There was a Fire Here

My former boss, Rusty Palmer, now Fire Chief on Whidbey Island in Washington State, used to say, as he strolled up to a fire scene and people were barraging him on what happened - he would ponder there perstering inquiries, pause, and calmly reply, "There was a fire here."

I use this phrase now all the time!!  It started on Sunday afternoon, ignited by a lightning strike and it was a big deal.  Next to a high-traveled road, creating a visible smoke plume, throwing 20' flames up at times and threatening the treasured Wildlife Museum, and causing an evacuation of a high-value subdivision, this one got some attention.  Of course, I was on duty!  Our Emergency Operations Manager sent out the public notification, reaching everyone's phone within a local distance as evacuations were announced.  He noted that the five times he has sent these public notifications, I have been incident command each time.  Hmmm....

There are two articles in this week's Jackson Hole Newspaper.  Here is one on the Museum and how the folks reacted to the fire which was, literally, right out their back door.  You can read it by clicking on this link Museum Fire  I will try to get the other link as well.  It's a much different type of story.  Oh, here it is!!  I think the opening paragraph will make you laugh!  Making Jam!

There are some great photos from the fire.  I snapped this picture as I helped jump a dead pump on the wildland truck.  It was a short, but impressive fire storm that Firefighter Cranston and I weathered; wind gusting so strong it was difficult to open my truck door, the heat radiated hot on my unprotected face, ash and embers pummeling our eyes and face, smoke choking our airway.  We were safe, but we were close and it was impressive.

This was a good fire.  There was one minor injury, no structures loss.  The fire was kept to 80 acres.  Because of its visibility, the fire provides a great opportunity for the public to become more educated on wildland fire.  It shows them, a fire can happen pretty much anywhere around the valley and it can take off fast. 

It has also been a great opportunity for those of us who worked the fire to learn.  This fire was very collaborative and highlighted the solid interagency relationships we enjoy in this valley.  Working alongside Forest Service Andy Hall, he and I managed the fire in a collaborative effort that was seamless and effortless.  A strong relationship has emerged for our work together and I look forward to our next Unified Command experience.  There are details and accounting and a pile of work to do now, but the fire is contained, a rain is predicted tomorrow and we are all better for this event. 

There was a fire here.  And it was a good one! 

Oh Beautiful....

For spacious skies.

For amber waves of grain (barley around our place).

For purple mountains, majesty...……

And for all the flowers pushing upward in the Bee Gard'n.

 

 

 

"What Did You Do Today, Kathy?"

Well, they have kept me running today, for sure.  Cardiac arrest, smoke in an office, car crash south of town, and just finished this - certainly the most impressive of the day - RV fire.  I am saying this fire was most possibly caused by a rechargeable lithium ion battery recharging on the front seat of the RV.  The truck next to it was totally consumed as well.  No one was hurt and the grass fire didn't race up the nearby hill.  All in a day's work.  We'll see what the evening hours bring. 

Living A Full Life

The other day, I advised my worn-out overworked and exhausted friend Jason to not let life pass him by.  Sharing the story with Mike, he commented that perhaps I was not one to give out this advice; implying of course, that perhaps I too might be worn-out, overworked, and exhausted. 

It is true.  We have been insanely busy with overloaded plates.  At work and at home.  Still, it feels like a very full life not a life running me over.  When I get overwhelmed, I celebrate the many things I can get done in a day and am physically able to do.  No, life if not running by me.  I'm living it very very fully.  Mike might feel a bit overwhelmed.  He has no water in his irrigation ditch.  The new diesel pump sits quite next to a dried out irrigation ditch.  The water seeps into our neighbor's field creeping every so slowly our direction.  Today he is meeting with someone about the potential to pipe the ditch.  I think he has some moments of overwhelm-syndrome!

Our pack trip was wonderful, excluding a brief moment of terror as we watched Mike and his floating mule bob down a very swift section of the elk fork.  Call Mike for the story.  Everyone on the pack trip was relieved Mike did not drown, Cosmo the mule did not float away or drown, we all were able to cross the raging river, and there were no further near-miss events.

Summer is full-on now.  A week of heat has prompted the fire danger to elevate into High Fire Danger.  A couple of fires dink around forest acres; carefully being monitored by Forest Service personnel.  With the cool and wet spring, there are heavy fine fuels (grasses and the sort), to take a small ignition and translate it into a raging wildland fire.  We will have a long fire season, I fear, this year.

