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August 9-24, 2014

8/26/2014

getting rid of the mess

These past two weeks have just flown by, with every day bringing some progress. We are really enjoying having electricity again and finally feel like things are slowly getting back to normal. Victoria came over and helped us fill two huge dumpsters with all of our metal debris, and I spent a couple of days sweeping the areas with a big rolling magnet that I bought. It's amazing to see the amount of nails and small stuff that comes up. It's a very useful tool and hopefully will prevent many flat tires. The only major thing remaining now is the little Ford tractor. We are hoping that our neighbor's big tractor will be able to move it.

Keeping the spirits up!

One of the things that keeps us going is support from family and friends. We got a surprise gift in the mail from sister-in-law Polly who sent us t-shirts and an inspiring note. I have been wearing mine almost every day- I'm afraid if I take it off I will collapse into a pile of quivering jelly. Well, not really, but it does help! Also, we are so grateful to the volunteer groups who have spent time assisting us with the more time consuming tasks- we had some Mennonites from the Othello area come by and spend a day rebuilding the fence in the upper pasture. 4 strong young men who were cheerful and happy to help out. They were all from ranching/farming backgrounds and came prepared with their own tools and know-how. It was such a pleasure to have them here. And then a group of Southern Baptists from California came by with a gas powered chop saw and cut up the remains of the bunk house trailer so that we could put it in the pick up and haul it off. They were so gracious and generous, it really warmed my heart.

Mennonite fence building crew

Southern Baptist Disaster recovery crew

New storage shed

With the major part of the cleanup behind us, we have started purchasing some of the tools that we need to get work done, but we had nowhere to store them. I checked around and found that the local lumber yard was willing to part with one of their pre-fab storage sheds, and deliver it for free. It's pretty nice- fully insulated and even has a window. We got it in place, and brother-in-law Dave came over and helped install plywood on the inside so we have something to attach shelving to. It will be so nice to have an organized protected spot for tools. One of my favorites so far is a nice little Stihl 211 chainsaw. It's really easy to start and is perfect for me. It's my new best friend! Bill got a couple of larger saws to replace the other ones that he lost.

Mother of the year

On the 14th, there were some thunderstorms that passed through, and we got a fair amount of rain. As we anticipated, it caused a small slide in the creek drainage above us and we got silted up pretty bad. The creek rose a few inches by the house, but our irrigation line plugged up completely. We thought we were going to have to dig it up, but we let water sit in it all night, and the next morning it was flowing again. Whew- dodged a bullet on that one.

In the middle of all this craziness, we had a happy little surprise. We had thought that a skunk got one of our hens a few weeks ago, as we had smelled the vile creature just before she disappeared. Well, it turns out that she was here the whole time- under the big lilac bush, sitting on a clutch of eggs. Last Thursday we were standing outside and here she comes with 14 baby chicks!! We couldn't believe our eyes. It was too late to do anything with her that night, so we just let her be, but the next day we got her in the coop with all her babies. They are happy and healthy as can be, and she has her hands full trying to keep track of all of them. She's doing a great job, though, leading them to the feeder, then the water, and when they are ready for bedtime they all crawl underneath her and snuggle in.

Callie in her new home

Other animal news around here is that we found a home for Luca. He was just not meant to be an outside dog, and never bonded with the sheep, so before the fire we had decided to try to find a new home for him. It turns out that one of the people who helped return him to us after the fire fell in love with him and wanted to take him. So that story has a happy ending. He is living in a larger house, with two people to take care of, which is perfect for him. Meanwhile, we had found a Maremma puppy that we had put a deposit on before the fire, and she finally arrived here at her new home yesterday. She was near Olympia, WA, so Dave generously agreed to pick her up and bring her over here. It turned out to be a 12 hr road trip, but they made it. She has only been here about 24 hours as I write this, but seems to be settling in already. We named her Calliope, after the muse of Epic Poetry , and will call her Callie for short.

That's it for this installment- stay tuned for more updates coming soon.

