The first numbers which were released by the authorities last week involving the fires were that about 70 "structures" had been burned. It sure seemed like a lot more than that to me.
I went into the local hardware store on Monday after the fires and four of the six people who work in there were homeless, including Wes, the owner. Richard, Susan, and Charles all had lost their homes. The American Red Cross did a survey last Monday and raised their estimate to 209 families homeless.
Being late August, school is getting ready to start and the count of homeless at school was five teachers and 76 students. It really is getting to the point that you hate to ask someone if they lost their home because the answer is probably going to be yes.
I had to go by the local tag office yesterday and, sure enough, one of the women who works there, Rhonda, had lost her home. She and her husband are living in an RV until they can get started again.
Last night about 9:15 p.m., I was returning from a trip to my land which is about fifteen miles away. At the intersection of Highways 48 and 51, I spotted a dog with no tail running around the intersection. I recognized the dog as the one that our friend, Amy, had been trying to catch for over a week. I pulled the Jeep over, got out, and tried to coax the dog up to me but she would have no part of it.
While I was trying to lure the dog up, a Nissan pickup pulled up with a young couple in it and asked if I needed help. I explained what I was doing and the woman got out and tried to get the dog to come to her. I idly asked the young man if he had lost anything and he said, Yes, he had lost everything, including his carpentry tools which he made a living with.
I was really struck that these people had lost everything they own but pulled over to see if they could help me! Perhaps there is some hope for the human race after all. By the way, the latest numbers I have heard from the wildfires are over 400 homes lost. It truly is an unforgettable tragedy!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Wildfires
The past three days have been exciting, too exciting for my tastes.
We have had an exceptionally hot, dry summer. In fact, at our house, we have received a total of .29 inches of rain since June 4. The total for July was .26 inches and we got another .03 inches night before last. We have had 24 days of 100° plus temperatures, 5 in June, 15 in July, and 4 so far in August. The temperatures and lack of rain are very similar to last year.
Last Friday, August 3, there was a pretty good sized grass fire which started somewhere south of State Highway 33 and west of State Highway 48, about 15 miles from our house. On Saturday morning, I drove down there to see if the fire had burned our land which we use for deer hunting. It had not; the fire was west of our place about a mile.
Since Saturday was my birthday, I planned to do nothing but laze around all day. According to the weather forecast, it was going to be too hot to do anything outside anyway. We decided to take Rachel and Mike, our daughter and son-in-law, out to eat that evening.
As the day progressed, that fire got bigger and bigger and closer to Mannford. I was listening to a couple of scanners and it seemed that every few minutes, another fire department was called in to render aid. About noon, we decided that we might not want to go off to Tulsa for dinner. We lost both water and electricity around 1:00 p.m. and the house quickly began to heat up. The high at our house that day was 109°.
About 3:00 p.m., the emergency management people issued a mandatory evacuation of the entire town of Mannford. This, coupled with the huge amounts of smoke around and our lack of air conditioning, prompted us to decide to spend the night in Sand Springs with Rachel and Mike. We packed a few things and the dogs and headed their way.
At the kids' house, we spent most of the evening keeping track of the fires on the television news and on Facebook. I did discover how much misinformation can be found there. There were several reports of people's houses and businesses being burned that later were proven to be wrong. Facebook is a great social medium and I do enjoy it but I'm not going to believe much of the news I get from it!
Yesterday morning after breakfast, Louise and I and the dogs headed home. We still had no electricity but we were going to stay home anyway. We did get our water service back about noon and about 3:00 p.m., the electricity came back on. The air conditioning sure does feel good.
We don't know yet how many people lost their homes but we do personally know about half a dozen who did. Fortunately, there have not been any reports of fatalities or serious injuries. We had lost a friend in the 2011 wildfires and were worried that that might happen again.
The only fatality at our house was our big old orange koi. The fish pond pump was not running, of course, and the lack of oxygen and high water temperature was too much for him. He was about 10 years old and weighed about five pounds. Its kind of hard to get sentimentally attached to a fish but I hated to lose him after all those years.
We are extremely appreciative of all the emergency services people. I know that some long, long hours have been put in the past three days to get these fires put down. Hopefully, today will be the day that they all get to go home and rest.
