A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

Good Morning. Another rday has begun. Where it goes and what we do has yet to be determined, but it’s here for us to enjoy and do whatever we want or must do. Sunshine and blue skies are ur morning so far.

Anne, thanks for the Fire pics. As Judy posted yesterday, Michigan has indeed burned in the past, during the logging era. Now, with exception of some areas, northern hardwoods have replaced the miles and miles of pine. Pine and spruce are interspersed with them. In the county below me and some of the areas to it’s East and southeast are large areas of Jack Pine. Those trees are highly flammable as it is how they regenerate. The cones ned high heat to open and disperse their seeds. Early spring is the most critical fire time there. It is also home to the Kirkland Warbler, an endangered bird species, who only nest in Jack Pone forest with young trees. For years, the State used to do controlled burns to clear out the older pine and regenerate the forests and occasionally a fire would get out of hand and take off. Thty rarely do it today as there are methods of gathering the pine cones and beating them to release the seeds and stsrt new seedlings which will then be planted in clear cut areas. Forestry is aliveand well here in northern Michigan. Instead of loggers, axes, bores es and grains, it’s machinery and logging trucks clear cutting selected areas of forest to clear out old growth and regenerate new forest. . But there are still fires here and there, mostly caused by people who are burning when Thry shouldn’t, sometimes a controlled burn getting out of hand, and not far from me is Camp Grayling’s Air to Ground practice range and they sometimes accidentally set off a fire When planes are shooting middles or dropping bombs. Camp grayling is the largest National Guard Training facility in the country and is used by regular army troops as well. https://minationalguard.dodlive.mil/Abo ... -Grayling/

This aerial picture was taken recently of the lake across the road from me and the next Lake over. The bottom Lake is Fawn Lake, the upper lake is Heart Lake. We owned a cottage/home on Heart Lake for 20 years before selling that and moving over next to where I am now. If you look down the the far left corner of The second picture is of Otsego Lake, 2 miles to my north. The largest lake in the county, 7 miles long and a mile wide at it’s widest point.




Dentist appt. this afternoon and probably some grocery shopping. Maybe will will paint my frame I made for the garage service door so I can cut the lattice and get the thing in place before this week is out. So guess I should get a move on and get something accomplished this morning. Have a nice day everyone.

Sue and Judy:

Thanks for the reminder about the Michigan fires. I think we discussed the Michigan fires in a previous thread, but I guess it slipped my mind.

The truth of the matter is that no forested area (or even moderately brushy area) - anywhere - is truly safe from wildfire. Our so-called "Mediterranean Climate" here in California has always made the state prone to wildfire (wildfire here is nothing new - Sue, as you noted, Jackpines are evolved to co-exist with fire. It is the same for many plant species here in California as well).

All it takes for so-called "wet climates" with forest cover or even moderate brush cover, to burst into flame is a year or two of drought, followed by a careless camper, or a lightning strike, and we are off to the races.

Also as noted in a previous thread, no where is truly safe.

Earthquakes mostly don't bother me, I just try to remain aware of what might follow after the shaking stops. As I said, "mostly" (I was just a couple of miles from the epicenter of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, but I will save the story of my experiences of that quake for another time).
https://www.lacity.org/highlights/remembering-northridge-earthquake

LOL. California has, as we say, the "Whole Enchilada" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20whole%20enchilada) as far as natural disasters go:

Wildfire
Drought
Floods
Dam failure (St. Francis dam - 400 people died)
Tsunamis (aka tidal waves)
Landslides
Earthquakes
Tornadoes (yep!)

. . .and even volcanic eruption (California's Lassen Peak)! The county I worked for before retiring had official procedures in place of what to do should Lassen cork off again! Question of the day: what two volcanoes in the continental United States erupted in the 20th century? Answer: Mt. St. Helens and Lassen Peak.

Kinda fun living out here, if you know what I mean. Makes life "interesting".

Anne

Sue, I wish I was as ambitious with projects as you are. I use to like to build things like cages and toy boxes. A neighbor gave my son a baby rabbit and I built a cage out of 2X4's. Harold said it would have held a gorilla. lol That was the most watched rabbit. The cats would sit on the top of the cage looking down and the dog would sit under the cage looking up. If that rabbit hadn't been smart he would have starved to death. If he was out of water he would bump the water bottle if someone passed by. If he was out of food he would sling his bowl. I finally gave him away.

I never did hear from the guy about the round pen. It was storming about the time they were going to come so probably didn't come.

Haven't heard from the RV shop either. They gave me the impression that it might have been ready Monday. Not that I can go anywhere, the neighbor that feeds for me is gone for a week. Hope they didn't have to order another part.

I haven't checked to see where the rain is today.

Martha

Hi ladies!

After reading Sue's message yesterday about the smoke in Michigan, I told Steve yesterday on our way home from the house how hazy it was. On this mornings news out of our local weather station in Baltimore, they said the haze we're seeing is from the wild fires in CA. Who knew? But there isn't any smoky smell, just lots of haze.

We emptied out our bedroom today at the house. The construction dumpster is full and will be picked up tomorrow. Habitat of Humanity finally answered their phone after leaving several messages and will call us in a couple days to make arrangements to pick up what didn't sell. I will be so elated to get everything done and house sold to continue the next chapter of our lives.