August 1 - 8, 2014

8/9/2014

The cleanup begins

As we enter the 3rd week after the fire, we are making progress and starting to feel like we will be able to handle what we have been dealt. I keep remembering that so many people around here are so much worse off than we are. We have been so lucky to have family and friends to help out. On the second day our friend Maria brought her daughter and niece to help us get our water system running again. The pipes in the upper section that were above ground all melted and had to be replaced. With their help we got the system partially working- enough to get water to the house and some of the irrigation lines. On the third day Bill's brother and sister-in-law Polly showed up with food, tools, and words of encouragement. (Almost every tool we owned except a few hand tools that were in the house burned up.) We cleared a bunch of downed trees and got more of the water system patched up. It turned out that a bunch of the fragments of the melted pipes had worked their way through the underground pipes and were clogging the line that goes to the house. Of course, our lifetime collection of pipe fittings was gone, too, so it required several trips to town to get everything going. Every day has some small progress which is gratifying.

Our héros!

The PUD is working 18 hr days trying to get power back in our area. They are being so nice to us, and working so hard! They have to remove a bunch of large trees that are in the way of the new power line route, and cut them up into small rounds so we could use them in our little wood stove. We are very grateful, as we lost all of our firewood (11 cords!) that was stacked in the woodshed.

ready to haul away

This past weekend more help arrived. My sister and brother-in-law came to help sort through the wreckage and make piles for disposal. My mom didn't want to be left out, but since there is no place for her to stay, and it's pretty primitive with no power, she contributed by sending about 2 weeks of prepared meals for us to eat so we don't have to worry about cooking for a while. Jamie and Polly joined us again (and also brought more food!) and we had a very dirty but satisfying day. Straightened and stacked the metal roofing pieces from all three buildings, and piled the remaining metal scraps in neat piles. The next step is to get a dumpster for the metal and haul it away. Our local recycling center has teamed up with the garbage disposal folks to arrange a way for this to happen, and are even offering options on how to handle the sale of the scrap metal. The homeowners can keep it for themselves, or donate it to the local charities that are helping fire victims.

Let there be light!

August 8, 2014, 2:44 PM. Power is restored!!! 22 days on a generator makes you appreciate it all that much more. Our hook-up is temporary, as we are going to be burying the line from the road to our property, but we don't mind looking at power lines just now. It's a welcome sight. And I never realized how much I enjoy vacuuming!

Stay tuned for next week's update.

July 12 - 31, 2014

8/6/2014

The new normal

During the past weeks our lives have been turned upside down. On July 17th, a wildfire, known as the Carlton Complex Fire, swept through McFarland Creek and destroyed almost everything. We are among the fortunate- our house survived, as did all of our animals, but we lost our barn, shop and bunkhouse, as well as all the trees and every living plant that was outside the pasture. What used to be lush hillside and creek bottom, is now a barren landscape. It is shocking to look at, but it's also amazing to watch nature start recovering almost immediately. The morning after the fire there was almost no wildlife, but later that day we saw a hummingbird at the feeder, a few quail wandering around, and a trio of deer. In just a few days we could see some little green grass shoots pushing their way through the burned patches.

15 minutes before evacuating

This fire was unlike anything anyone has seen- even the experienced firefighters were stunned by how fast and ferocious it was. Our local newspaper reported that at it's peak it was consuming an average of 3.8 acres per second. We figured it was coming our way, and in the afternoon started making preparations. We thought it might come the next day, as we had driven up the highway earlier and seen it at Gold Creek, which is the next creek drainage north of us. That area had burned last year, so we thought it would move pretty slowly and hoped that the fire crews would be able to control it. How wrong we were…

Why are we in the truck?

