Sailing through August

From sailing into August, to the fall winds now blowing, it has been quite a month. This is a favorite time of the summer for many people, so my first question is, Why does it have to go by so quickly? Just when we were warming up and having a really good time, the wind changes and everyone heads home to go back to school and work. I love all four of the seasons, but it would be really nice if time slowed down just a bit. I am, however, still taking time to smell the roses on our rosebush whenever I walk by.

The Cavity Lake fire ceased to be an issue in early August, when the crews were able to declare it 95% contained. The whole operation was a marvel, and we so appreciate all the hard work put in by the crews. We got to meet some wonderful people, from the personnel who came each day with updates, to the folks who stopped in just to see us at the end of the road. They all were very dedicated to their job of keeping us all safe and managing the fire in the forest. Our hats are off to them!

Once the fire was no longer a constant presence, we went back to summer as usual. The weather this month has been just like it should be in August---warm days and cool nights. The mosquitoes cooperated on schedule, and have mostly disappeared, with a few strays ones in the evenings. Now that our nights are routinely getting in to the fifties, those stragglers won't be here for long. The stars have been bright in the sky, and I even heard some reports of Northern Lights. Unfortunately, I missed seeing them, as I was already asleep. That means that I also missed any campfire activities that were happening.....Guess I'm just getting a little too old!

Our pizza gatherings this month have been pretty amazing. Thursday is our usual day for making bread and pizza in the outdoor oven, and we invite guests and friends to join in. I like to joke that each week I get to roll in dough, as I am out at our big table, rolling the crusts to throw in the oven. Then everyone else steps up and puts the toppings on, Greg bakes them again, and out comes the most delicious pizza this side of Lake Superior. Twice this month, we fed over fifty people! We didn't even begin to count how many pizzas went through the oven. We just kept rolling dough and tossing them in. It has become a great tradition for all of us here at Heston's.

The birds are quieter, as usually happens this late in the summer. I have been hearing more chickadees, and they seem to be singing those songs that I hear in winter. We had opportunity to watch some young ones, earlier in the month, that seemed to be new at flying. They were perched atop the hop trellises, and would do short flights and little hops from the pole to the wire. They looked to be full-size, but were still fuzzy. Since they don’t fly south, I think that they will be fine, as young as they are. We still have a few hummingbirds coming to the feeder, getting ready for that big flight south.

While the birds get ready to fly south, our son Robert is preparing to go north. He is headed out today, bound for Alaska. He finished his high school work recently, and though his diploma isn’t quite “in hand” yet, he is ready to strike out on his own. Last year, when he was visiting Alaska with Greg and Paul, Greg told me that Robert might not come back home then. One of our early rules, however, was that you can’t leave home without your diploma. So he returned, stuck it out to the finish line, and has another year under his belt. It is a bittersweet day for me, as this is what I have wanted for him, and yet, it is hard to let him go. But as I’ve been saying for most of the summer, “It’s time for that boy to go!” He is so ready to travel, work in new places and meet new people. Greg is taking the first part of the journey with him, with plans to drive across Canada and into Alaska together, and then Greg will fly back from Fairbanks in mid-September. Not long after that, winter will be setting in up there, so Robert has packed plenty of warm clothes and blankets.

Addie and I will hold down the fort again, this time assisted by Paul, while Greg is gone. Once again, I don’t have a lock on the garbage shed. We haven’t had any bears in there yet, but as soon as they know that Greg is gone, they’ll probably come running! Fortunately, I know a solution if that is the case---I’ll call Tim to come and help me set up another steel cable/come-along barrier, and that will keep me one step ahead of the bear. Stay tuned…..

Rain and bears and berries

A wonderful thing happened on Sunday: We got nearly two inches of rain on Gunflint Lake. Some guests from drier parts of the state said that it was great to hear and smell rain again. We're told that Seagull Lake got anywhere from 0.6 to 1.0 inches of rain. Although it was not as much as us, it still has made an impact on the fire. Initially, the crews said that it had slowed the fire, and of course, that in itself is a good thing. But in the last couple of days, they have seen improvement enough that when the information officers arrive, they are always smiling. The fire is 35% contained, and they have been able to do some direct suppression efforts. They also plan to do some fire line explosive work, to further contain the fire perimeter, particularly on the west side. I heard that there is very little active torching, instead more smoldering and smoking. Hot spots remain, and so it is not time to become complacent. Rather, it is a time to work on areas that can be safely reached, and get the containment line in place. Thank heavens for opportunities like this.

