Title: July 3, 2022 - Delilah
Delilah life must agree with me. I woke up to sunlight streaming through my windows around 0630. Lately this is late for me. I pulled my data to see if any lightning happened yesterday. None-I did not think there would be any. Then I got ready for the new day.
At 0801 I went into service. with both Porterville and Sierra. And then it is quiet. This is not unusual. What I am particularly looking for is someone having an early morning fire. But I did not see anything like that-everybody in my viewing area seems to be behaving themselves. Until something happens, I spend my time washing the windows.
Before 0900, Micah comes
along. She is going to refresh with me. Nine months between being at
a lookout can leave a person a bit rusty about how to be an effective
fire lookout. The Buck
Rock Foundation
likes to have everyone have someone to get up to speed with. Today,
Micah is my victim. Last year was her first year in the tower. That
did not scare her away. We went through what to do to open the
lookout, then radio usage-this was interesting because of our ongoing
radio problems, use of the fire finder and orientation points. We
then walked through some sample fire reporting. All in all, I thought
it went well. Not only is it good for her, it is good for me to be
explaining things, so I have to think through what I do up here. As
she was leaving, we talked about the emergency room .By the time she
left, it was about 1345.
Delilah at Sundown
When I get back up in the cabin, I take a few minutes just to recuperate, not that being with Micah was rough or anything. I just had been on my feet a lot, and I am missing my after lunch siesta. And now back to my regular programming. Lots of unattended or illegal campfires being reported. And then there is gun fire reported around Rock Creek in Sierra NF-scary with all of the things which are going on these days. It sounded like nothing came of it.
Like I said yesterday, afternoons at Delilah gets cool. There is a pretty good breeze which comes up the canyon. Today is another story. It is cold! Winds are blowing in the 10-15 mph range. Not only that, there is a lot of moisture in the air and the temperature is in the upper 60’s. I close up the cab and watch the interior temperatures climb to tolerable. Plus I get on my long sleeve shirts and the bottoms of my pants.
At 1600 Sierra does a lookout check in; Porterville reports the fire indices. How can I do both channels off of one radio? I got so proud of my solution, I almost broke my hand patting me on the back. I radioed Sierra that I was having radio issues and would not be able to respond at 1600, so I am doing a pre-check in. Even Buck Rock thought that was brilliant. Then she asked if I had heard Sierra do a check in? Negative. Oh well, best laid plans,..
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| Tivy Mountain |
More scans and stuff until 1800 went I fixed myself dinner. Chicken and melted cheese with pepper sauce over a tortilla. May not sound like much, but I was satisfied. Then more of the same, Andrea, my daughter calls me and we talk for 20 minutes-always good to hear from her.
Then a small bit of excitement. Sierra calls out a fire in Auberry at 1940 called the Gopher Fire. Wait I just got finished looking over there-seems like this happens a lot to me. I go back and take a look,with the coordinates they gave, the azimuth should be at 309 38’. Still do not see anything, but there is a lot of shadows and darkness which would make it hard to see. Shuteye Lookout chimes in and says there is no smoke visible from what he sees. I do another look and say the same thing. A few minutes later I hear Sierra call off their resources. Maybe it is because Auberry is now in some pretty dark shadows.
By then, it is time to go out of service 2000, and I am ready to take a break. I take care of some business downstairs. Sherri is having people over for dinner. I text her and tell her my schedule for the evening. I suspect I will not hear from her before I go to bed.
At 2100, Buck Rock and I try to duplicate last night’s light flash-tonight it is Michigan who is up there. We try, but she cannot distinguish my light from background lights. It is more hazy than yesterday. Maybe the additional amount of particulate matter is making a difference.
I read and do a few things before shutting my eyes. The stars are just magnificent, better than the fireworks in the Valley which I watched for ten minutes. Glad I am up here. Just wish Sherri was here to enjoy this time as well.
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