Archive for ‘August, 2007’

More Wasps…

Wasps, yellow jackets – whatever, they are still around and not only more active the last several days, but I was stung AGAIN – and IN the house… one of them must have followed one of us inside and it was “sitting” on the cord for one of the blinds.  Just before going to bed, I open the blinds in preparation for opening the windows when it cools outside.  I put my hand right on the wasp – the cord is 3 feet long!  and I picked the exact place the wasp was sitting.   I got stung on the little finger of my right hand – first joint above the palm. In 24 hours my entire hand was swollen and looks like the paddle foot of some sci-fi water creature – itches like crazy and the skin on my pour little finger is so swollen that it split in a couple of places – OWWWW!

Desparate times call for desparate measures aka revenge is sweet! A woman in the health food store had related that she set out a bowl of beer and a lot of wasps drowned in it… aha – I had tried glasses of grenadine – syrupy sweet – no luck.  So, today, set out 2 glasses of beer…   YES!!!

Wasps

rolling out of harm’s way

There are no fires directly threatening my home or property.  There are 4 large fires within 50 miles – all in different directions.  The Flathead Valley is full of smoke – sometimes it is up against the mountains, sometimes it drops down like a thick fog, sometimes there is falling ash – it is disconcerting to say the least.  From my house there are a handful of routes out of the valley – I have decided to take one – at least most probably…the motorhome is “down” the driveway, Jeep is hooked up, all I need is loaded and we (Karl, Bob and I) are “moved in”.  My thought is to go to Missoula – 110 miles south and just off the interstate: I-90.  It is a relatively inexpensive move in terms of time, fuel and park expenses – a park I know and like with good walking for Karl, good Wi-Fi for working – it is a low risk move to a spot that enables us to “jump” on the Interstate and head for the coast or east if MT conditions worsen.  While it is unlikely that the valley would burn, it is a bit scary to me to be surrounded by fire and potentially have the routes out closed – even momentarily closed.  And as an ORS friend said – “any excuse to go!” – well, yes !  I am not unopposed to a brief “trip” to the “big city” – the owner’s of Jim n Mary’s RV park in Missoula where I stay always laugh when I call Missoula the “big city” – all is relative…

Hooked up 

Garage The garage corner with snowblower, mower, blower, weed whacker, snowshoes….stuff – very odd – although it is VERY unlikely that a fire will wipe out my house, it is at least a possibility in my mind or I wouldn’t be “running”.  I have everything I need in the motorhome and I did pack some photo albums that have photos of my dad, grandparents, some child-hood stuff – “in case” but nothing else.  A funny feeling to look around and really be aware that there was a possibility – no matter how slight – that all might be destroyed.  What to take, what to leave – I stuck with what I normally take plus the albums (3)…

Some of the party are not affected…. Karl relaxing, Bob on the hunt!

Karl Bob

Oh deer!

I KNOW better!

Mea culpa to my step-Dad, Bill!

Bill gave me Egyptian Onions, Pimento plant, Pepper Plant – from seed starts that I think he starts in the dead of winter.  I babied them from CO,  putting them in the shower before I rolled each morning and on the dash to have a bit of sun when I parked each night…

Plants in MotorhomeI spritzed and talked and loved these plants up all the way home… and then in Montana they had a spot in the sunroom for 4 days – a bit of natural light but not too much as they were in transition – and probably shock!

 After 4 days I started putting them on the front porch – just a little bit at first and gradually more until they were on the front porch all of the time.

Next step – transfer to pretty new pots.. nice roomy pots from my favorite nursery and they just looked beautiful – I’m SOOOOO sorry that I did not get a photo of them looking beautiful in their new pots…

Because – today – Aug 1 – I left Karl and Bob in the house and was gone about 3 hours to gather groceries and other house stuff, plus pick up the motorhome and while I was gone – the  @#$&%$!!!! DEER had a small feast…

Plant stubs

BUT, I am not giving up – I was especially looking forward to making pimento cheese – SO, all the pots are now in the garden which has a deer-proof fence – where they should have been to begin with – I can NOT believe I was so STUPID!

Ok, well, in the midst of deer distruction, fires-smoke, heat – several pieces of GOOD news.  Sam, my folks cat, is doing VERY well, my motorhome’s hydraulics are fixed and it is home and stocked/loaded in case we need it for a fire escape, AND temps are cooler and kind of pleasant baring the smoke/fire stuff.  We are counting our blessings!

To close – Bob, the cat – a “legend in his own mind”…photos especially for ORS friend 2oldman:

Bob 

Bob B

Smoke gets in your eyes

For friends and family seeing the Montana Fires on the news….while it is shaping up to be a very nasty fire year, there are no fires near enough to me to be of concern.  There is a lot of smoke – particulary afternoons – yesterday was the worst as lots of plumes went up late afternoon with normal thermal conditions and then a bit of breeze blew the smoke into the valley.  This will probably continue and the high temps make it hard for them to get a handle on the fires.  There is some rain forecast later in the week – although with thunder/lightning. 

There are structures and homes threatened in a number of locations which is unfortunate.  In the years I’ve been here and seen 3 other bad fire years, the fire teams have kept structure damage to a minimum – boy, tough and dangerous job!

The sun is rising a hazy red – we will not be seeing blue sky today.

Sunrise

Karl