The rain also helped the raspberry crop a bit. I went picking on Thursday, and the harvest was adequate for a pan of my favorite raspberry bars. But things were looking sparse and dry at that point. The moisture that came down Sunday improved things. That afternoon, I scavenged the bush right outside our backdoor, and the size and plumpness had already improved. Today, Sharlene and Cousin Cheryl (currently visiting with her husband Joel, from Tucson, Arizona) got several more, and these berries were a nice size. There is hope on the horizon, and for the thimbleberries, too. We took the berries from today's pickings to make a delicious reduction sauce to put on top of bear roast. What a feast.....bear meat roasted with onions, carrots and beets, topped with a berry sauce, is an incredible Northwoods delicacy. We have had it with blueberry sauce in past times, but I really like the raspberry. Something about bears and berries....

Someone recently commented about needing a thimbleberry pie recipe. We haven't really used an official recipe, but I will try to come up with something on paper and post it here later in the week. I have a recipe for raspberry pie, and as I recall, I think that we modified that one. So stay tuned and I will post it shortly.

Greg went swimming tonight, and decided to find out what the water temperature really is. He got his special thermometer that he uses for brewing beer and brought it down to the lake. 72 degrees is what he reported. That's warm water! I saw that the air thermometer read 79 degrees at mid-afternoon, so there wasn't much difference. Addie has been swimming on a regular basis since she got back from Alaska. It is one of the things that she really missed while she was gone from here. Up in Eagle, the kids go swimming in a small creek, I am told, but the water is a lot colder.

Though Joel wouldn't necessarily agree, the mosquito crop is on the decline. I don't think anyone is sad about that.

A New Website for Information

Today has been a calm day, both here at Heston's and on the fire. The information folks who stop by, and who speak on the radio, have said many times in the last couple of days how helpful it is while working on the fire to have days like these: cooler and with light winds. This gives them excellent conditions for getting ahead in their efforts. As a result, the eastern side of the fire is holding well in the prescribed burn areas, and today they were able to send several ground crews in to further secure this line. The north side is also holding, and so the folks on Seagull and Saganaga are feeling considerable relief at this news. The fire is still progressing to the west, but slowly. Today, we were told that it moved only about a quarter of a mile. This is further in to the BWCA, where it is more difficult to work. But it also means that it is further away from people and structures. So as of today, the objective of keeping the fire within the Boundary Waters is still being accomplished.

The new incident command team has taken over. This team was brought in because of the complex nature of working on a fire of this size and in an area like ours. Since the fire is burning within a wilderness area, the methods by which to fight it are different. With air crews and ground crews going in, and several different areas being worked, it is no wonder this is considered complex. Keeping in mind that safety of all personnel is the top priority, imagine the coordination of managing these crews, knowing where they are at all times, assigning the jobs to be done, monitoring the weather conditions, dealing with any unexpected situations, and then getting everyone back to camp at the end of the day. "Camp" is a tent city that has been erected in one of the gravel pits near Seagull Lake. Semi-trucks brought in tents, kitchens and showers. I understand that it is quite a sight to see. I don't know about you, but I find all of this fascinating. I am continually amazed and impressed with all that is being done to work on the fire.

The new team also brings with it a different website. For current information on the fire, visit http://www.PNW2.com . On the homepage, click on the link for the Cavity Lake fire. As with the other site I mentioned recently, this site will provide current conditions, fire facts, maps and pictures. I find that it is one of the best ways to keep up-to-date. Greg has been attending the daily briefings up at Seagull when he can, and he gets a lot of information then, and has an opportunity to ask questions. Several of our neighbors go to these meetings, and it is a good moment to support each other during times like these.

We got a bit of rain yesterday, and it made the air smell sweet. More importantly, it helped to raise the humidity, which causes the fires to burn with less intensity. It helped my garden, but I still needed to water it today to keep things lively. Our lettuce has been abundant, and each day we pick some fresh leaves for salad at lunch. The warmer temperatures have brought flowers and little green orbs to my cherry tomato plants, and I have been able to harvest summer squash and zucchini, as well as basil. I know that for most folks, these are generally things that are pretty easy to grow, and really nothing to write home about.....but for me, this is the first serious gardening I have been able to do in about sixteen years. So I still get excited about it. I've heard that old joke about having to keep you car locked during zucchini season, so that you won't end up with a carload of freebies. No worry on that here. We're keeping up with what we have, and I'm on the look out for new zucchini recipes. It's been fun, and will continue to be so, as long as I can keep the critters at bay. I also realized that in one way, we have finally put the donkeys to work---by utilizing all of the manure that they have been producing. All is well.

To everyone who has emailed, called, or just reads this blog and sends prayers and good wishes our way.....we can't thank you enough. We feel quite blessed.

