Star date Monday 2020, 14 Sep. I've been in the dark. Daytime isn't really dark but has taken on a distinctive 1960's L.A.bio-sphere appearance. The nights are very dark. Smoke from a fire over on the next mountain was blown out to sea and when it hit Puget Sound blown back inland to us. Were just borrowing trouble here folks! How It All Began. Wind ephemeral and whimsical a pleasant relief from a warming week. Power goes out, our brand new generator goes out.Night gets primitive Wind angry wild and forceful dropped a large tree on the power line half way down the mountain from us om the road to Enumclaw. All this a week ago. Power was back for 6 hours day before yesterday. No communication since tree drop with the out side world. We are running out of just about everything, fuel for personal generators,food and heat. But the crowning glory is no water! Camp managers took a one week much needed and much deserved holiday They went camping of course! But no one had the keys to our camps emergency generator to operate our community water pump. So West comes off the mountain completely unaware of the camps problems. He has to go back up the mountain to get the keys. Wess gets the pump sorted and returns to his wife camping alone. Pump breaks, no water. Wess has to go to hell and gone round the roads closed by fires. to get a replacement part. two more days without water or power. Our local fire and rescue team are stationed 5 miles down the mountain from us. Went knocking on doors and called a meeting for the next day. The Word Comes Down From On High. The forestry service, the Parks and recreation service. and the fire service laid it out for us. Power would be restored in the next 6 hours. But they had to run emergency power lines from over the mountain as ours had been completely demolished by the fire on the road to Emunclaw. Our Internet service used the same poles and lines. So.... As the power reaching us is routed though a high fire hazard forest area they wisely put it on a hair trigger. If a bird lands on the line we lose power. I'm doing a lot of saving as I type.":O} Out last night by 10:00 pm and back up at 4:00 AM. Now for the good news. despite being able to reach the fire on our road very quickly They didn't get the man power they needed as everyone in this new world today needs fire fighters. This being so the deployment of men/women and equipment has to be very carefully considered on a most immediate need basis, They got help but it took time for the planners to factor in not one but three new fire within 15 miles. At this point we aren't in danger. We simply aren't. But the road is gone.and this is far from over. The Big Picture! We lost a lot of trees off the mountain. When the winter rain comes and kills the flames, as nothing else can. We try and direct the fire by clearing fire breaks and throwing the most courageous and well trained men and women into the base of the flames. To try and slow it while fire breaks are being strategically created,While people are evacuated. to save homes, to save lives.To save me and Patti. When the rains come they will tare our unprotected mountains apart. They will again erase our roads like chalk board lines.Avalanches all along our little two lane country mountain road. We will have very unstable services Everything we needs comes to us by our one road. But the people who deal with these things are very sharp and creative. They spent a week getting an old logging road back into service. looping out our destroyed section of road. This morning at Seven AM sharp they took a convoy of cars over the old logging road,newly graveled, off our mountain and into Emnuclaw, our nearest and dearest.Convoys are for now the only use permitted. 4 hours in town then meet up at Mud Mountain. Convoy home. We don't have to guess how it got its name do we? Warehouser clear cur it one fine summer day and spent that winter making excuses as it began washing away.. "Who knew it was going to rain"!? It seems it will be weeks or as likely mounts before internet returns. Power is on for now however tenuously. So I've decided to pass my "lights on time" keeping some record for you who have in the past expressed an interest in a life as archaic,uneventful and flammable as my own.":O Our campground trees, some of them old the day Jesus was born, are Yule trees. They cast a wonderful shade over a lot of our 15 or so trailers. Most of our trailers are a fraction of the age of our 35 year old 28 ft.beauty. A Collins 5th Wheel!LOL Our people are old as well. But we are a young single mom and her daughter of 12 years. A young couple with three very young kids. Yet age seems to express it self more than youth here.Or maybe I'm just old. Our two managers in their late 40's Row and Wess. Then we have a collection of alcoholics, around six , three couples. Trent is our Schizophrenic, dumped here by the state as a most convenient place to neglect him.He depends completely