We weathered the night OK. The wind died down around 2:00 AM or
thereabouts.
It was eerie to look out our north window and see the sky change from dark
red to bright orange, depending on flare-ups. Lud went up to the top of
the ranch, 3/4 mile from our house, and the big pasture up there had partially
burned. Some of our old Castle Rock trail area was burnt. The
pasture up there was about 3 feet deep in grass, as we had some wonderful late
rains in May that gave a boost to the grass.
We brought in our little herd of 17 cows and one bull in the dark last
night and put them on the green pasture next to the house. Usually this is
a difficult task in daylight, but in the dark and with nothing to follow but our
JD Gator with alfalfa hay in it, the project was successful.
Our yard was full of Cal Fire folks, and we all weathered the night,
sleeping fully clothed. The fire is in inaccessible places,
mostly. Cal Fire could have put out the pasture fire up the hill if they
had been able to get their fire truck up the there on a very bad,
steep dirt road. And of course, they didn't know the territory and
couldn't have seen where they wanted to go.
I led, Lud followed, one of our big bulldozers up the mountain earlier, but
by the time we were part way up the ridge, we could see flames closer than was
comfortable, so we came back. Tough going in the dark, even with
lights.
The fire has moved to the east, and I hear an airplane, presumably scouting
the terrain. Or maybe that is our bulldozer again. It will be good
when dawn breaks so we can tell what's happening and where. Our
house was not threatened, and our horses and livestock are all fine.
We may find some of our 1 mile long PVC water line from the spring across the
canyon will need replacing.