Here are some pack trip pictures from my camera. 

CHECK LIST FOR A PACK TRIP:

Leave the comforts of home.  This picture taken from Seth and Alden's front deck at their lovely home near Cody, Wy. 

Pack up, weigh out, and lay out loads for mules to carry to camp. 

Load the four legged workers.

Travel down the trail.  Nine miles to camp!

Breath a sigh of relief.  Site of the near-drowning for Mike and Cosmo.

Arrive at camp.  Relax and enjoy.  

Round-About the Weekend

Below our house is Hoback Junction.  Highway 191 South and Highway 89 south meet at a circle, confounding those who have never driven through a round-about.  Sitting in the back yard at our place, it is not uncommon to hear long blaring horn shouts as road-raged travelers sound their impatience for round-about newbies. 

The middle of this circle is mounded with a mixture of mostly gravel and a bit of dirt.  The first year after its construction, locals had all kinds of ideas of how to make this mound of dirt turning to weeds look nice.  Bronze sculptures were the popular requests and were shut down by the Wyoming Department of Transportation.  People kept talking and speculating and I started doing.

Thanks to watching a prairie in Illinois turn from weed patch to splendor, I dug down and started weeding.  Each weed disturbance got a hand full of local flower seeds (bought with my own money).  It was not a one day project.  The round about is bigger than one person's effort.  It takes me days every spring, picking away at this beautification project.

I pulled weekend duty last weekend - the first nice weekend of the year.  Saturday morning was robust with calls, peaking with this high-peak pass call, a car fire on Teton Pass.  Check out the news article and picture at this BUCKRAIL ARTICLE .  (I really have not been promoted, incidentally!).  Things quieted down after that, allowing me some community service time, making full attack on goats beard and sweet clover plants. 

Want to see the round-about?  You can find it live at HOBACK ROUNDABOUT . 

As I wrestled with the stubborn sweet clover, I saw the giant bumblebees.  These bees are like C-130 bombers!  Sadly, I am not smart enough to take the live photo off my phone and show you this bumblebee's flight.  It is super-cool! That is a white penstemon and blue flax flowers, both I planted as seeds (proud gardener report). 

Mike spent Sunday on the Snake River getting his tri-annual re certification in Swiftwater Rescue.  He had a very good day, but a long one.  As the day ticked on, I tackled the lawn chores.  I've always wanted to cut the diagonal on the Becker yard steep-sloped lawn.  Anyway you cut this lawn, there will be a time when  you are putting all of your body weight on one side of the mower to keep it from tipping over.  Serious.  Thanks to my substantial body mass, I am pretty good at this technique!  I took a picture when I finished the diagonal cut. (Okay, I realize, this may not be a big deal for most of you, but if you are a grass-cutting connoisseur, you will appreciate this diagonal versus the traditional horizontal cut). 

Mike returned home from his big day, sunburned and weary.  We retired to the back yard, turned on the outside speakers and relaxed in our yard to a popping campfire.  The temperature was just right, the grass cut and all tidy-looking.  It was a good day, a very good day.

Such a Wonderful Flower!

It happens once a year.

When I was a kid, it happened right around Memorial Day.  The apple trees had just finished their spring time bloom and we would walk out to cut the beautiful pink and white peony flowers from the bushes planted nearby.

When Mike and I bought the Freedom Farm we acquired many things.  A shop, an old barn, an old house with its garage, a hay shed, the big house, and an airplane hanger.  A swather, a baler, two tractors, and a hay trailer.  We also bought a very old peony bush.

Although many people might not find a peony bush to be a valuable asset on a piece of property, this old annual flower swayed me that we were buying the right piece of property.  It’s value is such that anyone keeping the yard is lectured on broadleaf herbicides and other general destructive actions.

The flowers are fragile, starting out as a round, golf ball size bud.  Ants find these buds, eager to profit from the nectar oozing from the edges of the green protective layer around the exploding flower inside.   Folklore says the ants must be present for the flower to open, but this is just that – folklore.  The flowers will open without the ants. 

I picked my flowers on Saturday (note: almost a month after Memorial Day!), enjoyed them with company Saturday night, and brought them home to sit atop the counter.  By Wednesday, the tissue-like magenta petals will begin to litter the top of the island.  By Thursday, most petals will have dropped and my floral arrangement will find its way to the compost heap.  I would feel badly about this pillage of flowering mass if it was not an annual plant.  No matter how many flowers I greedily pick, that plant will be back next year in its blooming splendor for our enjoyment.

