Hinged boxes

Uncle Mark just finished making me a shelf for my hinged box collection. Today Jim and I hung it on the wall and I was able to get out all of my hinged boxes and put them on the shelf. It was fun! Just what I wanted and room for about 30 more if I find more that I like. It looks great!

Fire Update

Good news today. Last night there were about 2300 firefights working on the line to put out the fire. The winds died down, the humidity was up to about 65% and the temperature was down. Really good news!!!! This morning they said that the fire is now 53% contained hooray! Big progress over night due to weather changes and hard work. I think that the valley is going to be OK.
Update on the plane crash. They are calling it a rough unscheduled landing. What happened is during his run a chip light went on and about 20 seconds later the engine failed ( de ja vu ! do you think it might have been those same damn mice building a nest in his air filter hmmmmm) he quickly spotted a deserted field next to the lake, dropped his load and managed to come in off the lake and ditch the plane on shore. What a great job! And we hear he was back up again later that day.

Now for a weather report. IT'S COLD!!!!!!! The past two nights it's been down in the thirties. Flannel sheets and down comforter have been taken out for the winter. No more shorts during the day and out came the sweatshirts. Now for the worst, Jim still wants the windows open all night. This week there is a chance of snow! I guess fall passed in about a week and winter is here. I'm lining up projects for the weeks of being stuck in the house.

Big Bear FIRE !!!!!!

Well as you all know we have a fire here in Big Bear. I thought you might be interested in some pictures. For the last few days the sky in the valley has been very clear and free of smoke as you can see in the pictures. However today the wind has shifted and the valley is full of smoke. They have evacuated the city of Fawnskin across the lake. We are safe for now however Fawnskin is in danger. We have been out with our jeep alot in the area that is burning. It is old grove forest with lots of fuel Hanna Flat campground where we went with Dave and Melissa is gone.
The first picture is what you see at the end of our street. Behind the valley ridge the whole forest is burning, Thank God it is moving north east.

Here are some more pictures of the ridge where the firemen are making a stand to keep it from entering the valley. This morning we could see flames coming over the ridge.


This is a picture of the big DC10 That they are using to drop flame retardent on the ridge. It delivers 24 thousand gallons per load. We are so fortunate to be able to have the plane working on our fire.

I think this helicopter looks like a grasshopper. As you can see it hovers above the lake and pumps up about 400 gallons of water to drop on the fire. The helicopters were filling up right by the dam and it was an amazing sight.


These two pictures are of a helicopter with a bucket they dip down to the water and then dump it on the fire.


The fire is amazing at night. The whole mountainside glows. We have about 1100 firemen working to contain it. We have been bringing cookies and water to the roadblocks for the firemen. Today just a little while ago one of the small planes that have been dropping fire retardent crashed by the lake. We hear that the pilot was OK and walked away. We are just praying for the safety of the firefighters, animals, and residents of the valley.

Mice, mice, mice and more mice !

Well as you all know I took a trip down the hill last week to spend a few days at the LaHabra house to relax by the pool. It was a great mini-vacation ! (They are painting our house in Big Bear) I had dinner with Dave, Melissa and Caiden and snuck in lunch with Pam on Friday as I headed up the mountain to see how the painting was coming along.
As I started up the mountain I noticed my SUV was a little sluggish but as you all know I drive so slow it doesn't really matter. All of a sudden I noticed my engine light start blinking on and off. DARN!!!! This isn't good and no place to pull off the road. My engine light then stayed on constantly and I knew I was in trouble. Thank God I made it to the next turnout because once I stopped the engine it never started again.
I called Jim on my cell phone (once I found a spot where I could get a signal) and he was on the way to my rescue. It was about 105 degrees out and I had to sit up the hillside away from the car in case I needed to call 911 before he got there. It was the only place with a signal and you never know what kind a weirdos could stop.
Well we ended up towing it to the Ford dealership in Redlands and we were off to home.
Monday we got a call from the Ford Dealership and guess what was wrong with my car? MICE DAMN MICE!!!!!!! They had built a nest in my air filter and the nest and all got sucked down into the engine. It is going to be about $500.00 to fix it. This is the second time this has happened. Last time it was Jim's truck that broke on the way to San Jose after the mice had chewed through the wiring and that time it cost us $800.00. Thank God the mice don't come in the house but I'll bet we will be putting out lots of traps in the garage again and you know what I don't feel a bit sorry for them anymore!

OUR Bear Returns

I guess it isn't so fun or exciting now. The bear has returned. Honestly it's a little scary to walk around outside at night now. I'll try to get another picture.

Mountain Men in Big Bear

Today we did something a little different. This weekend in Big Bear (back in the mountain trails) they had a recreation of an 1800's rondezvous camp. I guess back in the pioneer days once a year the mountain men all came out of the mountains to meet in these camps to drink, fight, and trade. They also had competitions of shooting, ax throwing and hunting. It was alot of fun to see the recreation.

Here are some pictures of the camps they set up. All of the people were very informative and friendly. The tents are supposed to be authentic to the time period.




Here is Jim taking a lesson in shooting a black powder gun. They used black gun powder and a lead ball back then.
Jim was really a good shot. He hit the target first try!






Here are some of the women doing woman's work. I don't think I would have done well back then.

This was one of the stores where they would have bought or traded for supplies.

Last but not least here are a couple of characters, actually one of them is a real mountain man who lives up in the mountains near here.