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Remains

Pictures below are what remains after the Rising Eagle Road fire. It’s been nine days since it happened and we have been on a roller coaster of emotions. Elated that our house survived and is intact. In despair over losing 2/3 of the bee hives. Happy that our well did not get fried and that we have a generator to run it and keep things wet and green as much as possible. Saddened over every little lost thing we notice each day. Really happy that our insurance company is being easy to work with. We are sorry for people who have not had such results with the bureaucracy.

We think the fire fighters on the ground and in the air are the best and we are forever grateful to them. The utility workers who replaced burned up poles and strung the wires and fiber while working sixteen hour days without complaint are another set of heroes.

And we are deeply saddened by the tremendous loss of homes on the hills around us and also in other locations around the Methow Valley.

Our address sign needs a new post

We never knew we had so many rocks

Nails from the neighbors’ garage

Remains of a remote camera

Our dog cemetery – hard to believe it used to be shaded by pine trees and serviceberry

Sam’s tag

The deer are very nervous

Fire fighters returned for days to put out the remaining smokes

A single Chipping Sparrow. Normally I’d see at least two together

Killer trees?

Fire truck from Johnson County Kansas

Remains of a vacation home

I put up feeders for the birds

I’ve found several dead rubber boas – a gentle snake that lives underground for the most part

Guess what this was

Melted glass

The day after the fire a tremendous wind blew through here and toppled trees

This used to be the tiny path we walked daily. The utility workers used it to repair the power lines.

Our house in an island of green surrounded by a blacked landscape

The hummingbirds are still here. I am surprised.

Only two bee hives where Ken once had six

Wasps eat the remains of the honey from the burned hives

I loved that arching serviceberry and tall pine

My favorite aspens

Two days ago the dogs and I finally walked uphill above the fire line into the tall grasses and sage

Smoke from the Falls Creek fire

What Lurks in the Dark

There was a fresh skiff of snow the day before Christmas and no one else was here on our hill to mar the smooth surface. None of the part timers came for the holiday and the few others that live here were off visiting somewhere else. As we drove down our road, we noticed some fresh tracks. They were from a big animal – a cougar. Later Ken found them in our parking area and it appeared that the animal had stopped and looked at our front door. Out for a walk the next day I found clear tracks on our walking trail and at the part time neighbors’ place and more on the road. It looks like two animals traveling together – maybe a mom and mostly grown cub. You may remember a post I made last January when a cougar was captured just downhill from our house. Sure, we know they are out there but to see evidence of them being so close to the house does cause the hair on the back of our necks to raise. Luna seems to be very aware of them and frequently barks in the dark and needless to say, no one is going outside alone after dark, especially the puppy.

Orange

June 13, 2013 – 7:26 pm
Posted in home
Tagged home, house painting, maintenance
Comments (1)

We live in a big house that needs lots of maintenance. This year we are checking off various projects, catching up on stuff we should have been doing all along. This past week we almost finished the painting project we started last year. Ken and I did the ‘easy’ stuff in 2012 – painting walls and supports that we could reach from a ‘not too tall’ ladder. For the higher stuff we hired the pros and then we had them do the doors too. I am always impressed to see someone who knows what she’s doing do a job in an efficient manner when we struggle with the same seemingly simple task. The job would have been finished but the rented Genie lift stopped working repeatedly. Like our house, it seems to be in need of some maintenance.

The place looks terrific and we are pleased to have made so much progress.

Before