Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

You want to talk about an abrupt change in the weather, that is sure what has happened around here. No rain yet, damn the bad luck, but cooler weather abounds. Last week through Sunday it was low to upper 90's every day and since Monday I don't think it has gotten above 90. It's so damn cool i have to wear a jacket in the morning and keep it on till noon. That is an abrupt change. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I like the cooler temps. It's more comfortable and the fire danger is lessened. It's not over, but it is lessened. I will admit the temperatures are a little below normal for August around here so that may be why it feels so cool. Usually it is September before it drops this much. I have to laugh, because in the spring when it gets to the 70's I complain it is too hot and now it all of a sudden drops to the 70's and I feel cold.

Another abrupt change in my life is my new glasses. My new ones finally came in yesterday. I have been having trouble reading for a while now and I knew it was going to happen, bifocals. Damn, I hope I get used to these things. I had a headache all afternoon after getting them and it feels like one is coming on this morning all ready. I can at least read now but my medium distances are screwed up. I'm going to give it a week or so before I complain but this is miserable.

One last abrupt change. My son, through My darling Wife, got me an early birthday present. A lighted keyboard. I guess they got tired of hearing me complain that i couldn't see the board to type early in the morning. It sure is nice. With the glasses and the light, i can see to type. What a difference it makes.

I just wish there would be one more abrupt change and rain would pour out of the sky but that is not in the forecast, damn the bad luck. I'll take the cooler weather though and suffer through the glasses and enjoy the keyboard.

The more things change, the more they are the same. Alphonse Karr

I'm tired, that's for sure. Last night the weather forecasters said there was going to be a frontal passage that would bring 40 MPH winds and with the hot temperatures and low humidity gave us a red flag warning in the area. Then to top it off they said there was a chance of dry lightning with the frontal passage. Guess what, they were right.

About 8:00 last night I heard some rumbling of thunder and went outside and looked and sure enough off to the north was some lightning. Damn, that worried me. We jumped in the pickup and took off to start driving around to check for fire when the wind hit STRONG. I'll believe it was 40 MPH, it was really blowing. We got a couple of miles away from the p[lace and was cresting a hill when My Darling Wife calls on the radio saying that someone to the north of us said there was a fire between us somewhere. We just crested the hill and I told her that we could see the smoke and there was definitely a fire north of our place and to start calling the fire department and the neighbors because it was putting up a lot of smoke. Maybe I should start calling My Darling Wife, The Dispatcher any more. She seems to be doing that a lot.

The way the wind was blowing I was really worried. The fire was not on my place but the wind was really blowing it that way and it was in some really rough country to get to. The Hired Hand wanted to get in front of the fire and try to put it out so it wouldn't advance towards the place. I told him that he was crazy. I was not getting in front of a fire that was putting up that much smoke, it was really thick by now, with the winds behind it. That was suicide and not what to do in this situation. My goal was to circle around it and start there. I was also gambling that the weather forecasters would be right. They said that after the frontal passage the winds would die down after a couple of hours and the humidity levels would come up which would give us an opportunity to get around the damn thing. With the amount of smoke the fire was putting out it still worried me but that's all I knew to do.

So we circled around to the west of the fire to get to it. It was in the rough, timbered country and we were the first ones there. This wasn't going to be fun. The Dispatcher had people coming our way and there was a guy showing up from the north at the same time so we started on the backside of the fire working one way putting out and the other guy went the other way.

To maker a long story short, about 6 hours later we got around it and the fire and it was not growing anymore. A couple of hours after the frontal passage the winds died down and the humidity levels definitely came up to give us the edge we needed to fight the damn thing. The county was trying to put a line around it with a road grader, awful rough country for that in the dark, and we were getting the edges cooled down. I had kept hearing rumors that someone had spotted a fire on my south end so with this fire under control and enough people around it, we headed out to check this rumor out. It was wrong, I could find nothing else but I was sure glad to have looked around, it made me feel better.

It was a damn long night with little sleep but the fire should be under control if the landowner just watches it. Do you have any concept how hard it is to fight fire in the dark on somebody else's place? I had a vague idea how the country laid but was not intimately familiar with it like I was our country. This made it really tough on all of us but the neighbors and the county were champs and we got it out. I've had enough of this shit. I am not a firefighter and My Darling Wife is not a dispatcher. I just wish it would get wet again and that the fire danger would ease so we wouldn't have to do this. Eventually it will happen but at this point, not soon enough for my taste.

It has been real hazy and smoky around here for the last few days. That is thanks to the fires in Western Montana. This picture shows the smoke cloud all over the state. I am always amazed when I see these sattelite pictures that show this stuff.

I don't want to wish bad luck on anybody, but I hope the fires stay away from here. Fighting a fire in this tall grass around here would be a bitch. The only think I do have to say is that the past few mornings have really had a cool feel to them. You can all ready tell the days are getting shorter and nights cooler. That will help with the fire situation but it's not a cure all. Higher humidities, cooler temperatures, and occasional rain would be the cure. Wrong time of year for that though.

Hat tip to Randy for the picture. I appreciate it.

If coming events are said to cast their shadows before, past events cannot fall to leave their impress behind them. H. P. Blavatsky

The sun rising on yet another hot day in Montana. Taken 7/21/2007.

