Tunk Grade Fire

I got this update from Tim last week...He is still in prison, but he is working with the Department Of Natural Resources fighting wildfires.



These images are of the fire he was at, but they were pulled off the web, so I have no idea who is in the pictures.

Hello Mom.

I am over in Okanogan fighting the Tunk Grade Fire. Right now it is 10% contained. 15,600 acres. I am having fun. We put out spot fires yesterday, then watched the helicopters do their water drops and the tanker do their retardent drops. They fly right over our heads. It is pretty cool to watch. I could tell the pilot was balding and had sunglasses he was so close. (my comments here...the pilot got so close they were actually dropped ON, but not until after this was written. It was on the news,)

Today we got to do some back burning. That was fun, I burnt up a whole hillside.BIG hillside. It was sagebrush and went up fast and hot. THis camp tripled in size from the time we left this morning to the time we got back. I saw a couple of people from Orcas (Orcas Island is the place he lives when he isnt in prison, and he was with the fire department there) It was nice to see familiar faces. There was a channel 5 news team there today, and we drove right past them as they were setting up to do their 500 live feed.

Any way, I am having fun, at least so far. I better get some sleep, talk to you soon.



He called last Friday, and we were just getting into the conversation when we were cut off. THe phone at the corrections center is monitored, and it will not allow 3 way calling, so whenever they pick up and monitor the conversations, it thinks we are on a 3 way call and cuts us off. SO he calls back and they do it again, so I know he is back, the fire is out, and he is waiting for the next one to flare up which could be at any time.

It is hot and dry over there, and our forests can go up in a minute. We have lost firefighters when they get overrun by the fire, but I think he is smart enough to watch out for that. I HOPE!

Right now he is back on the Olympic Penninsula, thinning trees and cleaning camp grounds. He LOVES it. Sees some gorgeous sites, and mingles with the animals.

Admiral's Cove Beach Club

I have written about going to the pool every day, and seeing the eagles in the trees overhead. One of my "lurkers" Wrote and asked me to post pictures of the pool. SO here they are.

The beach is right over the wooden fence, and during really high tide and windy weather, driftwood blows into the wall! It gets really windy all the time, as we are right in the middle of Admiralty Inlet, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca turns to head SOuth and become Puget Sound. THe land you see in the distance is the Olympic Penninsula. We get to it by Ferry, which is a mile to the right of the pool.

Yesterday I went down expecting it to be empty as it was cold, wet and windy, but there were three birthday parties going on, and lots of little kids. Happily they all left at 5:00 when Adult Swim started. THere are about 5-8 of us die-hards who come down every day, rain or shine and swim. Actually to say SWIM is a mis-leading term. I Do my aquarobics up against the edge so I dont take up a lane for those that do laps, and then there is Sil, the Taiwanese lady who comes down and just hangs out in the deep end and talks to me. Leslie is another one who comes down everyday and treads water. So we all do our own thing, and talk. Leslie was raised here in Coupeville, and so was my family, so we know a lot of the same people, and of course we do a little gossiping. Sil laughed and said she never thought that coming to the pool would she find out what all was going on in Coupeville.

Hey what can I say, I do my workouts for an hour, and then tread water until I quit.




In the tree tops there is a tree that has three tops to it, and that is where the Eagles are nesting. to the right of it is a snag where they perch. some times on a really quiet day you can even hear the Orcas breathing. THere just isn't another place like it. I feel so blessed to live here.

Whoosh........

OMIGAWD!!! I can not BELIEVE how fast this thing works now. I still have some puter problems...I think it has arthritis as it freezes up every once in awhile. But Man, being able to blogwalk EVERYONE in under an hour is mind boggling! It used to take me up to 5 minutes just to load some of your pages. Poor Brenda was the hardest! And when she had music on it...fugetit!!

I have been asked to post some pictures of the pool, so this afternoon I will take my camera and show you the place I swim. THe community pool, not the Big Oak Harbor pool where I do Aquarobics. big difference!

I just got a letter from TIm also, describing his fire-fighting experiences, so that will be later tonight.

Gee something to look forward to.

back to basics....

My daughter will be turning 40 in three weeks, and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said some Roving would be nice.

ROVING? What the hell is roving?

Roving, from what I can gather, is wool, that has been carded and cleaned, and ready for spinning into knitting wool.

Donna has taught herself to knit, I tried to teach her, but She is Wrong handed, and I am right handed, and it just did not work out. She has gained a reputation at work for the one who knits baby sweaters and hats, and everyone just adores what she creates.