That is, assuming no one decides to put a weed killer on its leaves.

Way Cool RV

Mike and I are hosts for a neat RV program called "Harvest Hosts".  Check them out at Harvest Host Site  Since the first of June, we have hosted 10 RVs.  The RV folks call ahead, get directions, pull into our driveway late afternoon/evening, and spend the night at the K Lazy M Ranch.  I have tricked out my little Garden Shed where they can look and potentially buy Copper Pot jams, Galen's maple syrup, a silk scarf, or Mom's sewing creations.  There is a container to leave money.  If electricity is  used, I ask the RV folks to throw in what they think is fair.  There is no charge to stay, but they are urged, as a member of Harvest Host, to support the businesses of the places they stay. 

Here is the unit that arrived last night.  This is the coolest rig ever!!  The tires themselves weigh 400 pounds.  The rig weighs in at 18K pounds.  Inside, custom cabinets hold custom shelving that holds the dishes and cups; designed with clever cushioning to eliminate rattling.  There are solar panels on the roof.  Everything is electric.  Here is a site to learn more about these custom, one of a kind rigs.  Earthroamer Info  They are rumored to cost $250,000!  Mary & Terry, you need one!!

Bees Adore Allium Flowers

The catalog says it - "Bees adore allium flowers." 

As I walked around my yard, one sunny afternoon after work, it proved to be true.  The bees were visiting the beautiful globe allium flowers.

A Day NOT at Freedom

Mike pulled me off the farm.  He wanted to go fishing.  It's not easy to give that place up, I only get Saturday and Sunday and to sacrifice an entire day - a day away from my bees, the gardens, the flowers, and the weeds....well, it is a sacrifice.

The day was fine on the lake.  Warm turning to hot.  Recall, last Saturday, it snowed quite a bit here.  We were hot.  The dogs panted.

Fishing was slow down south and we finally reeled 'em in and headed north.  Luck changed and I hooked into this beautiful 15# lake trout.  Mike did an excellent job of netting (one of the easiest ways to lose a fish is right at the boat; that moment when they get close to the surface and they really don't like it that much).  We weighed the fish, snapped a quick picture and watched it swim away, gills fanned open, tail swishing in the green water.  Back to deeper waters. 

A bit later, Mike landed a 4 pounder which is happily swimming around Jackson Lake as well.  We had burgers for dinner.

It was a good day.  The weeds grew a bit taller yesterday in the heat of a summer Sunday!

Wise Brene

Brene Brown is one of my favorites.  Her book, "The Power of Vulnerability" Buy It Here! is my number one top book pick.  She has a weekly email which I just opened.  Her is a quote from Brene that resonates....

Seems timely after my week of fire investigation training.

Sharing a picture from the Wednesday night fire training.  Our folks are awesome!!

Brief Moments of Nasal Bliss

It does not happen every day.  It does not happen every hour.  It does not happen very often.  But, every once in awhile, I can smell again!

The first time it happened was at the Walton Ranch branding.  Positioned downwind from the red hot branding iron, the head holder – a strong man, willing to anchor calf heads and legs – held the braying calf’s head while I injected a large needle’s worth of growth hormones into that calf’s ear.  If it was a steer calf, he was going through as well the ordeal of being castrated during this life changing moment.  The white smoke surrounded us as we tried to time it just right, sucking in the clean air, before the brand hit the hair and hide, holding our breath until either our job was completed or the smoke cloud moved by.  That was when I smelled the acrid smell of singed hair and burning flesh.

Weird, right?  How strange that this should be my first recognizable smell after the polyps were removed out of my over clogged sinuses.  I was in disbelief all morning until we walked up to the lunch area and there – I smelled a smell again.  The smell of hot vegetable oil, which I was certain was vegetable oil, heated and cooking potatoes for our lunch.  Mmmmmm, that was a good smell.

Since then, I’ve had a most memorable day of smelling last Sunday.  Odors of cut dandelions, oozing with sap as I chopped down their yellow bobbing heads, smelling their dandelion smell wafting up to my position on the lawnmower.  I took a few of my bees with them, sadly.  Dirt.  The sweet earthen smell of dirt as I dug one more hole to plant the asparagus roots which I over-ordered this year in my zeal to have asparagus.  I am certain I now have over 200 asparagus crowns in the ground.  That is the strangest word to spell.  Asparagus.  The dirt smelled fine.

