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by kritterspaw

It’s A Small World

If you may have read my last post here , you saw that we had a traumatic event when we lost the truck & camper we had spent the last 18 months custom building.  That event was 5 weeks ago this week.  The pain and drama of it all has worn off, and we are moving on.

Today… a fellow fire fighter sent us photos that someone going the opposite direction on the double divided highway had taken of John fighting his own truck fire.  It’s not often you get to see yourself in action at a major event in your life.

All I have to say is… it’s a small world, that these photos found their way to us.  What are the odds.  It has brought it all back for us… though we are still in the middle of cleaning up the aftermath, but the emotions of the moment are brought back to the forefront.

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BTW… the guy with the fire extinguisher in his hand (on the left) trying to put out the flames before the fire department arrived is John (my husband… and hero).  The guy standing behind the truck is a guy who was on his way to fire school… where John was headed… who was kind enough to loan him his fire extinguisher.

There has been a myriad of details that have come to light just in the stories that John recalls from the frenzy of events of that day.  The one that sticks the most in my mind is the fact that he estimates he had 2 minutes to get out of the truck.  He had tried to get back into the truck after trying to put out the engine fire to claim other goods.  In the midst of the engine fire, the doors of the truck had automatically locked.  Had John been inside he wouldn’t have been able to get out.  As it was he escaped with nothing more than the clothes on his back.  The Blue Ridge Fire Department t-shirt he is wearing, is the only one he has left, as all the others he had were destroyed in the fire… along with everything else in our 20 year old truck, less than year old utility bed and camper top… all GONE and destroyed in the fire.

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Sooooo…. there is a moral to this story.

We have purchased rescue tools for all our friends.

John has one tie wrapped to the hold bar on my Jeep.   Everyone should have one.  It may save your life one day.  Get one today.  They are cheap.  It’s like a center punch… one little click and it shatters the window and allows one to get out.  Never know when you might need one.

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by kritterspaw

First Fall

It seems too early, not even in October yet, but there is a definite chill in the air and you can feel winter is coming.  So we decided to do a scouting trip to check out Fall Colors.

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It’s a strange year, as some leaves are just turning from their resident bright green to shades of pale green.  Other maples are in full color and even falling to the ground floor.

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It certainly isn’t in full color, as the leaves are patchy only in some areas.  There’s no denying it though… it has started early, with more to come.  I love the mosaic tapestries that the leaves and tangle of trees weaves.  It’s fascinating to watch this myriad of color dot the landscape.

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It’s always fun and challenging to try to capture this awesome season and convey it’s many splendors.

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by kritterspaw

Smokey Rim

It’s hard for me to imagine that this was our first trip to the rim this year.  It’s June already, and we just haven’t found time.  Life sometimes just gets away from one.

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Unfortunately another deterrent has been that much of ‘our’ rim has been closed due to a local fire…. WAY TOO CLOSE to home.  Only 20 miles away, this one was a scary one.  It was more the area that made it difficult for firefighters.  The rim is very steep with a lot of dead and down, fallen pine needles and thick dry forest due to years of Forest Service policy of no-burning.  This particular steep area can’t be reached by fire fighters, so all they could do was hold it back and try to avert it from cresting over the ridge.

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The good news of it is, that it had top priority in the Southwest, which meant that it got all the resources they needed.  Local control was handed over to the Feds, as they brought over 1200 firefighters, helicopters, and planes to douse it out and work the fire lines.  The comforting fact was that they were clearly working it hard… we had regular meetings held locally by the Forest Service to give us status reports and answer any questions we had.   It is now, thankfully, completely under control… and smoke is dissipating.

So we thought we’d make a trip to the rim – at least the outskirts of the area that isn’t closed – to see if we could get some pix.

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The animals were out if force, seemingly enjoying the nice day just as we were.

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We couldn’t actually get close enough to the fire to see any smoke, other than that on the murky horizon.  But we enjoyed a very pleasant and relaxing day out – and wondered, what has taken us so long?

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by kritterspaw

Snow pack

Just when we thought the snow was over and Summer was coming early, we got a storm out of seemingly nowhere.  Yes, the weather forecasters said it was coming… but they are often wrong.  So we didn’t expect much… certainly not what we got.

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It came hard and fast.  It was heavy and wet, and probably dumped around 16″ in 12 hours.  It was fun to watch as it came sideways across the horizon sticking on the trees previously bare of snow.

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It left just as fast as it came, and was gone seemingly overnight.  Because it was so wet, it melted fast.

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It left quite the impression… and filled Lake Mary.

 

 

by kritterspaw

Snow Birds

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We recently had a wave of 3 snow storms which all together yielded about 2′ of snow.  The birds huddled under branches to keep out of the intense snow blasting sideways with the strong winds.  You can see more of my Snow Animals on my photo blog…. here.

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The drifts piled high where the winds swept them against trees and boulders.  But it didn’t deter the big animals from trudging through.  We saw more than one limping as a result of tripping over unseen rocks and uneven terrain.

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It amazes me the treks these animals must take on a daily basis going from hither to yon incessantly.  It’s a tough life in these mountains and woods with their treacherous inclines and rough canyons.

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by kritterspaw

Oregon Coast

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Oregon does it right.  With about 362 miles of coast land, they celebrate it at every turn.  I counted over 70 State Parks along the way… on the coast alone (no mention of inland Parks).  These parks offer Day Use & Camping (for hikers, bikers, campers, and RV’ers).  They are full of scenic trails, picnic tables, fire pits, and nature walks.  I so respect and admire their preservation of this absolute beauty and their embracing and sharing of it to their own and other communities.

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There are wooded rainforest lands, lighthouses along the way, and rock outcroppings in the sea afar.  It’s diverse, stunning, and gorgeous.

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