50 Days and Five Football Fields

[Ruffneck]

 

 

160 ponderosa pine and 103 oak remain. I left the best.
Four trees have western gray squirrel nests.
Four trees are being attacked. They made the sawdust at the base of this tree. The tree is trying to use its' pitch to fight off the attack.
8,844 miles, 569 man hours and 10 gallons of saw gas on this project.

Day 51? A day to rest ;)

The more you know...

Stay tuned for more :D

[Piston]

Tuned.... ;D

[Magicman]

Now what is da pitchfork used for  ???

[sandhills]

I was wondering about that too, but around here we'd call it a cob fork  ???.  Anything with more than three or four tines I guess.

[drobertson]

I will guess scooting brush into a pile?

[maple flats]

And here we call them a manure, mulch or silage fork. A pitch fork generally has only 3 tines, a few have 4.

[Piston]

I call mine a manure fork, all it's used for is picking up dog manure.  :D

[Ruffneck]

We call them pitch forks around my part of the world and I do use it to work my fires. Funny thing about this one is it got a bit to close to a fire I had early on in my operation. The handle burned half way through. I was able to use it until the end by being very careful  though! :))

[Piston]

Stay tuned for more :D

We call them pitch forks around my part of the world and I do use it to work my fires. Funny thing about this one is it got a bit to close to a fire I had early on in my operation. The handle burned half way through. I was able to use it until the end by being very careful  though! )

Are those all the details we get?   ???

[terry f]

    I see there is a big fire in your area Ruffneck, hope you are safe and it misses you.

[thecfarm]

I used or use one for the same thing. My Father always calls it a dung fork.  ;D

[Ruffneck]

And on day 52 a fire:
There has been a fire burning north of my place since last Wednesday. It started at mile marker 28, I am in between mile marker 19 and 20 on the east side of the highway. On Saturday I was at work thinking I would check out the property the following day. I had been following the fire and didn't feel to alarmed.
Well, just as I finished cooking a huge breakfast for the boys I get a phone call from my neighbor just to the south of me. He said there is a spot fire burning below us and things aren't looking very good. I imeadiately left work, missing out on my masterpiece of a meal :D
As I made the three hour drive, I was pretty certain my place was going up in flames and that all I would be able to do was help my neighbors that live out there. When I was 40 minutes out I got a report the fire had grown from 4,000 to 8,000 acres.
As I was rolling into town another neighbor called that went to check on my place, he said my place was still intact. What happened was, some neighbor down our road decided to torch of a burn pile during the red flag day we were having
I don't know this person or the details. I hear they had 8 fire rigs there. Anyway, he should be locked up for endangering the firefighters' lives. Did he take resources away from the main fire causing it to grow so fast? I will be following up on this.
Anyway, when I arrived I had a all to familiar note on my gate:

 
I spent my time prepping the best I could. The drill rig is just outside my fuel reduction area and is the only thing not insured, so I concentrated all my efforts there.
At night I walked up the highway to take a look at fire conditions. What a strange feeling walking up the middle of that highway without seeing one car. :-\ As I walked uphill the wind was at my back ;D when I started to go downhill on the other side it was coming from the opposite direction Those canyons sure do make some crazy winds.
I stayed up all night to watch the fire glowing in the hills and watch for people. As I learned during the Monastery Complex fire, people will snoop around evacuated areas.

 
That's why I say, you better be on official business or live on my road if you're out there now
I was able to get the mill back on the west side last night and prep around the drill rig best I could. I just heard it's 20,000 acres but the winds are in my favor.
I can't believe this is going down about a week after finishing my DNR project. Timing is everything!!!
 

 
Win, lose or draw. I am like a boss :D :D :D

    I see there is a big fire in your area Ruffneck, hope you are safe and it misses you.

Thank you Terry!

[terry f]

   So far so good, good luck. We had your smoke all day yesterday.

[sandhills]

All the best to you, keep safe.

[thecfarm]

That is too bad. A fire can be a bad thing for your trees. Good luck to you. Keep us posted. I for one want to know the outcome.

[Ruffneck]

They have changed the level III evacuation order to level II. Latest report is 20,337 acres involved with 25% containment.
It is currently traveling to the east. Don't want to get my hopes up yet, I know how fast things can change.
I am just so grateful that I didn't have to go through what I did during the Monetary Complex fire a couple of years ago. That was way more stressful:
http://youtu.be/Dy9KQDZMZ3M

Fuel reduction is the key I felt like my cabin stood a chance this time. I am very motivated to continue my work. I want my forest to stand a chance when a fire does come. There's a lot of fuel to the SW of me and that's where the winds typically come from.

It was strange when I left yesterday, the Sheriff was driving by as I was hooking up the mill to leave and he never did check my credentials to confirm I lived there. I could have been anyone.

[beenthere]

I notice by the USFS fire map, that for the first time in this long summer that there are no red dots, or IMT1 fires in the states or AK.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.php#

[Ruffneck]

I'm putting this one in the books!
http://youtu.be/txhydkRcooc
8)

[thecfarm]

All out of danger now?

[Ruffneck]

Things are looking good for me. We dodged another bullet. These fires are giving me grey hair!

[thecfarm]

That is good news.  8)