We have had an exceptionally hot, dry summer. In fact, at our house, we have received a total of .29 inches of rain since June 4. The total for July was .26 inches and we got another .03 inches night before last. We have had 24 days of 100° plus temperatures, 5 in June, 15 in July, and 4 so far in August. The temperatures and lack of rain are very similar to last year.
Last Friday, August 3, there was a pretty good sized grass fire which started somewhere south of State Highway 33 and west of State Highway 48, about 15 miles from our house. On Saturday morning, I drove down there to see if the fire had burned our land which we use for deer hunting. It had not; the fire was west of our place about a mile.
Since Saturday was my birthday, I planned to do nothing but laze around all day. According to the weather forecast, it was going to be too hot to do anything outside anyway. We decided to take Rachel and Mike, our daughter and son-in-law, out to eat that evening.
As the day progressed, that fire got bigger and bigger and closer to Mannford. I was listening to a couple of scanners and it seemed that every few minutes, another fire department was called in to render aid. About noon, we decided that we might not want to go off to Tulsa for dinner. We lost both water and electricity around 1:00 p.m. and the house quickly began to heat up. The high at our house that day was 109°.
About 3:00 p.m., the emergency management people issued a mandatory evacuation of the entire town of Mannford. This, coupled with the huge amounts of smoke around and our lack of air conditioning, prompted us to decide to spend the night in Sand Springs with Rachel and Mike. We packed a few things and the dogs and headed their way.
At the kids' house, we spent most of the evening keeping track of the fires on the television news and on Facebook. I did discover how much misinformation can be found there. There were several reports of people's houses and businesses being burned that later were proven to be wrong. Facebook is a great social medium and I do enjoy it but I'm not going to believe much of the news I get from it!
Yesterday morning after breakfast, Louise and I and the dogs headed home. We still had no electricity but we were going to stay home anyway. We did get our water service back about noon and about 3:00 p.m., the electricity came back on. The air conditioning sure does feel good.
We don't know yet how many people lost their homes but we do personally know about half a dozen who did. Fortunately, there have not been any reports of fatalities or serious injuries. We had lost a friend in the 2011 wildfires and were worried that that might happen again.
The only fatality at our house was our big old orange koi. The fish pond pump was not running, of course, and the lack of oxygen and high water temperature was too much for him. He was about 10 years old and weighed about five pounds. Its kind of hard to get sentimentally attached to a fish but I hated to lose him after all those years.
We are extremely appreciative of all the emergency services people. I know that some long, long hours have been put in the past three days to get these fires put down. Hopefully, today will be the day that they all get to go home and rest.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Vacation from Hell
Did you ever have one of those vacations where everything seemed to go wrong? Louise and I, and our granddaughter, Gabby, just returned from Colorado two weeks early because nothing about our trip was going as it should.
Our first sign was a lack of water. For years, we have taken our RV up there empty and filled the water tank at White Star Campground near Twin Lakes, a small town near where we camp. When we got there this year, we discovered that the US Forest Service had cut the bibs off the hydrants so no hoses could be attached! Apparently, this is the way our government insures that they are in compliance with anti-siphon faucet regulations. Instead of installing anti-siphon faucets, just whack the old ones up where they can't be used!
When we got to our campsite, we discovered that no one else was there except for the host. This was on July 2, two days before the biggest summer holiday of the year and no one was there! I occasionally like a little solitude but this was just plain eerie! At any rate, we decided to stay for a week and there were a few campers who came and went during that period. I should point out that the Forest Service changed their rules: you can now stay in their campgrounds only 14 days out of every thirty! We don't understand this new rule; its certainly not because the campgrounds are so crowded with campers.
After a week in the Forest Service campground, we decided to move to a commercial RV park. Gabby was a bit unhappy because there was no one to play with and we also needed to be able to hook up to water and sewer. Our friends Tom and Alice were coming up and were going to stay at the KOA in Buena Vista so we got a spot there as well and paid for eight nights.
The first couple of days in the KOA were not too bad but then our dog, Buddy, got sick. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he really was lethargic. We were going to find a vet for him but he managed to recover on his own.
About this time, I needed to receive and send a fax in order to change over some insurance so I sent Gabby to the office to obtain the fax number. "Fax Services" was one of the items listed on the RV Park's brochure. She came back in a few minutes and said that the owner wouldn't give her the number, that I had to come up there! Well, to give you the short story, my "Okie" temper kicked in and the owners wound up suggesting that we should leave the Park. We decided to stay there just to spite them.