Steve's birthday is Friday, so we're taking tomorrow off from going to the house and will go shopping to get the ingredients for his birthday meal. We've invited friends we've known almost forever, camping friends, to join us to celebrate the occasion.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

I'm in a salon getting a perm. Hopefully it'll help my hair that hates the weather here. That said, I don't think this person has done many perms as it took a long long time to roll. The rest should go faster. I took the scenic route (which I think is also the fastest) here. Beautiful. The summit I crossed was over 9900 elevation. Many twists and turns. I'll return the same way. When the perm is done I'll pick up my grocery order and some lunch and make a quick stop at Dollar Tree on the way home. Hopefully I'll get home before the afternoon rains. Not sure anymore lol
But I'm glad for the rains that are helping our drought. Still is considered a drought though.

Irmi, isn't it amazing how far away the smoke effects us!

No rain here today. I see big thunderheads over the mountains to the east of Joshua Tree NP. Maybe some rain here tomorrow but I am not holding my breath. Good news is the temps are going down by the weekend. The high on Sunday will "only" be 100*. Might have to get out the long pants and sweatshirts!

Lots of crazy drivers out today. Had 3 close calls today with people doing bad driving; a semi going thru a red light when I was about to turn left. Good thing I always hesitate and look before going on a green light. Another guy in the left turn lane at a 4 way stop that turned right instead, right in front of me. Another that was in a left turn lane across from me at a stop light who decided to make a U-turn when the light turned green (no green arrow for him). I had to hit the brakes to keep from hitting him.

Beth, I think it is better if they go slower with wrapping a perm, than wrapping too fast. Hope yours came out OK. Stylists don't get much experience with perms anymore since they are not very popular now days.

Have a good night!

Went out this morning and spent an hour with the guy at my credit union who manages my 401K. I have not seen or discussed anything in over 5 years, so it was about time. Updated him on my retiring for the second time and when I expected to start taking money out of my account. Then off to my favorite Thai restaurant and picked up a huge portion of Pad Thai! Yum.

Next stop was the Awrey Bakery Outlet. Awrey's was one of the major bakeries in the Detroit area. Few stores carry its products any more and the separate bakeries have closed, but you can still get their stuff at their outlet store. Picked up a "bumpy" cake and two Long John Coffee Cakes. These are long and very dense and yummy walnut coffee cakes and unlike anything anywhere else in the country. I bought two, which meant when I came home to the campground, I had to clean out some of the stuff in my freezer that was getting old, and I was not eating anyway--got to have your priorities. When I come back here in mid-August, I will stock up even more. Then got busy and cleaned the rest of the refrigerator of old stuff. If I put leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer and leave them there more than a couple of weeks, I need to face reality and just toss it!!

Went over and chatted with my neighbors behind me last night and noticed teeny, tiny critters, which I assumed to be mice running back and forth under his trailer. He was going out today to get some traps. Hope he caught them. I have never seen mice running around so much in the open, so I probably should have put out a couple of traps myself today because his rig was only about 25' from mine, at least at the closest corner.

Beautiful day overlooking Lake Erie today--sunny, hardly any wind or waves, and not too hot. Beach was packed, but I was too busy to do much people-watching. Might take a beach walk if it is nice tomorrow--after I set out a couple of mouse traps!!

Judy, please use the humane traps, not the glue traps. Those are so cruel. I wish they were outlawed.

I don't know if anyone remembers the fires in Yellowstone years ago they were everywhere .... or seemed like it still see charred tree's but the good thing about them was the Lodgepole Pine tree's as they are one that needs the intense heat to pop the seed out and regrow... but because it was a national park unless it was endangering property and if it was naturally caused they just let it burn... I think in some aspects they have change that policy but I may only be hoping...
It's strange that we haven't heard more of that town in Canada... but glad that someone else heard about it...
mom has a leaky faucet in the bathtub so now she is really worried about it and the cost of it... I said she had got lots of use out of it since it's the original but she doesn't see it that way she just see's the cost of replacing it and not being able to afford it... I guess if needed I will 'afford' it ... my brother is coming over to see what the problem is hoping it is just a washer given the age of the faucet we will hope... the only problem with my brother doing it is he will allow mom to pay for it I just never bring it up..
Irimi glad you are close to the end.... enjoy you day off and your hubby's b'day
you all have a great day
sheila

Barbie, I was okay with the time, just surprised. It was way longer than expected. That said, overall a good experience. I also agree with you about glue traps. The only time I had a mouse problem I used the traps that caught the mouse and then I took it far away to release. I say far away because I caught it at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and released at the south rim lol.

I guess I only have one room to clean tomorrow. Plus I'll do the laundry since I'm sure it hasn't been done on my days off. I'll probably do my laundry also. Before I got sick I was complaining about not enough hours. Today I told them I don't care if I get many hours. How things change. Yes, I like the money but a little is just fine now. I didn't want to work as much and even less is becoming better.

Sheila, even if the faucet needs replacing it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive. Of course, there are exceptions to everything.

Irmi, wish Steve a happy birthday from me, please.

Ty has gotten used to going out a last time when I say it's bedtime. He'd been out between rain spells not long before and it was raining again but he went to the door. I opened it and he refused to step outside and came straight to bed. Smart boy.