The forest is so wet that the lightening does nothing.

[DemoTex]

That is good, but I am cold and wet too! And I'm bored in the same way that the Marines of "Full Metal Jacket" (Joker, Rafterman, et. al.) were bored just before the shit hit the fan as Tet '68 opened in Da Nang. I fear that when the desert climate of the east slope of the Cascades re-establishes, it will be with a vengeance.

The fog has just rolled in again, after an afternoon of lightening and pea-size hail. I quit giving Nick the sedative the vet prescribed. It fucked him up too badly. Last week, a couple of hours after a dose, he was wobbly and still shaking from the thunder. Now .. a drug-free dogie .. he is almost passive to the thunder. I guess he is getting conditioned.

Gun fire is another thing. Like fireworks, it freaks Nick out. Out here, in the wilderness, it freaks me out too. Today I reported gun fire from the SE, probably near the base of this butte, at 11 am. Then at 6:10 pm I reported repeated gunfire for over 20 minutes from the WNW .. the China Hat campground area. Added to a confrontation with 12 dirt bikers who were tearing up my butte below the lookout yesterday, I am concerned .. but not fearful.

My boss is super-pissed. He has been trying to get the USFS recreation people to close down the OHV/ATV trails that lead up to the lookout. The recreation people lost the cause yesterday with the visit by the Dirty Dozen. He said late yesterday that the trails to my lookout would be closed on Monday. He does not know about the gunfire incidents (most likely totally unrelated, but still disturbing when you live in the wilderness (not to mention illegal this time of year)).

BTW: I have been unarmed since about 9/28/1970, two days before I DEROSed Viet Nam. I ain't re-arming anytime soon.


Way too much of this lately (photo by a fellow lookout)


Same guy took this (he is a professional photographer)

[Mind_your_head]

1. Whoa.....that's a prize winning photo IMHO

Forgive me if I'm way wrong, but it sounds like the "lonely" is getting to you a little bit. :hug:

[DemoTex]

2. Perhaps a little. Dr. DemoTex had to cancel her visit last week.

But the worst thing is the persistent cold and wet. My solar heated camp shower bag won't heat, so I have to take complicated sponge baths in the morning. My free time after 6 pm is totally screwed by the thunderstorms. I'd say I have a case of cabin (or lookout) fever. I wished for warm weather yesterday during a phone consultation on a fire with Wendy, the lookout at Green Mountain. Wendy said, "Here in the desert, be careful what you wish for!"

Thanks for the virtual hug. That's always good!

[Mind_your_head]

8. It's a very very cool (and important) thing that you're doing right now

just slowing down the pace and FOCUSING on nature and the environment in today's world is a very rare (and priveledged) OPPORTUNITY!

Enjoy and embrace it (with all you've got)!

Frankly, you're not "missing" ANYTHING out here. The *crap* never stops. LIFE, as in the forest, goes on.

Breathe in deeply. You're living the luxe life right now. Learn to enjoy .....you'll look back and say "these were the best days", but 'know it NOW'.....that these are the best days.

[DemoTex]

13. Exactly. I brought way too much crap (but not cumbersome)

I like the story about the beat poet Gary Snyder (Pulitzer Prize winner) who packed into the Sourdough Lookout in Washington in the early 1950s with fifty pounds of rice and a gallon of soy sauce .. that was it!

However, food-wise I am simplifying. I've let way too much good food spoil. Leafy greens are the worst. I'm switching to broccoli next week. Easier to keep. Good raw, boiled, stir fried.

I was also losing good fresh veggies in my coolers with dry ice. They were freezing even on the end away from the dry ice. I'm learning. This next week I'll try 5# of dry ice and a 10# block of solid ice in each 72-qt Igloo. Then when I get out here in the wilderness I'll repack the coolers. I'll buy the sensitive produce just before leaving Bend, and never put it in with dry ice.

[babylonsister]

3. That picture is spectacular! Did you bring a good camera to

catch what you see? And I hope you haven't flown through your books yet.