More info on Cavity Lake fire

Our Cavity Lake fire continues to burn, but fortunately not as wildly as in the initial days. The winds have moderated considerably, and this is very good news for everyone. Yesterday, the winds were from the northwest, 5-10 mph, with gusts up to 17 mph. Today, the wind is supposed to be continuing from the northwest, again at speeds of 5-10, with gusts to 15 mph. Contrast this with the 15-20 mph winds that we had over last weekend and in the early part of the week. When things are calmer, the teams are better able to fight the fire. We have four Army National Guardsmen staying in a cabin right now, and they told us last night that the last two days have been much better in regards to working on the fire. Each nugget of good news like this certainly helps.

Thanks to both the Internet and our local radio station, WTIP, we can get quite a bit of coverage on the latest news of the forest fire. Each day, the radio station has an interview with a Forest Service spokesperson. This representative gives the daily report of fire size and the strategies that the fire fighters are using to work on the fire. He/she also answers questions from the interviewer and from anyone who calls or emails the station with a question. This report usually happens on the Morning Calendar show at 9 a.m. and again on the Evening Calendar show at 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. If you want to listen in, WTIP has an internet streaming connection. Go to http://www.wtip.org and click on the dancing moose. That will take you to the web-stream connection. It helps to have faster internet than we do with our dial-up.

My other source for information is the website I gave the other day, http://www.mnics.org. The maps are updated regularly, and daily they post a report on the size of the fire, where the work was done the previous day, and what the strategy for the coming day will be. They have also added some image galleries, if you want to see pictures of the fire. This site really helps to give me solid information about the fire. I find that it helps to balance out the newspaper articles that I am reading.

It has come to our attention that various news media sources are saying that the Gunflint Trail is going to be evacuated. Someone told us that while he was visiting Philadelphia, the news report he saw said that they might even have to evacuate Grand Marais! Mike knew that this was a little far-fetched, since the fire would have to travel fifty miles in order for this to be a reality. I thought that it might be a good idea for me to write a bit about what has been said up here regarding evacuation. At this point, no evacuations of the Trail have been ordered. There have been escorts for campers on the lakes where the fire is actively burning. The Incident Command Team (those in charge of planning how to manage the fire) have set up what they call Trigger Points. These are lines drawn on the maps that indicate where the fire would have to reach for the sheriff to call for an evacuation. I learned yesterday that the fires are still a mile and a half to two miles away from these trigger points. They are mainly in areas that were prescription burns in the last several years. The fire has reached the edge of some of these areas, and the fire is slowing down, just as the management team had hoped it would. As the Guardsmen put it, “The prescribed burn areas are holding.” These areas are also better for actively fighting the fire's progression.

In the years since the blow down, several local agencies have been putting together evacuation plans in the event that someday they would need one. It is similar to the way the public health departments have been working with Homeland Security to put plans together for the possibility of a future terrorist attack. It is much better to be prepared, than to scramble together a last-minute plan when the need is imminent. These evacuation plans include roughly five zones on the Gunflint Trail. At any given time, only two zones would be called upon to evacuate. The plan was designed this way to accommodate the fact that there is only one road out, the Gunflint Trail. Rather than have everyone leaving at the same time, the plan organizes the zones to leave as needed, again with only two at a time being required to go.

Safety of our guests is always our first priority. I remember a conversation I had with Greg in March, long before this fire began. I told him that it is my job to make sure that everyone is safe. (Maybe it is the mother hen in me.) I take that very seriously, and on a daily basis, forest fire or not. In the years since the Sag corridor fire in 1995, and the blow down, in 1999, I have put a lot of thought into what we should do in the event of some large event or catastrophe, such as a fire or storm similar to the one in ’99. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have not had to use these plans, and we are also grateful for all the work that the various agencies have done these last seven years to be as prepared as they are today.

My brother just called to say that he heard on a Twin Cities TV station this morning that the Trail may be evacuated today or tomorrow. Greg put a call in to the Cook County Law Enforcement agency to verify this. The dispatcher told him that this is not true. Our Law Enforcement people will be the agency that orders and facilitates any evacuation. Any recent TV report of evacuations is made up. At a meeting Greg attended yesterday, he learned that on some TV newscasts, video footage of the fire was being shown and reported, while a little headline scroll on the bottom of the screen reported the evacuations happening in Lebanon. Could this be how rumors get started?

As I look out my front window, it is a clear sunny day. We had a cool night, and the morning temp here was 57 degrees. Great sleeping weather. If you have plans to come up to the Trail, I’d say to come on up. If you have concerns, call your resort or outfitter, to get the frontline story of how things are. We want everyone to be safe and we want everyone to have a good time. Give us a call up here for the real story.