That night, I peeled garlic cloves and drug them across my fine rasp, shearing off paper thin wafers of the aromatic herb. Garlic.  I smell garlic, I swooned to the garlic, as I inhaled deeply.  “Garlic, you smell so good!”

And then the wine.  I could smell the wine.  The rich smell of an inky Petite Sarah.  Will I have a “nose” now when I go wine tasting?!  What a concept!  Someone else can start driving!! 

One can live without one’s sense of smell.  You won’t lose weight, you will still eat enough to keep you “substantial” (as I was once called by a loving friend).  It is one of the senses, but really, if you had to lose a sense, this is the one to lose.  I have been just fine without my sense of smell.  But now that it is back – even if just for ever so brief moments – I have come to appreciate my sense of smell like never before. 

Mmmmm, everything smells so good when I can smell!!

BEE HEAVEN

Ya Gotta Be Tough

The sky cleared, the wind set down, and the cold blanketed the landscape.  The temperature dropped to a frigid 25 degrees around 1:30 am this morning and held until about 4. Sunrise registered in at 28. Apple blossoms, tulips, the purple allium globes and humming birds shivered. Not all will be tough enough. Shadows creep and the heavy frost turns to dew.  The day ahead promises to be stunning. With another below freezing night ahead.

 Sad little dead hummingbird. Not quite tough enough.

It’s not all Sunshine and Flowers

Spending the week in Laramie getting my fire investigation skills honed. I am reminded, there are some really bad people in the world. I mean really bad. Mothers who abuse their children, put them in a plastic bag, wrap them in a sheet, and set them on fire. I am deeply disturbed.

This is just one example. There are others. My cop friend sitting to the right tells me if I keep believing people are good, I will be a victim sooner or later.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Here is the afternoon storm building up above my rig.  I wish people were all good.

100 Miles Per Hour

It's been a bit of a fast-track lately.  Since my birthday, Mike and I have both been going one hundred miles an hour.  One must prioritize when plates start spinning.  I'm sure a few have dropped; I have just not found them yet!! 

I was delighted to be back in Freedom after a long day of driving from Casper Saturday night when this amazing storm blew by the place.  The wind was incredible and I doubt we will ever find the lid to the compost bin that I watched take off like a scene from Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

And speaking of rainbows, check out this full double rainbow!  Rain on the crops, rainbow on the horizon! 

Mom noted some amazing things I sure have never thought about with rainbows.  For example, have you ever noticed how the colors on the outside double rainbow are reversed??  Who knew?!!  Notice how the rainbow touches down in the manure pile on the second picture - a pot of gold!!

Here is an article that helps you understand how rainbows and double rainbows come to be seen Rainbow Science

Home Sweet Home

A bazillion bees and their Queen were moved into their new home this weekend.  Their hive sits on the southwest corner of our property.  Literally below the hive, a spring trickles by.  The hive looks south to the neighbor's property complete with a pond and wet lands.  If I were a bee, I would want to live here. 

The package of bees opened fairly easily and I dumped the bees into their new home.  Turning over the bee package, I gave it a hard shake.  A mass buzz occurred as the cluster fell to the bottom of the hive.  None got too upset.  I listen closely to the bees.  They have a sound when they are chill and a sound when they are not chill.  Chill is good with bees!  The queen came packaged in her own little container.  I pried the cork out of her little screened box and shoved a mini marshmallow into the hole.  This would give time for everyone to get used to each other before the sugary cork got eaten and she walks out of her tiny home and into her new giant home of vertical hanging frames. 

These bees are golden.  Much lighter colored than the 2018 colony.  Their queen is an Italian queen whom I have named Fiona, in honor of Janet's grandmother.  I hear that Italian bees are very good foragers.  We will see!

As this is in such a remote spot, Mike helped me get an electrical fence up around the hive.  The mules graze on the other side.  I can imagine them leaning over the fence, smelling the sweet smell of honey, and tipping the whole thing over.  There are most likely, bears up the hill to the west.  A field of some sort of agricultural crop is above our land (we are waiting to see what this will be) and then the land turns to heavy forest.  Of course the curious and hungry skunk or raccoon should be shocked (!) to find the encircled hive.  I have seen the picture of hives torn up by bears.  It is a very sad picture indeed.