THe other day she came bee-bopping into my house, with the BIGGEST pair of hand knit slippers I have ever seen. SHe was making them for Bill (SIL) and needed to use my washing machine to felt them. SHe is MS GREEN, and has one of those new low, agitate, low water level, front load washers, and they wont work for felting. Had to be a high level, high agitate washer. SO she shows me the size 112 slippers, and says wait until I am through felting them. (yeah right)



After about an hour of her going back and forth to the machine to reset the wash cycle, she pulls out the prettiest pair of green mereled size 8 slipper clogs! All she needed was to sew the leather soles on them. Wow! I was impressed.

SHe has decided that she needed to do it theold fashioned way, so she bought some roving, and a drop spindle, and is now spinning her own wool, and dying it herself!

So now she wants a Spinning Wheel and a set of hand carders, so that she will be able to buy the fleece straight from the Lamb, and ready it herself!



I was duly impressed! THe spinning wheel above retails for almost 800.00!! ACK!!
I thought spinning your own wool was the cheap way to go...guess not huh?


She also wanted a set of the carders above, which are only 65.00 so she just MIGHT get those.

I am so proud of the way she has gone after learning how to do this herself. She is so talented! I am just amazed!!!

still no joy with email

I figured out how to import my address book, and it worked, but I can not send any thing. ANd all I can receive is on the OLD account.

HELP!!!!!!!
CARL?????
WS?????
JIMBOB??????

Where is everybody when I need them?

I'm FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO KNEW?

I can not believe this is so fast!! But now I can not get email, nor can I send email. SO I guess I need to find someone to come out at 50.00 an hour and set me up for that!

GAH!! Always something!

Cross your fingers

Well, Tomorrow I THINK I am getting Cable speed internet...I ordered it, I have a date and time, and I know he is bringing a modem. SO maybe then I will be able to post and blogwalk again. Right now, I have not been able to download most of your blogs to see what you are doing. ANd if you have a you-tube or a sound or a movie clip I cant get there either.

I cant wait......EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Schroeder

I read the last line on my previous post, and laughed..."Weak as a kitten" I said. HA!! Who ever first said that line must have never had a kitten. Schroeder is 100% testosterone, and is fearless!! He will attack anything and anybody!! I wake up every morning in terror that my toes will be attacked! Schroeder sleeps at the foot of my bed, and as soon as he knows that I am awake, he puts 10 sharp little needles into my toes! It is so very hard to get out of bed without moving your toes. ANd once those claws are in them it is even harder to move, knowing that he will dig in even deeper than he had the first time.

He sits and waits for Sadie to walk into the room, and then he runs at her on his back feet with his front feet ready to wrap around her neck and throw her down like a bull. He does it too. Sadie could bite him in half, but she doesn't, and then she chases him until he hides, and then he chases her until he throws her again. HE has Loki and Lint stymied, All they do is hiss at him and he backs away, for about 10 seconds then he is at Loki again. He leaves Lint alone. Smart move! Lint does not suffer little cats gladly at all!

Ethel is left alone after he thought he was brave enough to tackle her and got his clock cleaned! She lit into him like there was no tomorrow, and with fur flying, blood dripping and cats screaming, she ended that attack right then. He came running to his mommie for protection, and I picked him up looked him over saw he was ok, and then put him back down and let him figure out what he did wrong. He hasn't touched the Bitch since!

I am still swimming daily, or almost daily, and am just starting to feel the therapeudic effects of the past 5 months. It is just ever so slowly and ever so slightly gaining the ability to walk upright. Not far, and not fast, but I can stand straighter and walk a few meters with out pain!! YAHOO!!!!!

Just a swimmin' in the Rain....

I woke up this morning at 500 listening to the rain POUR down! We needed it badly, as we are in the middle of a drought and the forests are burning at a rapid rate. Tim is over fighting the Tunk Grade Fire just below Tonasket. It is now the biggest wildfire in the USA. So I am glad we got it. Almost 1/3 of an inch of rain today, and that is usually the level for the MONTH! It just kept on coming down! Finally at 330 I decided to go down and see if the pool would be open for adult swim, or if it would be closed. The pool is right on the beach and is uncovered, and the wind was chilly, and the rain was coming down in buckets!

It was open, with no one but the lifeguards in the water. SO I signed in and got wet! It was WONDERFUL! THe air temperature was around 55 F and the pool was around 82F so It was like walking into to a bathtub. There was fog forming on the top of the water and the rain was still dumping! I LOVED it. I was warm and un crowded, so I worked out for an hour, and then did laps and floated for another hour. AHHHHHHH!!!!

THere is something very primoral about swimming in warm pool during a dark storm! THe lifeguards were doing their laps, and keeping an eye on me. Not ONE bratty little kid!! YES!!

