The weeks news. A new floor, a moose, and a wreck.
It’s been an interesting week up here on the mountain, my little slice of heaven in the great northwest.
We got some rain in the form of a thunderstorm that started 15 new fires. Nothing near us, for which we are thankful. So far, nine are contained, two were put out quickly, leaving four I have no information about; either they are in an area that doesn’t pose a threat to homes, or they aren’t close to being contained yet. We got more rain this morning, and thankfully, no lightning. It still isn’t nearly enough to help the drought conditions here. Temperatures have been cooler this past week; mornings have even been a bit chilly, a prelude to the coming autumn, a season I fully enjoy.
Our moose mamma was back in the early morning hours of Thursday with her calf in tow. She was in our yard, happily munching away on the fire weed near the porch. She was unconcerned when I stepped out to say hello, and only left when the dogs wouldn’t quit barking. She looked much better then when I saw her last, meaning she’s finding enough to eat. The calf looked healthy as well, almost twice the size it was when we first saw it. By October, the calf will be as big as mamma, they grow so fast.
The lovely wife finished putting 10 coats of polyurethane on 17 of the red fir boards, and once they were dry, we spent the next couple of days emptying the bedroom, then laying them down over the sub-floor. It really turned out beautiful. I was a bit skeptical that the boards needed 10 coats, but I love the end result, so it was worth the wait. Next spring, I want to get the rest finished and do the living room floor. The lovely wife wants to do it now, but that means tearing up two layers of flooring before we can even start. It also took her over a month to put ten coats of polyurethane on the boards for the bedroom. I don’t think we have that kind of time before the lovely wife goes back to work and winter hits.
Someone up here had ordered a water delivery this past week, and we saw the water truck heading up one of the side roads as the lovely wife and I were heading down to town, When we returned, people living at the bottom were tending to an injured man, he appeared to have a head wound, and was soaked with blood. We found out it was the driver of the water truck and he had walked nearly a mile down to the county road. It looked like he was coming down the mountain, and not understanding the steepness of the grade, had his air brakes fail, causing him to hit a bank rather than go off the wrong side and down over the embankment. The water tank, bolted to the frame by only three small bolts (I know this because I checked out the wreck later) came loose in the wreck, and was laying across the road, having dumped all of the water left in it. It blocked most of the road, preventing us from getting home. We had to wait for a wrecker, which had to back up almost a mile in order to be able to hook up to the tank. The truck was towed off the next morning; since it wasn’t blocking anything, there wasn’t a big rush to get it.
Well, that’s all the news for the week. Bye for now.