If it's any consolation, in the land of flat and hot, it was about 97 degrees here in TX today, not counting whatever the humidity was.

My windows aren't open, and I miss it.

:hug:

[DemoTex]

4. Yep. I brought two, including a Nikon D-70.

But my counterpart, on a lookout to the west of me, is a professional photographer.

[babylonsister]

Sounds like the perfect time to hone that photography skill.

Why not? I envy you for taking on something different.

[DemoTex]

7. I'm doing lots of things like that ..

Last week I taught myself Excel, and set up a linear regression program to fix fire positions using vertical angles plotted against distances. So far I am entering data in wedges (to account for terrain slopes) and getting "r" values of .85-.95. Actually, I am far from bored.

[gratuitous]

5. Summer in Oregon is forecast for a weekend this year

More people are expected to enjoy it.

[DemoTex]

6. I'm sorry .. I don't follow you.

Meaning it will be milder/better/cooler/drier? I'm the Newbie here!

[The River]

10. Short

I've lived all over and "summer" in the NW,
if measured by high temps, isn't very long.
Too cool and wet in general for my tastes.

ps, as an ex military "lookout" I'd love
a job doing what you do but I don't like heights!

[DemoTex]

15. My 89 y/o dad is re-living his days as a hilltop arty spotting officer (F/O) in Italy!

WW-II. He is convinced we are doing the same thing, and to a certain extent .. we are! Azimuths, angles, pre-registered positions.

[MauriceCobert]

11. our summers are brief!

Seens the rain has been lasting later and later these last few decades but we have wonderful indian summers that last thru till October.

Being alone up there is pretty freaky I bet. Tonight here on the coast it was warm and no breeze cat and I sat out at the end of the drive listening to the change in the forest from day to night. It was nice being present in the moment.

Hope you have some more good times up there and hope they close the trail monday and stay low when you hear gun shots!

[here_is_to_hope]

27. I am West of you on the Coast and tonight

we surfed till 10 pm or so, its was still 70 on the beach! In June! Usually we have those North winds blowing hard but this year they have only been around on occasion.
This morning, its 66 out already, no wind and I am heading back for some more surf!

Hey DemoTex, can you see my house from up there? Look due West about 160 miles, I will be on the roof later, waving!

[DemoTex]

31. I see your house!

:hi:

[here_is_to_hope]

36. Hi DemoTex!

I better get off the roof though, might be some lightening!:hi:

[havocmom]

29. Think it's a leg pull. We say summer in Elk Park, MT is a couple days in July

but not always a couple of consecutive days. Meaning the weather is not what new guys would expect for 'summer'

Mac, the first 18 months I lived in Montana, there were only 4 months we didn't get snow. Those months were never consecutive. If we had no snow in July, August brought cold and snow. It's sorta like that. One weekend where you are might be all the summer you get during any given year. ;)

Glad the dog is calmer without drugs. Sorry Doc Demo Tex didn't make it for the visit.

Have to wonder what kind of sensory overload you will notice at summer's end when you get back to what passes for civilization full time. Moving from MT to a large city years ago just about put me into shock the first week. WAY too much noise and not enough nature.

The posts from the lookout are always appreciated. We all like to know you are OK and hear your impressions of life in a different lane.

Ear scratches for Nick.

[glitch]

9. WOW! I can't see the first photo for some reason but the second one is stunning.

We've been getting a lot of lightning down here too, makes me nervous usually although I love it, it's nice that I don't have to fear the forest fires so much, yet.
I am very glad for the moisture in the forest (El Dorado National Forest, just beside it, not on a lookout inside it), although we've got mosquitos for a change.

That photo is incredible.

[BlooInBloo]

16. DU software chokes on some links. This link should work...

[glitch]

19. Thanks, that worked. WOW again. nt

[FightingIrish]

12. This rare June rain is a blessing.

We've had three storms in the past week that dumped over 3/4 of an inch on our home. For the water year we're still way behind. When the warm dry weather finally arrives, there will be plenty of fuel for some serious fires. Historically our worst fires have been at the end of the summer. The nightly thunderstorms this week remind me of Florida or New Mexico. What is really odd is that in the past week we have had two houses in Medford hit by lightning. I just don't remember that kind of activity on the valley floor and I have lived here all my life, less a few years in the Navy.