Now I am home and as soon as I get off of the computer, I am getting into the shower and then into bed! I am as weak as a kitten!!

Sheer Terror!

I made it over a major hurdle Friday night. I had to present my play, SOCIAL SECURITY in front of over 100 people. I do not like to do public speaking! I have panic attacks! Shear terror. I have known about this for over two months, and I was trying so hard to make it go away that I kept pushing it back and pushing it back and pushing it back until I had no choice but DO it. So Friday afternoon about three o’clock, I sat down and wrote out a 5 minute presentation. Yep, I know, I am the President of the Procrastinator’s club.

I had to be on stage about 9:00 so I got there early, (Bob forgot to buy tickets for the banquet, so I skipped the dinner) The room was packed with people, and from where I stood, right inside the doors, I could see into the dining room and everybody was waving their programs in front of their faces to cool off. I sat in a chair right in the door way, where there was a really cool breeze blowing in from out side. When people walked out during the breaks, they were complaining about the heat. I was just fine, but I knew that if I went into that room I would suffocate.

The things that happen to me during a panic attack, is I get really hot, my face flushes, I can’t catch my breath, I stutter, and my heart races! So I just sat there waiting my turn in the cool air.

Finally all the others had done their presentations, and some of them were really great, because they could actually act and sing, and did so! Me, I just walked up to the stage shaking in my shoes, and then I panicked! I could not get ON the stage…There were three steps up and nothing to hold on to. I have no sense of balance, and I knew that if I tried, I would fall flat on my ass. I was going to just stand in front of the podium and read my presentation, when I noticed steps around the back up against the wall! SAVED!! Made it up, and looked out at all the faces, sitting there fanning their hot faces and the panic attack started! I could feel my heart racing, and I could not breathe. My Hands shook, and I almost broke out in tears. I made it through, and got down off the stage and walked back to my chair. WHEW!!

As people started to leave several of them said they could not wait to see it in April of 2008. And several of them are planning on auditioning. They did not have any idea I was as nervous as I was. THANK GOD!

One of the reasons I direct and produce is because I love the stage, and really enjoy knowing how to actually turn it from a written page into a full fledged live production! But I am one of the only Directors that does not EVER go on stage in front of an audience. I do back stage work ONLY!

I have always wanted to be an actor, but I can never get over the fright I get! My ideal role would be Mama Rose in Gypsy! I would give ANYTHING to be able to pull that role off well! But age and gravity and 3 packs a day habit for many years, have ruined that chance.

So I do it vicariously through other people! Maybe other people have the same problem with public speaking, but I tell you, I almost die every time I go in front of people. Even people I know very well. Weird!

A tad bit toasty...

I could not sleep last night as it was too still, and too hot! I live right on the Strait of Juan De Fuca, and up around the 250 foot level, so It is very unusual for it to not have any air moving. I had the ceiling fan on over my bed, but that just moved around the warm air. I have trouble breathing unless I can breathe in cold air. I sleep with my head literally out the window all year long. The colder the better. I felt like I was suffocating all night long. The damn cat from next door knocked the outdoor thermometer off the burd feeder pole, so I have no clue how hot it stayed last night. I just know that the cats had a problem sleeping too, and Sadie was restless all night.

I think it was around 65F, but I am not sure, But JimBob will tell us wont you? ;) I woke up at 530 this morning for the umpteenth time, and went out and turned off the water that I left running all night. I was hoping it would give my roses a good soaking along with “Figgy”, but it didn’t. It just must have watered figgy’s roots all the way to China! There was no wet spots anywhere except right at the tree’s trunk.

I went in to fix some coffee and said Nope, too hot for coffee, so being the excellent housekeeper that I am, (NOT) I grabbed the pot that had yesterday’s left over coffee in it and poured it over crushed ice and had an Iced Latte . Not bad!

I had the front door open and the storm window out on the storm door, so cool air could circulate. The cats were all stretched out on the wood floor, flat as pancakes, trying to keep cool. Sadie was out under the pussy willow tree, out of the morning sun. It just got hotter and hotter! There is a high pressure trough heading this way, and with it will come cooler temperatures. Actually as I lay here and type this, there is a cooling breeze blowing in the bedroom window! AHHHHHHH Much better!

I know you all are dealing with rain and warm weather too, and it is not unusual for you. It is here. We only have about 10 days a year that it gets unbearable, by our standards, the rest of the time it is cool and nice!

