Sunday Aug 12\u00a0 John left the house early while it was 65 to water the garden and take down the old round pen.\u00a0 He hasn’t gotten to the latter yet, because of all the other chores.\u00a0 He did take Shay with him and she was a happy companion.\u00a0 Rascal was outside, but I haven’t seen him since the middle of the night when he wanted fed canned food.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Turns out we went to 100 and it stayed at 99 for several hours before and after the 100 recording.\u00a0 I surely hope the fellow gets here soon to deliver the round-pen panels.\u00a0 It will take a couple of trips, and luckily it’s only about a mile round trip, and that they offered to deliver it. \u00a0It takes a much larger flat bed than is on our truck.\u00a0 We got a call from his mom at 11:00 that it would be later in the afternoon.\u00a0 Right in the hottest part of the day before 3:00 p.m. at 100 degrees.\u00a0 The hour ahead and the two after were 99.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The gate had been welded with a connector about \u00bd inch off so a panel connector had been cut with a hacksaw to make the two fit.\u00a0 When they delivered the last pieces it was too hot to figure which panel, but later in the evening John determined which it was.\u00a0 Sadly he had a lot of work with no help to move the pieces and reconnect. \u00a0I don’t think he’s through yet.<\/p>\n
Much of my time was spend working with our computer that kept losing its connection to the Internet.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 (Update, she ended up getting the job!)<\/p>\n
Monday, Aug 13 \u00a0Bad news came today with news a fire was started west of us near Cle Elum.\u00a0 The winds were severe and the dry brush, dead grass, undergrowth, and Ponderosa pine forest caused a horrible wildfire.\u00a0 It was a fretful afternoon, evening, and night.\u00a0 I think I may have some repeats in my story below, and in advance, I apologize.<\/p>\n
We drove out at almost dark to see where it was.\u00a0 We got on Reecer Creek road and up to Hungry Junction, at the top of the hill and could not see flames.\u00a0 Deputies were coming to 1.5 miles west of us on Wilson Creek road telling residents to be ready to evacuate.\u00a0 We were pretty sure we were safe.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, Aug 14\u00a0 The fire was still raging and the winds were extremely \u00a0high, consistently.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we are right in the line of fire (pun intended).\u00a0 I made a surveillance trip up to the north and west of us on Wilson Creek road, on my way to town.\u00a0 The one road up Lilliard Hill was too rough to traverse in my Subaru.\u00a0 I passed a neighbor driving to the spot I was seeking, whom I had never met before.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We are going to present it in Olympia the first week of October, at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers\u2019 yearly conference.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I postponed the rest of my squash deliveries, and drove straight home.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I also heard from another person that the fire had jumped the firebreak that was attempted.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We would have been in the way of that advance.\u00a0 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.”\u00a0 We are on the east of that “block” on Naneum road.\u00a0 North of us is Charlton, South is Thomas, and West is Wilson Creek.\u00a0 We really never thought it would come all the way to us.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That’s very unusual for around here, as they are normally NW or WNW.\u00a0 Ours and everyone’s prayers must have been answered.<\/p>\n
However, John kept working to right before dusk to contain the horses.\u00a0 I spent all my time searching for valuables and packing them into the car.\u00a0 At 11:00 p.m., I drove over 2 miles west to Wilson Creek road to check for signs of fire.\u00a0 I saw none.\u00a0 The lady who cuts my hair lives on the road south and west of us.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They are much closer to the suspected advancing line. \u00a0She will do that, so that means we can get some sleep.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He carried panels to keep them contained (like a big round pen, yet it’s multi-angled to keep it standing).\u00a0 They were comfortable there and we didn’t have to cart them away.\u00a0 Thanks to all our friends offering trailer assistance and pasture (many of our friends did, and that was a wonderful offer).\u00a0 Thanks also for offers of packing, transporting, spending the night at friends, and encouragement to keep a positive attitude and not to stress out.<\/p>\n
We took Rascal out in a crate with hard and soft food, and left him a couple hours in the travel trailer.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Once I was home from the recent surveillance trip, however, I decided to let him out again.\u00a0 He came back in the house with us now, after stepping out of the trailer.\u00a0 I’m sure he had no clue what happened, but the fact it had a happy ending was positive.\u00a0 He had two plates (canned food & dry).\u00a0 He ate all of the canned and somehow transferred a full covering of the saucer with hard food from the other bowl.\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n
Wednesday, Aug 15 \u00a0We 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.\u00a0 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. \u00a0The 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).<\/p>\n
Facebook, which I almost never do was active this morning, when someone sent me a message through there and I was notified by email.\u00a0 I figured I could notify a lot of people if I could figure out how to post to my Facebook Wall.\u00a0 Here’s something similar to what I wrote:<\/p>\n
Hoping this makes it to my wall and to all of you.\u00a0 I wrote this to a friend in Bend, OR, after she contacted me on FB, sending it to my wall.\u00a0 I’ll add to it, but wanted to let you know we are fine.\u00a0 Thanks for everyone’s offer of help.\u00a0 We were right in the line of fire (pun intended), and served notice to evacuate late yesterday afternoon. \u00a0We packed our travel trailer with crates for dogs and cat, and waited to leave till the last minute. \u00a0Right before midnite I drove to where I could see and didn’t see any flames or even a glow.