While Louise and I were contemplating what we should do next, Gabby was out riding her bicycle. She slid coming down a steep hill, lost control, and slid on the gravel. She had a pretty serious case of "road rash" on her knees, legs and arms. Louise got her "doctored up" but she was pretty sore.
After the bicycle wreck, the three of us sat down and decided to come on back home, even though we had planned to stay a couple of weeks longer! The trip home was uneventful and we sure are glad to be home.
As an epilogue, I should tell you that I decided to post a negative review about the Buena Vista KOA on tripadvisor.com. When I logged on there, I discovered that there was already a long list of negative reviews about the owners of this place! The moral of the story, of course, is to check the reviews before you go, not after!
At any rate, we survived and the next one will be better.
Our first sign was a lack of water. For years, we have taken our RV up there empty and filled the water tank at White Star Campground near Twin Lakes, a small town near where we camp. When we got there this year, we discovered that the US Forest Service had cut the bibs off the hydrants so no hoses could be attached! Apparently, this is the way our government insures that they are in compliance with anti-siphon faucet regulations. Instead of installing anti-siphon faucets, just whack the old ones up where they can't be used!
When we got to our campsite, we discovered that no one else was there except for the host. This was on July 2, two days before the biggest summer holiday of the year and no one was there! I occasionally like a little solitude but this was just plain eerie! At any rate, we decided to stay for a week and there were a few campers who came and went during that period. I should point out that the Forest Service changed their rules: you can now stay in their campgrounds only 14 days out of every thirty! We don't understand this new rule; its certainly not because the campgrounds are so crowded with campers.
After a week in the Forest Service campground, we decided to move to a commercial RV park. Gabby was a bit unhappy because there was no one to play with and we also needed to be able to hook up to water and sewer. Our friends Tom and Alice were coming up and were going to stay at the KOA in Buena Vista so we got a spot there as well and paid for eight nights.
The first couple of days in the KOA were not too bad but then our dog, Buddy, got sick. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he really was lethargic. We were going to find a vet for him but he managed to recover on his own.
About this time, I needed to receive and send a fax in order to change over some insurance so I sent Gabby to the office to obtain the fax number. "Fax Services" was one of the items listed on the RV Park's brochure. She came back in a few minutes and said that the owner wouldn't give her the number, that I had to come up there! Well, to give you the short story, my "Okie" temper kicked in and the owners wound up suggesting that we should leave the Park. We decided to stay there just to spite them.
While Louise and I were contemplating what we should do next, Gabby was out riding her bicycle. She slid coming down a steep hill, lost control, and slid on the gravel. She had a pretty serious case of "road rash" on her knees, legs and arms. Louise got her "doctored up" but she was pretty sore.
After the bicycle wreck, the three of us sat down and decided to come on back home, even though we had planned to stay a couple of weeks longer! The trip home was uneventful and we sure are glad to be home.
As an epilogue, I should tell you that I decided to post a negative review about the Buena Vista KOA on tripadvisor.com. When I logged on there, I discovered that there was already a long list of negative reviews about the owners of this place! The moral of the story, of course, is to check the reviews before you go, not after!
At any rate, we survived and the next one will be better.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Vehicles We Have Owned
This is a list of all the cars, trucks and motorcycles we have owned over the years. Some were owned with Louise, some with my brother, Gary, and some with my son, Dan.
I was really surprised at the number although I shouldn't have since I'm OLD! This is roughly in the chronological order that we had them, starting in about 1958:
Have you ever thought about making a list like this? It is an interesting exercise although I'm not sure what it says about us? I guess it indicates that Americans love their cars!
I was really surprised at the number although I shouldn't have since I'm OLD! This is roughly in the chronological order that we had them, starting in about 1958:
|
Have you ever thought about making a list like this? It is an interesting exercise although I'm not sure what it says about us? I guess it indicates that Americans love their cars!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Genealogy
Louise and I have been interested in genealogy for several years now and have spent our share of time looking through cemeteries for specific tombstones. Its the kind of hobby where you can kind of run hot or cold; we just finished a stretch of three or four years where we didn't do anything at all.
Probably my best success was with my father's family. Dad knew his own father but no one beyond that. We were able to track his family back several generations and found out a lot of interesting things. This was all done while he was still alive so he got to learn his family a bit better.
