SONG THAT I CAN'T GET OUT OF MY HEAD

WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE SUMMER TIME WHEN ALL THE WORLD IS GREEN---HOPE IT GETS YOU TOO. ;-)

GRAY SPRUCE IN THE DEAD FOREST

We went for a Sunday drive out to look at a road that is being constructed. When we got nearly through the project Inklings saw all these dead trees and thought it was really ugly. So she took some pictures. At one time this was a really pretty Englemann spruce stand. Then along came the spruce beetle and riddled the trees, and then completely wiped out the spruce. I called them red spruce until they lost their needles--now they are just ugly gray spruce. The only green you see in the pictures are sub-alpine fir trees.

When I was the Ranger on the District these were taken on I prayed for a lightning strike in the middle of the three stands every night. Some day this is all going to burn and it's going to be a hot time in the old town tonight when it does.

Just for information these trees are in a roadless area and harvest and road construction are not in the cards for managing the area. Fire is really the only tool available to fix this problem.

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE OLD HOUSE

Went south today to see some family. Stopped by to see how the construction at the site of Mom's old house was coming. It is looking pretty good. I get asked quite a lot what is going on with the house. When I tell people about the foundation falling apart they say OOOOHHHHH---and then they understand.


Foundation is poured and the crawl space is formed and ready to pour---won't be long until things are lookin' up.

Here is what the corner looks like today where the old red brick house stood.

MECHANICAL VEGETATION TREATMENT FOR FUELS REDUCTION AND WILDLIFE HABITAT IMPROVEMENT

During my stint as District Ranger we did a lot of this type of treatment to reduce the fuel (mainly brush) and improve wildlife habitat. During the time I was there we treated about 48,000 acres which put us in line to treat all of the treatable acres in about 30 years. Did it work? You be the judge.

Tractors dragging Dixie harrows to remove brush from the site.

Bull elk (the dark spots) using the treated area one year after treatment.

Flowers in the disturbed area. This is one part of the vegetation that is stimulated by treatment.

This is my favorite picture of the vegetation after it is treated and it just happens to be near where the picture of the tractors was taken.

LOST ELK CALF

A few weeks ago there was a range ride with three Forests. I heard about an elk calf that got mixed up because of all the horses so thought I would share the pictures with you.


LOST CALF

CALF NEAR HORSES

CALF FOLLOWING THE HORSES
This is a pretty amazing thing to have happen as far as I am concerned. But then again horses are nearly the same size as elk--and they all look like cow elk since none of them have antlers.

Mountain Ride

Yesterday we did a lot of running around and checking up on yard sales. In the process I ran into a guy I used to work with. He told me thay have finished up a road I had worked hard to get it upgraded. He told me I should take a ride up and see how it turned out. So we did. They did an awesome job of finishing this road. There was a spot on it that always ended up a mess because it would look dry and folks would try it and fall through into mud soup. Getting the vehicle out always left a huge mess in the middle of the road.

Through some cooperative work they moved a lot of crushed rock over the spot and raised the grade 18" which should be enough of a rock bridge to stop the vehicles from breaking through the surface in the spring. In the long run this will be one of the best road project that they have done. The road all the way across the mountain is now in pretty good shape because of the road work they have completed this year. It tickled me that they continued to work on the roads I had worked to get upgraded even though I was gone.

Random pictures from Friday the 13th

Twitchell Canyon Fire showing a little heat.

Our cat watching us weed the garden.

The garden is about ready to start feeding us.

TWITCHELL CANYON FIRE IN FISH CREEK

The canyon on the far left with fire in it is Fish Creek---the next one to the right is Picnic Creek---both have fire established in the drainages. A couple of us retired folk went for a ride today and checked out the fire. It is kind of amazing what you can do with the camera on a cell phone. This picture is taken with one but I don't know how to make it larger for the blog.

We had a great trip and an even better visit.

DON'T LET THE SMOKE GET IN YOUR EYES

The smoke in our valley tonight is from a management burn about an hour south of us. The first picture shows where it is located and the ridge it is burning behind. If this fire burned up to 35,000 acres it would be a good burn as long as it doesn't burn terribly hot. Right now it has burned about 1500 acres. It is doing good fire wise but the smoke became a problem tonight as shown by the pictures. It is unfortunate that when a fire like this is burning that the clearing index (which allows smoke to rise) can't always be above 500 feet (this means the smoke will rise to that level) so that the smoke stays out of the valleys.

Red skies at night are a wildland firefighters delight---here's a picture of the red sun as taken along the river south of our house. The red doesn't really show up as good as it was but you get the idea.

Here is a picture of the sun that was taken near our house---you can see how thick the smoke is and if you look near the tree branches you can see the sun---it was pretty much obliterated by the smoke and the smoke was too heavy for the red to show through.

Seeing this and smelling the smoke got my heart pumping and the adrenaline flowing---I need to get out on at least one more this season.

TRIPPIN'

Just got back from a trip to Idaho where we removed all of the furniture from my grandmother's house. After Mom died we decided we would empty it and sell the property. When we got there Sunday we decided that rather than sell it we would raze it and then just sell the land it sits on. The foundation for the house has failed and it would cost a ton of money to raise the house up and put a new foundation under it. None of us would be there enough to justify that so we decided to just tear it down.

It was a fun trip to get together with two of my brother's and one nephew. It amazed me to see one brother and the nephew move the big old cast iron cook stove onto the trailer. The doorway was 31 1/4 inches wide. The stove was 31 1/4 inches wide. They got it through the door with just a tiny scratch in the paint on the door frame. I know it weighs at least 500 pounds so it was pretty amazing that just the two of them loaded it. But then again they have both been big into weight lifting and are pretty big fellows.

It will be a little sad when the house is finally razed because there are a lot of our memories there---and---a lot of our cousins memories too.

THE GARDENS ARE GROWIN'

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN IS STARTING TO LOOK REALLY GOOD---ONLY A FEW DAYS 'TIL FOOD


I THINK THE FLOWER GARDEN IS THE BEST IT HAS EVER BEEN TOO.