Our luck has run out........

[Runningwolf]

Heck yeah, tons of them around here. Just like we did as kids, the girls got a kick out of catching them and putting them in jars and watching them.

 

[ibglowin]

Must be you have lots of WATER!

 

[Wade E]

What temps does it get to meaning typical summer in Alaska?

 

[Runningwolf]

What temps does it get to meaning typical summer in Alaska?

I don't know but it's 82* and sunny today there which is a heck of a lot nicer then the rainy cold day we're having.

 

[Wade E]

Holy cow there is some kind of bright globe in the sky over me, not sure what it is but uv rays are coming from it and its nit so dark and gloomy here like it has been for about the last month. I felt like I was living in Seattle here lately! I think they call this globe the sun but nit sure as I havent seen it many times lately.

 

[Larryh86GT]

Heck yeah, tons of them around here. Just like we did as kids, the girls got a kick out of catching them and putting them in jars and watching them.

25-30 years ago we camped/rented cabins at Allegany State Park near Salamanca NY. I remember in June the fields at night lit up with thousands of fireflies. It was just spectacular. Itsuko and I still talk about it and that maybe someday we would go back to see them again.

 

[Runningwolf]

Larry did you stay at Red House state park? I've been up there several times hiking and of coarse now they have the casino there also.

 

[Larryh86GT]

Allegany State Park has 2 areas to it, the Red House area and the Quaker Lake area. I have vacationed quite a bit in both areas. Itsuko used to plan and prepare our meals when we spent time there but no longer want to do that. The last 2 times we rented cabins we did the buffet at the casino.

 

[Runningwolf]

The buffet is the best, other than that the Casino was ok. I have a Casino about 15 miles from me and I could care less about it. The food is very expensive and nothing to write home about. Sitting there and blowing a hundred bucks on the slots in an hour or so was rather boring also. Larry you been to Walkers. We both live the exact distance from there in opposite directions. About 70 miles. Last fall I was making weekly trips there.

 

[Larryh86GT]

I haven't been to Walker's yet Dan. So far I have had enough to make wine from but I think I would like to try 5 gal of their plum juice this fall.

 

[Truebrew]

Hey Susan, an interesting thing I learned last week when my in laws were visiting from North Pole. You guys don't have frogs or fire flies. The kids had a blast running around catching them here.

Au contraire! We do have wood frogs, lots of them and sometimes a long way from water. They live in the woods, freeze solid in the winter and thaw in the spring! (no kidding!) Many's a time when the hubby was fooled by a frog into thinking it was a Mallard duck he was stalking, much to his chagrin. Their calls sound like a hen mallard.

And to prove it, take a look at this article:
http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF12/1297.html

But, we don't have fireflies, at least not in the Interior. Your story about the kids brought back happy memories of catching them when I was a kid. (I'm a transplanted Southerner.)

And to answer Wade's question about the average summer temps, well, there really doesn't seem to be an average. Some summers are cool and wet and some are hot and dry. We're having a mixture this summer. Yesterday it was sunny and 86°F...too danged hot for me! After transplantation, I've become acclimated to the cold temps and anything over 70° is unbearable. Today, it's rainy and 50°. We are a land of extremes.

 

[Runningwolf]

Au contraire! We do have wood frogs, lots of them and sometimes a long way from water. We are a land of extremes.

Hey Susan thanks for that correction. Interesting article. Land of extremes...thats for sure. We've heard plenty from Troy who has not been back on here in a while. He is also from North Pole.

 

[ibglowin]

UPDATE:

Yesterday at 1:00PM a fire started up in the Jemez mountains above Los ALamos. We are under voluntary evacuation at the moment. The winds have headed straight at the laboratory as well as where I live in White Rock just a few miles down from Los Alamos proper. Yesterday afternoon we had burnt embers falling all over the place. We spent last night packing the four P's and W. People, Pets, Papers, Pictures and of course WINE........

The lab is closed today. Many people headed out last night already. Trying not to panic but there is only one road into town and out right now. They say flames were shooting upwards of 500 feet into the air and I believe it by looking at the footage from helicopters last night. They say its already at 6000 acres in less than 24 hours.

They have a webcam at the top of the ski hill that was horrifying to watch the flames all last night.

Pajarito (Click on Snow Report/webcam top)

Los Alamos Fire

Back yard looking up at the smoke and blocked out sun.

 

[Airplanedoc]

I would gladly send you some rain, we had 1.8" already today by 7am with more forecast for the rest of the day. Here we are at 2/3 our annual rainfall for the year and our wettest month has not come yet.

stay safe keep and the pics coming

 

[ffemt128]

Be safe out there.

 

[Wade E]

That sucks Mike, hopefully it doesnt get any closer to your home or work!

 

[ffemt128]

Heard this am on the news that the Los Alamos fire has grown to over 65 square miles and they were ordering additional evacuations. I hope all is well with you out there and that everyone is spared by the fire.

Good Luck Mike, still praying for rain and calm winds for you.

 

[tonyt]

Thinking of you Mike. Saw a news report this morning warning of the dangers if the fire gets into storage areas at Los Alamos. Talking about the danger of barrels of carcinogenic chemicals stored there.

 

[ibglowin]

The fires reached our beloved ski hill (which was miraculously spared during the Cerro Grande fire of 2000) last night. We could see the flames even from our house 8 miles down the road from Los Alamos. They have a team in place this AM to protect the main lodge and they believe they can. Spot fires are now as close as 1/2 miles from houses on the Western perimeter of the townsite. The size is now 60,000 acres burned in less than 48 hours.

Today the forecast is for yet another extremely windy day. Our only personal saving grace (here in White Rock) is that the winds will be out of the S, SW that will keep the fires away from us down in White Rock but it could bring them more towards Los Alamos. Due to the constant high winds they have not been able to get any aircraft up to assist with water drops so its strictly boots on the ground firefighting. All of the labs HE (High Explosives, we do alot of HE testing/experiments still) are stored in concrete bunkers underground. All nuke materials are stored in 3ft thick walled concrete vaults underground.

We have a lot of waste that has been moved offsite since the last fire to the underground WIPP repository down in Carlsbad, NM and all remaining drums are stored way down the road away from the main lab only about a mile or two from White Rock. They are strictly low level (solid) rad waste no liquids at all. So much has changed in the last 30 years as to the handling, treatment, and recycling of liquid waste that it's the least of our worries really.

A fire going over a nuke facility would be a huge concern but the lab has done an incredible amount of thinning of trees and other fuel sources to increase the defensible space that we are actually in a pretty darn good position compared to back in 2000.

Today is a make or break day for the fire depending on the wind direction. It could be pushed over the same area that burned back in 2000 which would make it much esier to get control of. Those areas had just started to grow back and green up so there is not much to burn really in comparison to other areas that were spared in 2000.

So appreciate the continued thoughts and prayers for the people who are risking their lives to fight the fire and the people who may lose their homes over the next day or so.

Just had an air crane helicopter fly over head so that's really good to see. We need some air tankers ASAP.

All for now.

 

[Runningwolf]

Thanks for the udate Mike, been thinking about you!