upon his social worker to bring him food medicine and money. She is never on time.at times weeks late. This worry's him greatly. As it was explained to me Trent was being beaten and raped on a daily bases in the backward ways of Seattle streets.So this was the best Seattle could do for a totally helpless brother. "5 cigarettes please, maybe a few little pieces of pot?" and an occasional sandwich or cup of coffee, sometimes breakfast is all it costs to become our brothers keeper. This truly is an age of amazing bargains.. Star date Tuesday, 2020 The Big Question. late last night the weather defied all predictions and instead of 5 more days of heat and wind, we received a gentle rain, short, but very welcome. The smoke from the Puget sound has thicken, yet doesn't begin to compare to the ash fall of four years ago. Something that never really got across to me about the good folks trapped in the Pleasant valley fire... The battle raged around them. They them selves were the great prize to be won or lost in the conflict. But they knew nothing of the desperation of the world watching men and women facing 100 foot walls of flame and fire tornadoes, their equipment lost they fought with shovels, I kept thinking what the hell are we asking them to do..with shovels. But they were cut off, cells gone dead, power out roads a gauntlet of flame. All they could do as the flame engulfed their little town was to pray we knew of their plight and some one some how would reach them in time. For to many we failed. But many were saved. It is now evident that the entire west coast will fall to flames. The fires will get worse each year, until the year that every forest will burn that hasn't burnt already. It seems to me that the big Question is, will enough trees have already burnt down so the year that takes the rest will be survivable. Then we will see a vital part of our lives wash into the sea. How important was it to the creator that we are unencumbered by him? That we be truly free agents that our choices be real. that our choices have consequence. Well it would seem that he is willing to allow us to burn down the world and everything in it. The bet is this; that we as people will finally grow up and take full responsibility for what we have done and continue to do. Or civilization will fall, we will be vastly reduced in numbers and we will be returned to the rough care of mother nature to relearn the lessons we have forgotten. It will be a hard time and people will respond by growing close together for only by co operation have we ever survived. "Oh God The pride of man has fallen in the dust again." Blake. We will hardly be the first great civilization to crumble back into wilderness. But we are by far the most pervasive. The most rapacious. We have consumed the world with our numbers, It will be a very hard time in which to make our way, Resources ruined, polluted or depleted. It will be... "No country for old men." I am waiting for a miracle I am waiting for a change in the hearts of men. Star date Wednesday 16th Sep. 2020 We have little or no news from the out side. Our phones work locally now but can't reach down the mountain. We can call each other,,,or just walk out side and talk in person. I have some concern as to how my brother and two sisters are dong along with those few friends I left nearly 50 years ago in my birthing place, San Diego. We know only that the flames are taking homes every minute all over California. and the worst has yet to come, has yet to reach out for us. Patti's junker is about shot over heating and barely able to stay with the convoy. Power has stayed on since I began keeping track. My wife has done something I can't in the lest understand. After being asked daily to apply for the federal aid (900 bucks a week) the window has closed and the federal program has ended and she never got it done. Understand we are completely broke and I could not over 5 months get her to act to save us. She would promise that she was getting it done everyday. We were due 15,000 and she left it in the dirt. So basically I can not exert any influence upon the person I am completely dependent upon.She cannot address any issue in a rational (No screaming and yelling.) Manner. She cannot express her view or hear my view without completely losing it and screaming at me all day and night. But God is merciful. I'm now totally deaf in one ear. Years of her screaming in my left ear. How I have refrained from punching her out is beyond me.or maybe punching her out is beyond me. A solution completely evades me. She won't deal with me in anything like a sane manner and she won't go to see anyone who might help her..She is completely without shame concerning her behavior. Oh why oh why is his happening to me? LOL Naturally I have developed something of a theory! I was never a very patient man, or boy. I always wanted quick results. I always believed that reason could arrive at just solutions. My wife