More bees this weekend.  This will come in the form of a nuc.  Essentially, a small box with frames, bees, and a queen.  You take the frames out of the nuc and put them in your hive and just like that, your bees are in their new home.  A nuc costs a bit more but the bees are way ahead of where a package of bees are when they arrive. 

Yesterday was lovely.  Temperatures got into the 70s.  Mike and I got a ton of work done; seeds planted in gardens, brush hauled off to burn pile, grass cut, screens put into windows, trailers returned, trailers picked up to be delivered.  Summer is here.  We are busier than bees!!  Have a great week!

May 9, 2019

A picture and a video for your amusement.  Our back yard this morning.

I really hope the video works for you - it is a slow mo of some very cold hummers this morning! 

  

Slow Mo Bees

Check this out!  Watched the girls working for quite awhile this weekend.  Filmed this slow motion video for your enjoyment.  It cracks me up how some miss the opening and bounce off the door to try it again!  Check out the pods of yellow pollen on some of these girls' legs!  Things are finally starting to bloom!!   You will have to push the play key twice to make it go....

I will receive a package of bees next weekend and get them set up in a hive down in the corner of the field.  That hive will have an electric fence in an effort to shock off any sniffing bears!

The following week, a nuc (a package of bees with frames, brood, bees, and queen) arrives and it will go to Hoback.  The timing seems good.  Things are starting to turn.  Hummingbirds spotted in Freedom and in Hoback.

Big Week!

I think I will survive this week, but it has been a doozey! 

Monday wasn't bad.  I started duty on Tuesday and we had a structure fire at 8:30am.  Check out this amazing video to see how a single fire sprinkler head totally put out an unattended grease fire!!
 

On Tuesday, April 30, a young man walked away from his cooking. 

The event occurred in a two story, wood stick, mixed use structure 14,570 square feet.  Smith’s Liquor store on the grade level and housing for Smith’s employees above.  The housing is set up with rooms on one side of the corridor and shared kitchens and bathrooms on the other.  The value of the building is estimated to be $5-7 million dollars (this is, Jackson Hole!). 

The building is sprinklered per NFPA 13 and has a protected attic space.

Because this is a shared area, Smith’s installed surveillance cameras in the three shared kitchens.  Unfortunately, the camera time is not correct, however, it captured the event as it unfolded.

In approximately three minutes, the pan began to flame.  The fire became developed and deployed the 155 degree sprinkler head.  There was some good fire activity when the water hit the fire, but this video certainly dispels the concern of water and grease and fire.  The flowing sprinkler head completely suppressed the fire. 

Our crews arrived and stopped the water flow.  By 2pm that afternoon, I was informed the water was cleaned up, the life safety systems all restored, and operations were back to normal.

In a town suffering from a significant housing crisis, a town where property values are extremely high – this one sprinkler head saved lives, conserved valuable property, prevented firefighter injuries, and maintained some very valuable employee housing. 

We have it posted on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JHFireEMS/ and I have attached the video for your use and review. 

PS  Jackson Hole and Teton County have had a fire sprinkler ordinance since 1998 for structures over 5000 square feet, residential and commercial!!  

So, big deal, right?  Pretty cool story.  I was flying high. 

And then the newspaper called.  Always a frightening thing to be interviewed by the paper.  Will they get my statements right?  Will they get the story right?  Here is the article for the paper.  Allie did a good job.  My stress level has dropped.  

A full, long weekend ahead in Freedom!  Phew.  Here are some spring images to enjoy. 

The Gun Does Not Fire

Mike and his mule, Cosmo, went to the vet yesterday.  An Xray was taken.  With glee, it was discovered Cosmo was suffering from a deep internal bruise in his hoof.  He is not out of danger yet.  The infection and swelling will need to drain and heal, and, as noted, the abscess is deep within his hoof.  But, the gun did not fire yesterday!  The two will be working together daily, soaking the foot, digging in, and trying to get the thing healed.  Here they are.  A man, his mule, and the string they pull along in the mountain wilderness. 

Meanwhile, spring is springing!  We were wakened by the sudden flash of lightning around 5am this morning.  Lots of rain and some warm weather has kicked the plants up a notch!  This is my pretty little pasque flower which blooms faithfully for me every year outside my office door.  I bet you could look back through this blog history and see its pretty flowers show up on an annual basis!!

Mike has promised to get out a very expensive bottle of wine to celebrate Cosmo's life!  I think I'll join him tonight in Freedom!!  Enjoy the weekend!