I went down and did my aerobics in the pool for an hour this evening. When I got there, the pool was shoulder to shoulder with pre-teens. Adult swim is from 500-530PM so I usually get there around 430 so I can get a good hour in. The pool was cloudy, and you could not see the bottom and when I asked why, The man I asked said he choose to think it was because of all the suntan lotion from all the kids, But just to be safe, DO NOT SWALLOW any water!! EEEEWWWWWWW!!!!

Tomorrow is the City pool, and it is inside and sparkling clean! It is also full of swim classes and kids screaming. We do our aerobics and then leave. I think I am going to try swimming laps next month! I don’t do it now because I am not a good swimmer. I can float and tread water forever, but my stroke is very bad, and I need to perfect it. I am going to see if I can find a good sturdy kick board, and do laps just kicking, to try to get those muscles built up! I have some really good days, when I think that I am getting better, but they are mixed with some really bad days where I can not move, or sleep, or sit or stand without being in agony! I am hoping this will go away with time, but I am not sure it will.

Schroeder has discovered the cool breeze blowing in the window here and he is all stretched out and purring and sleeping right beside me. He is going to be the sweet lover that Chitters was. It has been a year since I lost Chitters, and I still miss him sitting on my hand while I type. And his little tongue kisses….SIGH!! Well Schroeder is going to be a sweety!

Yikes! I really blabbed a lot tonight! For not having much to say, I wrote a book! Now if only I can connect to the internet and get this posted, then I will be in business!

OH and if you are a reader, I just finished Janet Evanovich’s LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN, and it was a HOOT!! Start with her first book, and go in order and you will LOVE her! I think she would make a great TV series!

WHEW!! It is HOT here! For most of you this is nothing, but for us, it is HOT! 97F at Seatac Intl, Airport! ANd due to get hotter tomorrow! Portland where Blogeois lives hit 102 and broke an all time record! ANd it is only July!

I woke up early this morning and opened all the windows and turned on all the overhead fans. Schroeder immediately thought it was a big giant bird, and climbed clear to the top of the cat condo and tried to jump at the fan to catch it! He missed twice thank GOd!

I came home from swimmming and took the trash out, and turned the water on the back yard. I also filled the bird baths, squirted Bea down so she was cool, chased Sadie all over the back yard with the water, and left it to run all night on my roses and fruit trees. I have two peach trees that are LOADED with peaches, IF the alders will let the sunget to them so they can ripen!

Lea's plum trees are loaded as are the apple trees that she espaladed(?) before she died!

THe pool was over full today. THere must have been 35 people in the class tonight! usually there are only about 15-20. Guess the heat forced some of them down there. I have been going to the community Pool down on the beach here, 5 days a week, and just work out on my own.

TIme to go lay across the bed under the ceiling fan and work on another jig saw puzzle that I downloaded into my lap top. THose are so way cool! I may jusrt have to break down and buy the program!

Ya'll stay nice and cool through this heat wave, and do not forget to HYDRATE!! Drink LOTS and LOTS of water. (I suck on ice chips all day.)

Hopefully my 'puter will start behaving and I can blog walk again. I miss ya'll!

After dinner, we watched 1776 for the umpteenth time, (I LOVE IT) and then went down to the beach to watch the fireworks. It really is a great time! Everyone that lives in the Cove, bring their own fireworks down to the beach and set them off over the water. THe houses that are sitting right on the water are down about 1/4 of a mile, and they set off their own.

We have everything from sparklers to the full blown boomers that you would expect to see in a professional display! We were covered with the smoke from the explosives, and were watching very closely the tide. THe wind was blowing in from the West, and the waves were really high. And so was the Tide! Usually the tide is out quite aways and the fireworks-setter-offers are usually down at the water line away from the drift wood. But we were all scrunched up in the 10 feet of dry area! We were down there for about 2 hours, and then the Pt TOwnsend fireworks started. It is about 10 miles across the water, and we had a great seat to watch it. We came on home after most of the show was over, and the tide had chased us off the log we were sitting on.

THe people across the street had decided that it was perfectly legal to set of M-80's right in the middle of the street, ALL NIGHT LONG! THere are burnt out bottle rockets in the backyard too, amazing that the woods did not go up in flames.

Such is live in a rural area of Washington State.

Happy Fourth of July...

I have the potato salad in the fridge, the baked beans in the oven slowly baking, Bob is bringing the hamburgers over, and THe flag is flying high!

FOr the first time in a long time, the weather is very warm. Sposed to be in the high 80'sF. Usually we have rain and wind and cold on the fourth.

I asked Phyllis over for the BBQ, but she is already going to one with her church, and Sherry has to work, and so does Mike, Donna came over on Sunday, so she wont be here either, so it will just be the two of us!

I hope that all of you have a very safe and fun holiday whereever you are.