What an intense weekend this was. Yesterday morning I stepped outside to smell how strong the smoke was and I heard a rustling in the leaves to my right. I looked around for a while and finally spotted the beetle butt in the air as it tried to dig down by a rock. I am pretty sure they are nocturnal as I normally see them at night and this one was trying to bury itself for the daytime.
The 6am smoke level was far better than it had been the day before thanks to the reduced fire activity.
It was later in the morning when I got out to harvest. The cucumbers managed to give me 25 for the day and I checked the summer squash but I was able to skip the day for them.
I did go back into the greenhouse and pick the tomatoes and peppers. The 2.25 pounds of tomatoes are hidden beneath the 3 pounds of peppers on top.
We also found that the church was taking some clothing donations so a bunch of the old kids clothing got taken up. The region is really stepping up to help those effected by the fires. The shelter at the high school is going to keep going even after school starts next week, just with some modifications.
Mid day the smoke came back in thanks to the winds turning south. Most importantly though was the winds were very light most of the day and didn't really kick the fires into gear again.
By evening time the air had cleared dramatically. It was a very refreshing sight to see the trees without the screen of smoke between us. AS the sun went down I was again able to see the lights of the trailer park a mile across the valley from us which had been completely obscured the past days. There was a slight flare up on the fire but it soon was knocked down. There are dozer lines around much of the fire now this morning and only a few hot spots or more recent fire activity are showing on the maps.
The air is still reaking of smoke but it was no longer so thick which meant we could get in a soak again.
This morning these are the only active parts of the fire and the winds will be changing as the remnants of the tropical storm reach us today and tomorrow. There have now been one confirmed fatality in each of the two fires with no identity on the one here in Elk yet.
The smoke is far less now and hopefully the last bits of the fire can be contained today. I have to get harvests done, go up to the melon garden to pick, I need to look at more hay for the animals as they are almost out of their bale, and make sure things are under cover for the rain that will be here this evening.
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