\nWe stayed knowing we would hear from a friend 1.5 miles closer to the fire when they decided to leave. \u00a0At 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.\u00a0 The winds are calm.\u00a0 Thanks for your prayers. We all in the neighborhood were spared. \u00a0LUV, Nancy<\/p>\n
It worked and almost 60 folks replied.\u00a0 It has been hectic, stressing, and all adjectives you can think of.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I will eventually \u00a0put it on line with a link for you to see it.\u00a0 Her map has our house on it; talk about personalized.\u00a0 Very neat and nice of her to do.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We kept a watch on the fire from a hill about 6 miles down the road.\u00a0 Every 5-6 hours or so.
\nPreviously, 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.\u00a0 While John was building the place for the horses, i packed and loaded things into the travel trailer, but mostly into the car.\u00a0 I got really tired carting all that stuff outside and packing.\u00a0 Then at several hour intervals I drove to see if the flames were any closer.\u00a0 That day the winds were blowing severely from the west, bringing the fire right toward us.
\nWe did not evacuate and the fire was stopped with fire retardant from airplanes.\u00a0 The winds changed and we were spared.\u00a0 The fire continues on the west side of Hwy 97, and north into the timber.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Links worth watching regarding the wildfire has some striking photos.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.dailyrecordnews.com\/free\/top_story\/taylor-bridge-fire-percent-contained\/article_6845d20e-e6fc-11e1-921d-001a4bcf887a.html<\/a><\/p>\n One of the better reporting places is King5 news (Seattle); this is an earlier one:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.king5.com\/news\/Woman-didnt-lose-all-her-animals-in-wildfire-after-all-166350016.html?fb_action_ids=10100481078846203&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210100481078846203%22%3A10150981724871193%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210100481078846203%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D<\/a><\/p>\n Thursday, Aug 16\u00a0 \u00a0Report on Aug 16: http:\/\/www.king5.com\/news\/local\/Kittitas-Cle-Elum-Taylor-Bridge-Wildfire-Wednesday–166245586.html<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Where does the time go?\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Here is another link that shows a lot of pictures on the situation: 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.\u00a0 That went well.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 There was no viewing of anything on the outside, not even the poles.\u00a0 That required building permit is going to cost us $750.\u00a0 Yesterday, I called about putting it on our insurance as an outbuilding.\u00a0 We cannot because of the wildfires, a moratorium on any new additions to insurance was imposed.\u00a0 John went with me to play music today, and we went ahead and ate at Burger King.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I never received anything.\u00a0 That story has a happy ending.\u00a0 We got our lunch and part of dinner free today.\u00a0 I asked my favorite checker and she called the manager (now Rhonda).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 We had taken the cooler full of squash to share with the people in our music group.\u00a0 The Geography secretary for 27 years (Lois) is now living at this assisted living retirement center.\u00a0 She is in good shape and loves to dance still, so as we played waltzes, she came to the front and danced.<\/p>\n Friday, Aug 17 \u00a0Today was a wonderful lunch at the Adult Activity Center.\u00a0 It cost $3.00, but wow–what a meal.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Here is the menu: \u00a0BBQ (large beef ribs, baked beans, cornbread, and strawberry shortcake), with coffee & lemonade. \u00a0Then I left to go to two close-by garage sales, and got some neat stuff for 25\u00a2 (small mirror on a fold over stand), 50\u00a2 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). \u00a0The neatest part of that sale was two Melodicas for sale.\u00a0 One had twice as many keys as the one John’s sister Peggy sent me, and the other was smaller.\u00a0 They had no clue what they were, so I explained.\u00a0 They’d looked the one up on Ebay and found their asking price of $70.\u00a0 I would not have bought it at that price at a yard sale, even if I didn’t have one. \u00a0I returned to the center to lead my SAIL exercise class.\u00a0 Another group member led Wednesday when I was still getting through the excitement of the fire.\u00a0 I cancelled all activities in town that day to recuperate.\u00a0 Next week I will lead the group again on Wed. and possibly Friday.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It’s nice we can keep it going.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Friday night newspaper reported on a house that escaped the fire in the Bettas Valley.\u00a0 This is an interesting story:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.dailyrecordnews.com\/free\/news\/family-s-bettas-road-house-survives\/article_a60192dc-e895-11e1-9f0a-001a4bcf887a.html<\/a><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 It never came.