Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong...

...it is now 8:00 p.m. on Monday, August 6th, and I am stunned to most pleasantly report that--upstream, downstream and midstream--all is presently quiet and still (relatively speaking--the farside bank of my favorite fishing hole still burns [more on that subject in a separate note]) on the Western Montana fire front, although we have now entered into the window when, sometime within the next four hours, severe and inclement weather is predicted to arrive.  I don't have access to any weather service that I trust (the weather here is so localized and so sporadic that, frankly, no report other than what you just experienced in the last 15 minutes is an accurate one) so the only reliable one is that in the sky, thus attached, thanks to Der Blogmaster, are upstream, downstream and midstream photos.

 

We now have poured so much water on our streamside yard that when I just returned to see how Burning Tree was doing (he's still hangin' up there by a few inches of wood, by the way) reentering the yard was like entering into a rain forest.  In contrast to the bone dry, unwatered surrounding property to ours, ours is a clearly wet environment, measured yesterday by one of the Ft. Belknap heroes to be 5 percentage points higher in relative humidity ("R.H." in forestfigtingese) than just a quarter mile away.  Now 5 percentiles doesn't seem like much for all the water we have poured out (about $20,000 by Marin County standards, or more--but free here), but when the R.H. is only 10% or so that puts us a full 50% higher and, according to my most reliable source, raging fire tends to find the line of least resistance and "bounce over" a more humid zone--hence fire disasters where, sporadically, one home will be saved next to another that is not so fortunate. From my Eagle Scout days I have always followed the BSA motto to "Be Prepared" and do believe that we have now done all that we can reasonably be expected to protect Extravaganza Headquarters, U.S.A.

 

I hope that we have a boring night ahead!

 

More to follow as it becomes relevant.

 

Best from Der Zero,

 

RCR