is living proof that we do not live in a rational world. We live in an emotional world. Don't believe me? join me as I watch California burn away the hopes and dreams of thousands who were just trying to get by. I believe Patti is a gift from God. You see God is nothing if not patient. Now I shall paraphrase A very good Japanese story I read decades ago. There was once a young women Who loved so deeply that when she met someone She immediately began to intimate the person she so admired. At first she would start speaking as they spoke. Then dressing as they dressed. She wanted only to be as her beloved was. To be as beautiful as she felt them to be. Yet man after man turned away from her. She honestly creeped them out with her phony mustaches and beards, dressing in men's clothes and adopting their mannerisms. Heat break after heart break she wandered this world alone. Unwanted by those she most loved and admitted. Then one day at a complete loss as to why those she loved and cared for so deeply turned away from her, She past a monastery. Poor dressed in rags and very hungry she went inside where she was received with great kindness as they tried to meet her needs. After she was fed they gave her a room for the night. During her sleep she once more fell in love. She informed the monks she wanted a robe and beads, she wanted to learn all their rituals and preform all their rites.She wanted to eat what they ate and sleep as they slept, she wanted to be exactly like them. The monks had no idea as to how to deal with her. Their were no women allowed in their monastery.They tried to explain, but she was adamant, finally they had to push her bodily out the door. Sadder now by far she sat by the wayside and watched the world pass her by. No one even looked her way, as the days past she grew ever more alone. Her only possession was a old string of beads the monks had thrown out the gates with her. Each day as it ended she would count the beads and call each one her Blessing. Then one dark night as she was counting herself to sleep... she fell in love w ith God. She wanted to love what he loved care for what he cared for. She wanted to be just like God! She begged him to not turn away as all others had. To allow her just to inmate him God upon hearing her desperate prayers put on a phony mustache and beard delighting her with his imitation. At last one who could understand true love. The End...or just another beginning... Wess is is taking Trent to town the get him his very much needed cheese burger and then to take him to get his meds. Oh well done Wess!! Wess told Patti that California has lost 2 million acres, turned to ash.The 5th year in a row to have worse fires than the year before. I remember when growing up we called California paradise. What we we call it next year? At 17 I use to walk the dry grass covered hills of Santee on the outskirts of El Cajone with my best friend and a quart of Whiskey. Hey! It kept us out of trouble.":O} I've been thinking about my last conversation With Thunder Road. We spoke of the very fine Son he and his wife are raising. The rearing of the young should be any nation's first priory. Yet few nations expend the resources that are needed to do the job. Why are we on such a backward leading path? I'll stop by here again tomorrow. ":O} Star date Thursday Sept 17th 2020
This is totally unexpected! We were told two week minimum as there would be no road or power lines. My guess is the DSL linemen jumped on the new refreshed logging road and followed the power line patch into us, but who knows. Expect intermittent interruptions in the coming weeks, months..years?
Wow! Hang in there Daniel! Sounds like you have drama on all sides... it would be easy for anyone to completely loose it! I'm going to start praying for you and everyone in your humble town. Thank you for sharing! That is the most important part! Sharing your suffering and people suffering around you can allow people to share hope.
I was wondering where you went... keep in touch! Where exactly are you at in Oregon? I have a friend who recently moved to Oregon, I've known him since highschool. They are getting a LOT of smoke in their backyard too. Basically said they are surrounded by fire, but not in immediate danger.
"they are surrounded by fire, but not in immediate danger." Sounds like us alright. I'm in the far northern part of Oregon, We call it Washington state.":O}
Power went bye bye around 10pm last night. Came back up at 12 noon. The weather continues to favor us, not quite rain but a lingering mist. Almost sorry to be able to watch the news again
We are seeing several hours of real, a bit light, rain. I'm sorry to say this, but look ahead Boo! all this crap is heading your way...no matter which direction your in. I'm no longer certain of the next 5 years. I wish I could say I knew what to tell you. But right now it's a crap shoot Try to put together some cash, yeah right a family man with cash??
