Aug 29, 2015
It’s been too depressing to post/ update
Fires and more fires and now we have ash falling.
Thursday afternoon I looked out my window and saw smoke.
Yes that is the mountain we see out our window. I watched it all afternoon. The irony of it, is that Thursday afternoon was our first smoke free period in five full days. We watched the fire grow to 30 hectares and now it is at 194 hectares. During the evening we could see the fire glow while we sat in our living room. This particular fire is not near any homes or structures.
Got this off the internet. Good shot. The lights in the foreground are Kelowna.
The fire south of us near Oliver flared up again and a number of folks were evacuated last night. The have already had 30 homes destroyed. The fires south of the border shows no sign of slowing down and continue to creep North. It is depressing. I said it before, I can’t begin to image how much worse it is further south of here. We are all tired of the smoke. Having to have the A/C on in order to not choke from the smell is just one depressing thing to deal with.
Right now today we have had a heavy rain shower which will help clear some of the smoke. Sadly we have thunderstorms and strong winds forecast for the next few days. The fire crews are bracing themselves for the onslaught. In fact we have showers till Wednesday and then cloud till next Saturday. Colin is already talking about a second delay to our trip south, perhaps to mid November. We need to work in order to have the pesos to head down to Mexico. He already has more work than he can physically do in the next two months. So we are using our time right now to do things like get the car ( the HHR ) serviced for the trip. This afternoon we are going over to the RV to sort out things. The generator got serviced last week and now we need to replace all the batteries as well as the battery tray. It isn’t pulling out any longer, likely due to rust from the ocean mixed with the dust from ‘the road’. By the way, I got an email from a friend spending the summer on the Isla and she reports that ‘the road is terrible’. Just might not be so bad to let others arrive ahead of us and sort things out.
Sunset a few nights ago.
This was yet another smokey sunset.
Last night we had about two hours smoke free before we got socked in again. We did get a beautiful sunset out of it.
I am never short of things to post about but I just didn’t feel like posting. Really getting tired of living in grey tones.
Thanks to one of my readers for sending this to me. Appreciate it Cat.
Can’t end this post without a smile 😀
UPDATE ******* Rae made a comment about getting smoke two Provinces over. Here is the latest info on how far reaching the smoke is. We are located just a bid to the left of Cranbrook and North a hair.
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It’s really grey and smoky here, too. Not helping my cough at all and the smell is terrible. I’ve been trying to capture our amazing sunsets, but my camera refuses to cooperate.
I’m sorry that you think you’re going to be delayed even more in leaving for Mexico. 🙁
The Road can’t be nearly as bad as it was when I arrived last year since there is now that nice paved section. It’ll probably take 10 times as long to do the bit between Isla and the paved section as the bit from the golf course to the end of the paved section, but we’ll get there!
(My record last year was something like just under 25 minutes door-to-door from the airport to my house!)
I’ve just updated the post and attached a map of the smoke direction and how it is drifting. As to Mexico, well you will get there first and I know I will get a good idea of what to expect re ‘the road’.
That map just made me realise that I’m right in a hot spot!!! I should find out where exactly this smoke is coming from!
As for Isla, I was hoping you’d get there to remind my landlady that I’m coming. I just have a feeling she’s going to forget about me. 😀
Where is ‘ the isla ‘ located, over the Pacific or the Caribean Ocean ?
The Isla is right next to Mazatlan across the shipping channel. AKA Stone Island or Isla de la Piedra. I shortened it to the Isla.
Hope things clear up for yoy and you can get things under control.
we hoping this et back with our coach repairs does not delay us or cancel our trip the year altogether. Guess the next week we will see what happens.
We hope so too but we are going onto week 2 now. I read about your RV issues on your blog. I do hope that it will be a quick fix.
Hang in there with that weather and nearby fires. I cannot even imagine what it’s like in the locations of all the forest fires. Washington is getting blasted with rain and storms but the high winds may be a factor for some fighting the fires.
As busy as you are, mid-November will be here before you know it.
How are the doggies doing??
Thanks Steve. Just read that the Canadian fire crew has been sent back to Canada as the Washington fire is move North driven by the strong winds.
The girls are doing well although Carmeh is back to the stroller for 50% of her walk. She just refused to walk the other day. I think our walk might be too long for her but Caeli needs it to keep slim, well slimmer.
Like you said, I can’t image what it must be like close to the fires. Like Rae, we are getting the smoky skies too. It seemed a little better here today.
I feel really bad for those that have homes and lives in the fire zone areas and especially those that have lost their houses. Sure hope the rains will come without the lightening, they certainly don’t need any new fires.
Ruth
The rain came, not a lot but enough to make a difference to the fires. We still have had some smoke but it is almost all clear. Many people have had their entire lives disrupted and for some it will never be the same.
When we were at Glacier National Park a couple of weeks ago, the ranger was explaining how important fires actually are to revitalize an area but it sure is hard on the animals and people. The smoke affects areas a long, long way away. When they have fires in Mexico, we often get the smoke up here too.
I can see how over time fire does rebuild and regenerate but these were over the top. Areas from the great fire we had here in Kelowna still show just a black gloomy area.
We had massive rain yesterday (but missed the terrible wind that caused all the havoc in Vancouver) but today is sunny – no smoke in the air. Supposedly we are supposed to get a bunch more rain – where o where is it?!?
Wasn’t that quite the storm in Vancouver? So glad we don’t live there any longer. Yes we had some rain but not as much as forecast. The wind was strong but no thunderstorms thankfully.
Smiles are always good and that pic reminded me of your two sweet pups.
I hope these fires die down for all concerned and that you will be on your way to México sooner rather than later. 🙂
Thanks again for sharing it with me and my readers. Good news the fires have calmed down and all are allowed to return to their homes and the smoke is almost totally gone. Meanwhile we continue with grey skies and showers. As to Mexico, we shall see how things go. We will see where things are at the end of September and decide at that time.
Does anyone know if all is well with Contessa, Colin and the Girls? Sure have missed her posts – maybe she just needed to go AWOL for a bit?! She would so deserve that as she is so faithful to her readers.
I have been checking in everyday in hopes to see a new post. I really hope all is well.