My mother's family is interesting in that HER mother's side has been well documented back to before the American Revolution. In fact, there have been widely circulated books about this family. On the other hand, her father's side (my maternal grandfather) is a complete dead end. We know my grandfather's parents' names but nothing else about them. Its kind of frustrating but perhaps some day we will find the key. Ironically, Granddad was a member of the LDS church which is completely dedicated to genealogy.
As you may have guessed, we have started doing a bit more genealogy lately. It is absolutely amazing how much "stuff" has been added on the Internet since we were involved last. We just purchased a subscription to Ancestry.com and have already learned a lot just by going through their files. Another interesting website is Findagrave.com, where volunteers have listed millions of tombstones from around the World.
It is a very fascinating hobby and if you have some spare time and interest in your family's past, you should look into it. It has been very rewarding for us.
Probably my best success was with my father's family. Dad knew his own father but no one beyond that. We were able to track his family back several generations and found out a lot of interesting things. This was all done while he was still alive so he got to learn his family a bit better.
My mother's family is interesting in that HER mother's side has been well documented back to before the American Revolution. In fact, there have been widely circulated books about this family. On the other hand, her father's side (my maternal grandfather) is a complete dead end. We know my grandfather's parents' names but nothing else about them. Its kind of frustrating but perhaps some day we will find the key. Ironically, Granddad was a member of the LDS church which is completely dedicated to genealogy.
As you may have guessed, we have started doing a bit more genealogy lately. It is absolutely amazing how much "stuff" has been added on the Internet since we were involved last. We just purchased a subscription to Ancestry.com and have already learned a lot just by going through their files. Another interesting website is Findagrave.com, where volunteers have listed millions of tombstones from around the World.
It is a very fascinating hobby and if you have some spare time and interest in your family's past, you should look into it. It has been very rewarding for us.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
The Finished Loop Antenna
The feedline is on the steel tower over by the house and there are four other poles arranged in a pentagram. The poles are about 117' apart and the wire is 536 feet long. The results are spectacular! The bad news is that the loop out-performs my three element beam on 20, 15, and 10 meters.
I do need to experiment with the feedline length. Right now I'm at about 70 feet and it probably should be increased to 130 feet. Anyway, if you have the room, I would strongly recommend a skywire or loop antenna.
If I have any more breakthroughs, I'll let you know.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Poles in the Air
The other day, I wrote about my difficulties in obtaining utility poles. Well, as usual, that problem was easy to solve with money!
Gary, the local utility contractor, bought four poles for me from a mill in Arkansas. They were delivered early last week by a hauler out of Little Rock. He had a load of poles going to Oilton and put on my four as well. The driver used some sort of articulated crane to unload the poles in just a matter of minutes!
I needed to get the poles ready for use by mounting a swivel and pulley at the top of each one and running a dacron line to the ground. I told Gary I would give him a call when I was ready to stand them up. At this point I should mention that, although the poles were supposed to be 50 feet long, they didn't look very long laying there. I got a tape measure out and checked them and they were right on.
By Thursday, I had obtained all the "stuff" I needed to rig the poles and it only took a couple of hours to finish them up. I called Gary and he told me he would be out the next day (yesterday) to set them. So, about 10 a.m. yesterday, he showed up with the digger derrick and proceeded to stand them up. As with any job, having the right tools makes it so much easier! In less than three hours he had the poles all installed.
It is absolutely amazing how tall those poles became after they were set! The same ones that I thought were too short are now giants. Today, I'm going to get the loop antenna up on these new poles and see how it works. I'll let you know when I find out.
Gary, the local utility contractor, bought four poles for me from a mill in Arkansas. They were delivered early last week by a hauler out of Little Rock. He had a load of poles going to Oilton and put on my four as well. The driver used some sort of articulated crane to unload the poles in just a matter of minutes!
I needed to get the poles ready for use by mounting a swivel and pulley at the top of each one and running a dacron line to the ground. I told Gary I would give him a call when I was ready to stand them up. At this point I should mention that, although the poles were supposed to be 50 feet long, they didn't look very long laying there. I got a tape measure out and checked them and they were right on.
By Thursday, I had obtained all the "stuff" I needed to rig the poles and it only took a couple of hours to finish them up. I called Gary and he told me he would be out the next day (yesterday) to set them. So, about 10 a.m. yesterday, he showed up with the digger derrick and proceeded to stand them up. As with any job, having the right tools makes it so much easier! In less than three hours he had the poles all installed.
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