All the fire or rain is coming our way? We had a bunch of clouds today and yesterday... which is rare for our desert.
Madre de Dios, how have I missed this thread?! My guilt is deep, I'm very sorry to be missing in action. All we've been dealing with in Seattle is a terrible nowhere seen before amount of smoke in the air. Wore a KN95 mask indoors for a while, it helped. Dan, it looks like you are in real trouble. Please post how I can help!
Yep still here. It is perhaps part and parcel with the times that George in the city is getting very much worse smoke that we do at the foot of the mountains that are burning. Sorry George, it's the age of trummphy and such bad manners are now the rule. George already knows this but for folks not on the west coast Here's what going on. Big fire south of Seattle and my location. but much closer to me as I am east of Seattle inland and toward our mountains. But the wind blows from East to west. This actually takes most of the smoke away from me and out to sea. Until it hits the Puget Sound, where wind plays all kinda silly games before heading straight to Seattle and poor George's over worked lungs. All fires near me are under control. Something that not near enough is said about. These fires were having...we never actually put them out. When lucky they knock them down and keep them low and away from the tree tops where fire storms are born. All these trees that are burning are clones mostly, clear cut 30 to 50 years ago replanted with identical clones. Meaning they are all the same height. take a straw broom, examine it. see how all the Bristles are even. makes for a clean sweep and that's of course a good thing. But not in a forest. Fire walks then runs across the tree tops where fire fighters cannot go. So when they say a fire is contained they are saying they have it on the ground out of the tree tops where the wind blows so freely. In our current climate fire often don't go completely out. it hides in smoldering roots and awaits a better time to really burn. all of the west coast is going to burn. We now knows this. What we are desperately trying to accomplish is this. To have it burn each year a little bit at a time. We are trying to slow it down and keep if from going up all at once. Have you noticed that each year it takes more and more houses and now takes entire towns? My guess completely uneducated as it is, is that in the next 5 years we will be entering the battle for our cities. Out laying towns will "probably" go first. But with uncontrolled fire one never knows. What we should be doing is dump the stupid "Space Force" and start training our students and military in fire fighting and flood control. What doesn't burn can be washed away. So don't wander to far from your prayer rug, prayers are the best thing we've got going for us now. Blessings upon you and yours. ":O}
I agree, "Space Force" is the dumbest thing Trump came up with. I believe that our chickens have come home to roost, we CONTINUE to throw gasoline upon the fire. The chits in charge are so blind to their terminal greed and have changed the laws to favor the END of the world. We are on our way out, the situation has become hopeless. And how's by you? They started posting the Air Quality Index here recently. Northern California's score has topped 240. We finally exceeded their AQI, but only by a small amount. Little did I know that Portland Oregon's bested 300. This is ugly air indeed! Puget Sound Air Quality is measured by a different index but they seem to be offline. They had a sensor near Mud Mountain, it's the closest one to Dan's abode. It was faithfully the cleanest air in the Puget Sound region, extremely clean. I'm afeard that the Puget Sound Air Quality outfit is off the air permanently. Everyone knows that the Feds know everything better than we local yokels do. It appears that Trump is over with Covid-19. I was concerned that his "catching the illness" was part of a cunning plot to further his stupendous political ambition. As we can't trust one syllable that comes from this glorious Administration...
What a delight Mitch Mc connel is! Hasn't been in the white house since Aug. as they are to reckless and stupid and he won't risk his life by visiting them there. However fear not! Mitch has pledged to get Trummiyty re-elected at all cost...to us. This is republican at their best.
Fire s done with us for the season.our usual poring rain began early yesterday and hasn't let up. Flood below us is getting to be a real concern, We don't have enough above us to really flood at our location. The river does go up several feet but the river bed can easily handle that.