\u00a0 I guess I’ll wait longer.\u00a0 (still not here by 7:00 p.m. Saturday).\u00a0 Hmmmm.\u00a0 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 \u201cgig.\u201d\u00a0 The plans were for a singles group from NW Washington, Mt. Vernon, Bellingham area, Everett, and they wanted \u201cmusic in the woods.\u201d\u00a0 With the age and conditions of our group and the location, I declined. \u00a0Several of us have been there before, and it is not a pleasant experience.\u00a0 One time we had to ride on a raft across the river and carry in speakers.<\/p>\n Saturday, Aug 18\u00a0 Started at 8:00 a.m. at a yard sale down the road and over from our house, at friends of friends of ours.\u00a0 It was on a dead end road (narrow) and we didn’t know there was parking at the house.\u00a0 So we started walking and then the owner met us on the road to tell us.\u00a0 John went back for the car, but I continued walking to the house.\u00a0 Guess I got my exercise for the day.\u00a0 There John found a book on Seattle that has \u201cthen and now\u201d pictures of the Smith Tower my grandfather worked on at the start of the last century.\u00a0 And, he found a 2 gallon gas can like this but older:<\/p>\n http:\/\/openairenergy.com\/images\/418ji3maaql.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n The company has been sued repeatedly \u2013 They say people used the cans to pour gas directly on a fire; lawyers say the things were poorly designed and dangerous.\u00a0 John says: I have no idea, but an article is here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.miamiok.com\/news\/article_3841b81a-0bf7-11e1-b0d0-001cc4c002e0.html<\/a><\/p>\n John says if anyone is close enough to a fire to pour gas on it from any type of container \u2013 he or she should get a Darwin Award, not a financial reward.\u00a0 A better plan is to partly fill a small can (tomato, peaches) and throw that from a distance \u2013 once launched, run like hell, but watch over your shoulder as the fire returns along the vapor trail. \u00a0Entertainment before the digital age!<\/p>\n Then we decided to go back to another couple of sales in EBRG, and found some neat stuff.\u00a0 Our first stop was where I bought a few things yesterday and saw some containers in which I can pack sweaters.\u00a0 They were still there, so I grabbed them.\u00a0 The nicest find was at a different sale, a pair of new (worn once, maybe?) boots for $3.00 that fit John!\u00a0 They’re leather on top and rubber on the lower part, something like this (by Northside Boots)<\/p>\n http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/nortcom-20\/images\/B002HWS5K6<\/a><\/p>\n We couldn’t find two more streets that have been extended away from the city and are unattached.\u00a0 Came home and found them on Google.\u00a0 (I hit them later in the afternoon, when I went back to Briarwood to play music.\u00a0 The last place we stopped was a great find for me.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 While I was debating, she took my picture with the hat because I said, I need a mirror to see what it looks like.\u00a0 She showed me on her phone and I said, well, I will pay half your original price, I guess.\u00a0 She said, how about you give me $10 for the hat and the 3 music stands.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 If I had made the offer it would have likely been for a little more for the stands, so I got a fabulous deal.\u00a0 She even took my email and shipped me the picture she took.<\/p>\n We managed to unload most of the stuff in the trailer and the Subaru when we got home.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If I have time, I may stop at one of the two sales we missed earlier.\u00a0 ( I did).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I grabbed more things and carried them away in one of my tote boxes.\u00a0 Stopped by another sale we had missed earlier, but got nothing.\u00a0 Also found another we had missed, and bought for 50\u00a2 a pair of insulated flannel bedroom shoes with leather bottoms.\u00a0 The others I got this morning are a little large, but might be all right with heavy socks in the winter.\u00a0 On to the place where we were playing music.\u00a0 Only 6 of us showed up today, but we had an involved and interested group, plus they fed us amazingly again (as usual).\u00a0 On the menu was:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The dessert table was full.\u00a0 Two types of brownies, one with German Choc topping, and the other with choc.\u00a0 Peanut butter homemade cookies, 3 other store bought cookies, and the best peach cobbler I think I have ever had:\u00a0 made with maple syrup and pecan crumbles; covered with real whipped cream.\u00a0 I do not need any dinner.\u00a0 For drink, I had pink lemonade.\u00a0 People who wanted coffee could have it.\u00a0 Really cool, my former student, Glenn, has just moved into Briarwood Commons.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They welcomed him and were really happy I invited him.\u00a0 I think he enjoyed himself and got full.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Hope your week was a good one.<\/p>\n Nancy and John<\/p>\n Still on the Naneum Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday Aug 12\u00a0 John left the house early while it was 65 to water the garden and take down the old round pen.\u00a0 He hasn’t gotten to the latter yet, because of all the other chores.\u00a0 He did take Shay with him and she was a happy companion.\u00a0 Rascal was outside, but I haven’t seen … Continue reading “Wild fire impacts our Kittitas Valley”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-gJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhttp:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wastatednr\/7789659164\/in\/set-72157631083674982<\/a><\/p>\n