[1]

14. this is a bad thing? you would prefer fires? i don't understand...

[DemoTex]

17. I would prefer wet fog all summer .. warm wet fog.

No fires. Sleep in when you see the vis is zero. Etc.. But I know the reality and I am ready to start honing my spotting skills. No one in this fire district prefers fires.

What do you do? Is it dangerous? If it is, you probably know what I mean. We don't "prefer" or "wish" a fire, we just want the son-of-a-bitch to happen while we are ready .. because it WILL happen!

[1]

18. my hope for you is that you never see a fire...

[DemoTex]

20. Too late to hope that ..

We have already had quite a few fires ..

[Hekate]

21. That second pic is spectacular beyond words. Thanks for the report!

:hug:

Hekate

[tavalon]

22. Boredom sucks

Do not, I repeat, do not go to Ebay. Trust me on this one.

[flygal]

23. Love your updates

I don't check in much during summer but look forward to more of your posts.

[Born_A_Truman]

24. Awesome photos your fellow lookout shot! Wow!

Sorry you're cold and wet. It would be hard to add hot water to your solar shower if it's like the one I have for camping. I imagine sponge baths get old fast.

Poor Nick! I didn't think about him freaking in the storms but I imagine the thunder would be very loud up where you are. Glad he's settling in.

I live just north of Big Bear and the wildfires we've had in the past have been very scary. We had friends evacuate here to our ranch during one big one that threatened to come down the mountain. That week we had 20 horses, several goats and a donkey. It's my biggest fear living out here=wildfires.

I have such respect for people like you who watch over the rest of us and the wildland firefighters who battle the fires. Thank you.

[proud patriot]

25. Amazing picture

that sunset behind the lighting , wow .

[truedelphi]

26. I am blown away by the thought that you have to deal with the sounds of

GUNFIRE!

WTF!

I would think one of the perks of the job woul dbe that you are away fromt he rotten end of society. i mena, living in arural area myself, i don't take walks at night anymore because my stomach growls and eery time it does so in a soft COUGH COUGH way, I think the cougar is behind me, ready topounce on my head. So certain dangers one expects. But I was not expecting to have you describe gunfire.

[DemoTex]

32. Probably just target shooting .. but nonetheless illegal out here in the Deschutes NF.

But it might have been, as we say in the South, "good ole boys" with high powered rifles and booze. I was not the only USFS employee to express concern yesterday. USFS enforcement was dispatched late yesterday, as was a unit from the Deschutes County sheriff office.

I think these incidents will be high on the agenda at the Monday morning meetings at the ranger station tomorrow. No, I know they will be topic #1!

[TahitiNut]

28. More hugs to Nick.

I know how he feels. I spent much of the 70s reacting to thunder that way. I found my love for fine wines growing. (Hic!)

[DemoTex]

30. Two bad thunderstorms late this afternoon (Sunday) .. Nick stayed cool!

Maybe it is becoming the norm. The first storm put down some small hail. The second came rolling in just as I was finishing cooking my cashew chicken stir fry in my wok. To hell with the lightening chair. I ate a hot stir fry meal on rice and watched the lightening. Damn that tasted good (cashews, ginger, garlic, palm sugar, chicken, celery, scallions, mushrooms, bell peppers, cilantro, spinach, soy sauce, and Phan Thiet nước mắm!) .. and I had enough left over for breakfast before I vacate the lookout by 0930 for two days off (the relief lookout comes in about 0930).


I'd rather eat than sit in the lightening chair while a good meal gets cold!

[TahitiNut]

33. You needed some 33 to wash it down, bro.

[DemoTex]

34. No Ba Moui Ba, but I do have some Rooster Sauce!

The best condiment in the lookout tower!

[DemoTex]

35. I remind you, this and past dispatches from the wilderness lookout are posted to my DU Journal.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/DemoTex