Indicators in some areas have reached record levels

Veteran Bureau of Land Management fire prevention officer Pat Mullaney figures Eastern Montana is a week to a week and a half from the start of fire season.

Temperatures are soaring and fuels are drying, he said, and before long, firefighters catching 5- to 10-acre wildfires on their initial attack will find themselves building lines around 100-acre fires.

"Then it will be 1,000 acres, and then we're off to the races," Mullaney said Tuesday.

With predictions of an extended stretch of temperatures in the high 90s and 100s, conditions are approaching extreme, he said.

Hell, I don't have much more to say about this than what was written. For the next 10 days they are talking about upper 90's to low 100's for temperatures and it is dry and getting drier out there. It's real scary.

I've seen conditions like this before and all I can do is hold my breath and hope there is no ignition source. Some times we've lucked out there and other times we haven't. It all depends on the weather. Some cool wet weather would be nice but it's not in the cards.

Since this is a hill country one expects to find springs, but not to depend upon them; for when found they are often brackish and unwholesome, or maddening, slow dribbles in a thirsty soil. Mary Austin

As hot and dry as it is getting around here this is a real concern for me. Over 50 square miles burned. With the amount of grass around here we could see the same thing if one gets started. Just one more thing to worry about I guess. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 90's the rest of the week with 100 expected by Saturday, Dry things out even further. Wish there was something I could change about it but I can't. Just deal with it.

When things are perfect, that's when you need to worry most. Drew Barrymore

It's one of those damn things that nothing works out the way you want. All the rain this spring was great, nut the thing I feared is coming true. It is turning hot and dry and the fire danger is going up very fast around here. I know I am still haying but a rainstorm would sure be nice to wet things down. Nothing in the forecast though. Just more hot, dry weather to make things worse. [sarcasm]How lucky I am.[/sarcasm]

Speaking of haying, things are going good on that front. All the alfalfa is down now and I am trying to get it baled up. Should be done with that by Monday afternoon or Tuesday. The fields on the Tullock side went about 1 and a third tons to the acre and the Sarpy fields are going about 2 tons to the acre. Pretty good yield for me. We are going to start cutting some grass hay this next week. We have about 250 acres that I plan to cut and another 200 acres I might cut if I feel we need the hay. If we don't need it for hay it will make good grazing for the cattle and I will leave it alone. That's the nice thing about these grass stands, they give me some options, as long as it doesn't burn up in a fire.

I was looking at the sales receipt for the drys I sold a week ago or so and got a real surprise. One bunch of 4 cows sold together that really surprised me. The sale yard will sort the cows for age and condition so that they can get the maximum price for a bunch of cattle. Hell, they get a commission on it so they want to see the highest price they can for cattle that go through the ring. Anyway, I recognized these 4 cows and couldn't figure out why they sold together,. There was a two year old and two three year olds cows together, which makes sense, and then of all damn things, a twelve year old cow. Now why in tarnation they mixed a twelve year old cow with these nice young cows is beyond me. The real surprising thing about this, the whole bunch brought .72 cents a pound. They brought more per pound than anything else I sold. A twelve year old dry cow bringing 72 cents a pound is unbelievable. She was in good shape, but not that good of shape. Somebody screwed up here but I won't complain. More money in my pocket.

I opened it up so the cows could move into a new pasture here a few days ago. They were chewing the grass down where they were and there was lots of grass in the nest pasture so it was time. Boy they found the gate and were really enjoying the fresh grass. It works out good too because I will start grazing that grass off and reducing the fire danger in that pasture. Less grass, less chance of a fire. Gotta be thinking ahead all the time.

I payed attention to the debate this last week over the immigration bill but never really commented on it here. I just wanted to say a couple of things about it. If people come across the border illegally, they are criminals and need to be shipped home, not given amnesty. Rewarding such behavior is not in the best interests of this country. The Government at all levels, fed, state and local should enforce the existing laws on illegal aliens and deport them. Now we need to address the question of why there are so many of these types of people here. That's simple, there are jobs here that pay better than the jobs where they come from. So we either need to raise the wages where they come from or offer a safe, easy, legal way for them to come here and work temporarily before they go back home. How to do this I don't know but that is what we need. We need more legal immigration and less illegal immigration. This country was founded and built by legal immigrants and legal ones aren't going to hurt us now. This illegal shit needs to stop though.

One of my regular readers, Genevieve, has bestowed upon me a 'Thinking Blogger Award.' Wow, thanks Genevieve, I appreciate it. I really don't do memes so I will just thank Genevieve for the honor and say that most blogs I read make me think and would honor all if I could but that's not the way things work.

The Fourth of July is coming up with all the fireworks and fun to be had by all. Remember it is getting dry out there so be careful with the fireworks. Don't want any problems, let's be safe and sane out there.

I would really like WildBlue Internet service explain to me how my bandwidth usage could be going up with my internet shut off. I have complained about this frequently and all they tell me is that it isn't there problem. I wish I had another option for Internet other than Satellite. I've heard Starband has gotten worse than they were before I dropped them for WildBlue so they no longer are an option. What a pain it is. Be glad if you live in a more populated area and have options. When your stuck like this to a certain service they can screw you coming and going.

Bounced around enough today. I know I haven't been posting much lately but I've been busy and not much has been catching my eye so thats the way it is.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Epicurus