One Eighth

With two houses needing fuel for the wood stove, my preseason calculation is 16 loads.  Sixteen truck loads of wood:  Eight for The Homestead and eight for 420 Grand.  Actually, I didn't burn all my 2019/2020 wood at 420, so I probably don't need as much this year.  In any case, I got started on the Utah portion of the task this weekend.  I had located a large, dead and down, ponderosa between town and Yankee, so I went there and began cutting.  What I soon realized (something I should have known) was that the wood had not cured and that each round weighed 200 lbs.  I could not lift the pieces into the truck.  So, I cut a load of branch wood (above) and took that to town.  I returned with a maul and a momma.  Which is to say that I broke the rounds into five or six pieces, and then VSO helped me load it (below).  It was back breaking work, but she did much of it.  She is stronger than she looks.

Smoked Sheep

This week we're smoking sheep.  Actually, the sheep are smoking us.  The Sheep Fire made it most of the way to town last night.  And then spent the day filling the valley with PM2.5.  The current air quality index is 204, which rates as "very unhealthy."  What was it I said?  I'd rather have a smoked lamb in front of me than the smoke from a lamb ruining the air quality.

A Deeper Shade of Green

The Hog Fire burned about 3,000 acres of the National Forest.  Like most wildfires, at least half of that total acreage experienced low to no severity burning; the rest was moderate to high.  In the latter areas (like the one pictured), there is usually 100% mortality of above-ground vegetation.  The roots, however, survive, and they immediately begin to sprout.  Willow, aspen, oak, choke-cherry.  These are all sprouters, and you will be surprised at how quickly they pop-up.  In these pictures, though, we're in the green line again:  A little ephemeral channel that began growing wetland grasses within a few days of the fire.

Solo Career

Over the past year, EDO has branched out into rock and pop.  Her solo career includes a number of cover songs, as well as some originals.  If you haven't joined her YouTube channel, this is the time.  She just released a video cover of U2's Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.  I think she did a great job with it.  Watch here.

The Covey

According to the Audubon book, the California quail (Callipepla californica) has adapted well to civilization, and can be found in suburbs and city parks.  Or at 420 Grand.  My own personal covey likes to eat the fruit in the orchard, and has adapted well to me being gone during part of the summer.  When I return they fly up on the roof.

The Green Line

This will not be one of the driest years on record.  Even if the water year ended today, we would barely make the top ten.  (We're sitting at 7.82 inches, which would be tenth driest, bumping 1996 to eleventh.)  Nevertheless, the 2020 summer has been significantly drier than normal.  The average for May is .86 inches, the average for June is .42 inches, and the average for July is 1.0 inches, for a three month total (on average) of 2.3 inches.  In 2020, we've got zero for May, .10 for June, and .60 for July, for a three month total of .70:  Less than one third of normal.  If you're not in the green line; you're in the dust zone.