Around 5 pm we were in the upper pasture laying out irrigation line along the perimeter where the fire would come from. We also put out hoses with sprinklers between the house and the county road, and behind the bunkhouse. While we were doing this, Bill heard a sound that he thought was a helicopter, and mentioned that they were coming with water buckets to work on the fire just over the ridge. We listened for a few seconds, and looked at each other realizing that it was not a helicopter, but the sound of the fire. Just then we saw a few flames at the top of the ridge, and within a few minutes it was moving down the hill pretty fast. We got the water running and I ran to the house to gather up a few things, as we knew then that we would be leaving. As I was headed down, the dry field above us exploded and the fire jumped to the trees on the other side of the draw. We made a last minute decision to take some time to move the sheep and dogs into the pasture nearest the creek in the hopes that it was wet enough and wouldn't burn. Bill also had the foresight to move our new tractor into the middle of that pasture away from the tree line. I put Scooter and Lucky (dog and cat) into the back of my truck along with some clothes and a few valuables, while Bill grabbed his box of family photos and treasures. While we were doing this a fire truck roared up the hill and just a few seconds later came down with sirens blasting. That was the extent of the evacuation warning.

Watching it burn...

Bill was ahead of me in his truck, and I followed in mine. As we pulled out of the driveway we saw our shop starting to burn and realized that we would probably return to find everything gone. The fire was so erratic and spreading so fast that it was already at the bottom of our road (1 mile away) by the time we got there. It was burning along the banks of the river, and also in the field on the other side, making a wall of flame between us and the highway. I saw the brake lights come on for a second on Bill's truck, then he gunned it and drove through. We made it to the big gravel parking area next to the river and sat there for about an hour watching the fire. Somewhere during all of this we had managed to contact our friends and family, and our friends from the upper valley came down to help, although by the time they arrived all we could do was watch it burn. It was so good to have them there just for moral support.

The morning after

We went to town, 20 miles away, where the power was out and it was barely controlled chaos. The main grocery store had generators so they were up and running, and we were able to get some food to eat that evening and the next day. We were very fortunate to have my studio to go to- it is near Twisp and was unthreatened at that time. Not able to sleep, we drove back to McFarland Creek around midnight and attempted to get to our house, but the fire was still too intense around the road. We went back to the studio and slept until about 6 :30. The next morning was a bright sunny day, although a bit smoky. When we returned home we saw that the house at the bottom of the road was still standing- the previous evening ti had appeared to go up in flames, but the smoke was so thick we couldn't be sure. That gave us hope, and as we drove up the road we saw some houses burned to the ground and some still standing. Just before coming around the corner we saw our two neighbors, Bob and Art standing in the road talking. I was so relieved, as I knew that Bob and his wife, Fanny, had stayed at their house to fight the fire. From where we were watching on the highway during the fire, it looked as if their house had burned, so to see them alive was a beautiful sight. As we continued up the next 1/4 mile to our place, the landscape was completely barren, and I feared the worst, but it was like seeing a miracle when our little green roof appeared, then the pasture with sheep grazing and dogs barking. I just sobbed with relief. Every one of our animals made it through with almost no injuries. One guard dog, Luca was gone, but the other two remained loyal to their flock and stuck it out. They apparently had some hot embers fall on them, but nothing more than the size of a dime, and only a couple places on each. They are already almost completely healed up. We initially feared that Luca had perished in the flames, but on the 29th, we found out that he was picked up and taken to a shelter about 100 miles away. He is safely home as I write.

RIP Ford 1300 tractor

Now we are facing a daunting clean up task, and dealing with insurance companies. The clean up will start in ernest tomorrow (8/2) when family and friends will be here to help. Bill's brother and sister-in-law came over a couple of days after the fire to bring us some supplies and help us get our water system running and clear out some fallen trees. That was a huge help, as we needed to get water to the animals and keep things irrigated. Our water is gravity fed, so we are almost fully functional in the house as far as toilet and washing water goes. We have a generator that runs the fridge and freezer and charges our phones and computers. We're using a solar shower, which is sometimes too hot as it's 100+ degrees during the day. We have propane cooktop and a BBQ, so we can cook anything. The PUD has been working their hearts out getting power back- we are still several days away, but they are hopeful that we will be up and running later next week. All but 2 poles burned up on our road, so they have a lot to do.

Stay tuned for more updates next week!

Life on the Ranch

This Blog is intended to be a summary of the events of daily life that take place on our ranch. We hope you find it interesting - feel free to comment if you like.

August 9-24, 2014

August 1 - 8, 2014

July 12 - 31, 2014

Life on the Ranch

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