![http:\/\/openairenergy.com\/images\/418ji3maaql.jpg<\/a><\/p>\nThe company has been sued repeatedly \u2013 They say people used the cans to pour gas directly on a fire; lawyers say the things were poorly designed and dangerous.\u00a0 John says: I have no idea, but an article is here:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.miamiok.com\/news\/article_3841b81a-0bf7-11e1-b0d0-001cc4c002e0.html<\/a><\/p>\nJohn says if anyone is close enough to a fire to pour gas on it from any type of container \u2013 he or she should get a Darwin Award, not a financial reward.\u00a0 A better plan is to partly fill a small can (tomato, peaches) and throw that from a distance \u2013 once launched, run like hell, but watch over your shoulder as the fire returns along the vapor trail. \u00a0Entertainment before the digital age!<\/p>\nThen we decided to go back to another couple of sales in EBRG, and found some neat stuff.\u00a0 Our first stop was where I bought a few things yesterday and saw some containers in which I can pack sweaters.\u00a0 They were still there, so I grabbed them.\u00a0 The nicest find was at a different sale, a pair of new (worn once, maybe?) boots for $3.00 that fit John!\u00a0 They’re leather on top and rubber on the lower part, something like this (by Northside Boots)<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/nortcom-20\/images\/B002HWS5K6<\/a><\/p>\nWe couldn’t find two more streets that have been extended away from the city and are unattached.\u00a0 Came home and found them on Google.\u00a0 (I hit them later in the afternoon, when I went back to Briarwood to play music.\u00a0 The last place we stopped was a great find for me.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 While I was debating, she took my picture with the hat because I said, I need a mirror to see what it looks like.\u00a0 She showed me on her phone and I said, well, I will pay half your original price, I guess.\u00a0 She said, how about you give me $10 for the hat and the 3 music stands.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 If I had made the offer it would have likely been for a little more for the stands, so I got a fabulous deal.\u00a0 She even took my email and shipped me the picture she took.<\/p>\nWe managed to unload most of the stuff in the trailer and the Subaru when we got home.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If I have time, I may stop at one of the two sales we missed earlier.\u00a0 ( I did).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I grabbed more things and carried them away in one of my tote boxes.\u00a0 Stopped by another sale we had missed earlier, but got nothing.\u00a0 Also found another we had missed, and bought for 50\u00a2 a pair of insulated flannel bedroom shoes with leather bottoms.\u00a0 The others I got this morning are a little large, but might be all right with heavy socks in the winter.\u00a0 On to the place where we were playing music.\u00a0 Only 6 of us showed up today, but we had an involved and interested group, plus they fed us amazingly again (as usual).\u00a0 On the menu was:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The dessert table was full.\u00a0 Two types of brownies, one with German Choc topping, and the other with choc.\u00a0 Peanut butter homemade cookies, 3 other store bought cookies, and the best peach cobbler I think I have ever had:\u00a0 made with maple syrup and pecan crumbles; covered with real whipped cream.\u00a0 I do not need any dinner.\u00a0 For drink, I had pink lemonade.\u00a0 People who wanted coffee could have it.\u00a0 Really cool, my former student, Glenn, has just moved into Briarwood Commons.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They welcomed him and were really happy I invited him.\u00a0 I think he enjoyed himself and got full.<\/p>\nI’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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\nHope your week was a good one.<\/p>\nNancy and John<\/p>\nStill on the Naneum Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday Aug 12\u00a0 John left the house early while it was 65 to water the garden and take down the old round pen.\u00a0 He hasn’t gotten to the latter yet, because of all the other chores.\u00a0 He did take Shay with him and she was a happy companion.\u00a0 Rascal was outside, but I haven’t seen … Continue reading “Wild fire impacts our Kittitas Valley”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-gJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/openairenergy.com\/images\/418ji3maaql.jpg\"){kind=link}