a fire twice this size, called the Caldor Fire. In the last couple of days the weather and crews appear to have stopped the rapid advance toward Tahoe, but this could change with wind shifts. Smoke is the big issue in the Tahoe Basin. Sonja has horses, dogs, and cats – so this is a big deal for her.
Back to the home front:
On Sunday, the family of the Swedbergs that “adopted” us when we moved here had a gathering in a local park to honor their recently deceased. I went and visited, ate, and came home. I did not go (Monday) to the cemetery.
Tuesday, Phyllis and I continued the cleansing of the house. Almost all done now. The shed does have more stuff, not seen in 30 years. I’ve got furniture to get rid of, and that is an unsolved issue. These are things from Nancy’s mother, sent from Atlanta. Don’t ask why.
I had a load of gravel (15.2 tons) ordered – I expected it at 1:00 so we delayed lunch, but the delivery was late so we ate about 1:30 and he came about 1:40. Plans!
Wednesday I spread gravel over the dirt along the new deck. More to do there, but that helps keep the dust down. I’ll do more before we get rain.
I had called & texted my barber, Arielle, and she got back to me after lunch, so I went in for a haircut. First one was 7.5 weeks ago, and that seems a good schedule. Thus, next times will be about mid-October and early December.
Thursday I left at 7:20 to head to the Winery. I need to unload a few things there before we starting bottling wine at 9. 
We were doing a to-be sparkling wine; that is we were putting wine with a bit of sugar and yeast in bottles. 45 days from now the bottle will have to have its cap removed and the yeast will have to be disgorged.
Thus, we capped the bottles using 3 different instruments. One didn’t work properly, although the one pictured – called Emily – did a nice job.
Caps: the company sent a bag labeled 3,000 with only 1,000. Oops! Cell phones saved the day – and the fact that the wife of one of the crew was in the general direction of the store that had caps. Lunch became a 4-bottle affair while we waited.
I was about 2.5 hours late getting home. Brittany Annie let me know she was not happy with the delay; however, apparently she had used the “doggie-door.” And I was late feeding the wild quail and other birds. Still, all was well by 7:15.
Friday, the remodeling was advanced by the addition of a new window in my bedroom. The supply chain does move – just slowly. The siding was rebuilt, trim was added, and HardiePlank was delivered. That should go smoothly – it is a common thing.
A bit more complex will be adding the windows on the west side of the deck. There are 3 frames with glass that were removed from the west side. These are 4’x5′ and will be the wind-break to help make the deck a pleasant place. This will be non-standard construction, so we talked it through, but it will not be done for awhile yet.
I spent the morning dismantling the outhouse-like (old) pump-house. There is a concrete base that I have to bust up and remove. Sledgehammer work.
Today I moved rocks, dirt, and water around – and made a box of kindling from an old pallet.
Some smoke might move this way overnight.
From the Naneum Fan
John