Yep, 50,000+ acres Burned up, it was SAD, But at least No One DIEDbut at least 4 Homes were lost, and I-84, the Major East/West Interstate was CLOSED for almost 6 WEEKS, for some of the small towns of the Columbia River Gorge, like Cascade Locks in particular, it was Financially Devastating, all because some 15 year old Twit, tossed a Smoke Bomb into a stand of trees that hadn't seen ANY rain in over 2 Months Some of the hiking Trails, Stihl haven't reopened, due to the defoliated ground is letting rocks loose, where the vegetation would have held the soil in place, it's simply not safe. Fortunately, all the major attractions Like Multnomah Falls, and the Lodge there were saved, the fire didn't come too close to our home, but for a short time, the wind forecast had us concerned, but didn't come to pass Doug
I have said Many times, That I am Blessed to live in the Beautiful area that I do, in case you may have missed some of my earlier posts, here's a few more pics of where I live "Downtown Brightwood" , But Honestly, I Love where I live These two are opposite sides of Brightwood Bridge, about 1/4 Mile from "Downtown" and about 1.5 miles from the house, these are from last winter, this winter has been much milder Doug
Things we don't say here.. Honey, it's chilly - can we afford to crank the thermostat for a while tonight? Oil man is late, I hope we don't have to prime the burner! We're not running any heat until October first this year. We can hold out! Better service the furnace before winter. It's cold in here!
Did the guy come up with that town name when he looked in the stove about twenty minutes after putting a match to a fresh load?
I have Honestly never thought to ask, the origin of the Town's name, but that is as likely as anything Doug
I'm sorry, and the next pictures are gorgeous!! That said a wildfire came right down to our neighbors house after burning 90,000 acres. 300 homes vaporized, we were out of the house almost a month-no way we could stay in a hotel with an infant and two dogs so we hung out in the old 78' hunting trailer. This one was caused by lightning. We added a portable air conditioner the next day, it hit 104* a few days later. And as well we have had twits burning weeds/brush etc., careless campers and careless homeless people start others. I don't live there anymore though the long drought is over (after we left ). I will never forget leaving the house that day, planned a 70th birthday party for my Father, we were driving down our very steep road above the city and there was dust dancing across the road like a wind blowing snow around in the winter only it was high 90's. We got down to the interstate and I looked back to talk to kiddo and saw the plume...........
Dang, I hate these $10.10 gas bills, the minimum for my service, as gas is my back-up heat I never use...and I cook with gas and have a ventless heater on the wall I use in the garage to keep my car detailing chemicals from freezing when it gets real cold...oh and its 62* here right now...low 20’s next week...supposedly
You didn't say, but I assume and Hope that your Home was spared?? I can't imagine the feeling of driving away, not knowing if your home would still be there or not, when you came back, I am truly glad that we didn't have to go through that. It may just be boards and nails, but there are things that are irreplaceable, that a check from the insurance company, could never bring back. Everyone coming out safely, is the Biggest concern, but there are things that can leave a hole that can never be filled again, once lost Doug
Me too Thank you, much harder than it looks, much harder and much scarier than you see in news clips. It really was sad and scary. BTW, that was High Park Fire, we were up here the 4th evacuation, a neighbor hooked up an electric fence for chickens that was too hot and they were not taking chances though it was mostly a grass fire we were evacuated again, I still smelled the smoke in the air all the way up here from High Park which was still burning strong in the interior almost a month later, all the way up here. BTW, MagPul had a huge presence at my father's funeral, they came al the way to Boulder ( bummer story why it ended up there) from both the Cheyenne and Erie location and his manager spoke about the cute jesting they had about Dad's new love for an energy drink and his wife's rules for not too many. GOOD PEOPLE! Yes Husky Man , our home was spared, actually most our small neighborhood was, both hubby and I still wonder........ It was the only neighborhood visible from the city and almost all of them were saved though almost everything one canyon to the north and all past that were obliterated.
More things often not said: “I have enough kindling” “No person offering me: free rounds, logs, stuff to cut, I’m good for now” “Do we really need a log splitter?” “I’m tired of running the chainsaw” “Does BuzzSaw Brad really like scoring free firewood?” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"hurry up and close the shop door" "don't let the heat out" I think my chainsaw blade is getting dull"
If you're talking about my log deck pics, a LOT of that was below 20% Moisture content when we cut it, quite a bit 11-15% MC in the upper layers, AND right next to the Trailer, I'll take that all day long over Fresh. That was cut in July, and in the woodstove Now, no complaints here about being Old and dark Doug
No worry here, I do enjoy the smell of putting chain to a Big Fresh Douglas Fir, it does have a Nice smell to it that you don't get so much with seasoned wood. We get the neighbors comment on occasion about how nice it smells when we come home with a full 2 cord load on the trailer Doug
I can't stand to pass up good wood, at least until I get to this point in the driveway That front row, is the shortest, the 3 rows behind it are about 6-8' longer, and it stihl drives me nuts passing any good wood along the roadside There are some trees the power company cleared along the highway that I have been itching to go get, but I'm already overloaded at the house as it is, 2 of them are around 36"+ that would be Great for milling table tops from, just drives me crazy seeing them lay there Even when we go wood cutting, I'm usually loaded to around 8,000# on the Axles, and 2,000# on the tongue of my 7,000# rated trailer, I just have some serious Moral Objections to leaving Good Wood behind Doug
Never had Oil heat, but we don't have Natural Gas available in our area, so it's Propane, or as we have Forced Air Electric, and that is a Budget Buster. We figure that it would be $200-250/month more on our electric bill, to have house 68*, heating with wood, the house is usually 73-78*, below 73*, the wife is complaining that it is COLD in here, it is amazing what you can get acclimated to Doug
