Nope...My Old Mopar Will Not Leave The Garage This Week!

[keithb7]

Interesting night. Out for a brief cruise with my wife in our ‘38 Chrysler. At 8pm a Thunderstorm develops. Lightning hits the ground. A fire quickly ignites. Entire neighborhoods werev quickly evacuated.  Many fire trucks attended and were able to get it extinguished. 
Lightning all around us all evening. 

 

We’re all loaded up now. I Hooked the RV up to the truck and grabbed irreplaceable items. Ready to leave at a moment’s notice if we need to. With so much lightning strikes still occurring another fire may ignite tonight. 

 

Its a weird feeling to park your old car in the garage. All the good times, the memories run through your head. I was thinking as I turned out the light, it may be the last time I see the car and my garage.  Thankfully that didn’t happen tonight. 

Scary times out west here. 

 

Keith

 

 

[Sniper]

Be careful there, all y'all.

[1950 Special Deluxe]

Be safe Keith.

We have the heat in Saskatchewan, some fires in the North. But we safe. 
Neil

[keithb7]

This shows the situation last night. We reside near the top right of this photo. 

[Tooljunkie]

1 hour ago, keithb7 said:

This shows the situation last night. We reside near the top right of this photo. 

I’d be down the road, wife driving the classic and me with the rv. Be safe. 

[RobertKB]

Keith, wishing you stay safe!! Hopefully, you can avoid having your property, cars, etc. caught up in a maelstrom. You're smart to have the bare essentials loaded up and ready to go. Certainly scary times with the heat and lightning strikes. Unfortunately, Lytton is an example of what can happen in a worst case scenario.

[keithb7]

After a week here of breaking all-time heat records, last night we had 29,000 lightening strikes recorded in BC.

I hear choppers are out this morning with water baskets mopping up small fires. We still have 2 more months of forest fire season to deal with! The RV will stay packed and ready to go.

 

There is just the two of us here. I opted to close the garage doors on my classics and leave them to fate.  My wife can't get to work every day in a '38 Mopar.  Our big diesel truck and RV were priority #1. So we could reside somewhere, somehow, if the house was torched to the ground. Wife took her newer car and we headed out. It was the right, practical decision. Shelters and hotels are already full from displaced local residents from other fires in the area. We at least had a place prepared, on wheels to shelter, eat, and sleep.

 

How they managed to knock this fire down last night is amazing.

 

 

[Los_Control]

Yeah that is pretty crazy. 

I want to say California is expecting the same thing.  They do not clean up the forest and is dry and it takes off.

Here we are very concerned with grass fires in West Texas.  It just takes a spark, then the side of the freeway or whatever is taking off.

 

I actually started a grass fire in Eastern Washington once. I was using a burning barrel and had a garden hose close.

Sparks would jump out and start a fire then I would stomp them out. I got tired of that and went to turn the garden hose on ... found out the hose bib was plugged and no water coming from here...

Grass fires are bad ... fire department came and just watched as the neighbors yard burned.

 

I had 3 trucks I had to install a battery in and move them ... At this point it was more like a controlled burn.

I had paint blistered as the trucks were starting to catch fire.

 

I am no fireman. I have to wonder the thought process. This is natural vegetation, it will start on fire when ignited.

They want to keep it controlled ... otherwise let it burn.

While I was in a panic attack at the time. The next year the grass grew in better and greener then the previous.

 

Here in Texas we are constantly fighting grass fires. Car accident on the freeway and get a spark.

In Canada you do not get this weather .... you do not clean up the dry grass or forest floor.

My brother called me the other day and was 110 F south of Tacoma.  He retired and sold his last house with AC.

His new house he never bothered to install AC ... Just not worth the bother .... then this year ?

[Worden18]

Stay safe Keith.  Prayers your way...

[keithb7]

Our crazy high temps have cooled down this week. Seeing mid 80's to mid 90's F now and our house cools off at night.

The sky is still smokey as many fires still burn around us.  So far there as been 810 wild fires in BC this summer.  New ones keep starting every day. We continue to see lightning almost daily.  Below is radar map from this evening. Each red dot represents a lightning strike within the past 15 mins.  So far things are ok here at home. Things may get a little exciting when the storm arrives here in town tonight.

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by keithb7

[Tooljunkie]

I have friends in kamloops. 
they are prepared for whatever happens. But its so unpredictable, and can travel great distances, and making its own wind. Its scary. 
i worked with mb conservation, and served on the backburn team for a few years. 
here its so dry, hasnt rained for a month i think. And back into the heat this weekend. 
 

Be safe. I just watched a video about the fire in ft macmurray this morning. Crazy stuff. 

[Sniper]

Oddly enough, it's been cooler than normal here with substantially more rainfall.  I mowed day before yesterday.  I need to mow again now.  Usually, this time of year I no longer need to mow as the heat makes the grass go dormant.

[Plymouthy Adams]

same here Sniper....cut the east orchard Sunday...the west orchard Tuesday, now it is Friday and I need to cut again...we have had some good rains, much needed, it has set me back a bit in yardwork and some shop issues mainly spraying primer as I do this out of doors....I sprayed yesterday, blue skies sunshine and YET had to close the doors twice due to sporadic showers.   Win or lose be a good sport...!

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

I hope things go well up there.  When we lived in NM, there'd be nights when there were a thousand and more lightning strikes.  I remember one night there were over 2K strikes just in the Mogollon mountains.  "Dry lightning" they'd call it because there was never any rain with it.  Always started fires.  The National Forests stayed closed just about all summer and well into autumn.  We've been average ("normal") up here this summer, although folks with short memories say it's been unusually cool and wet.  Northern Maine is just one of those places where if you wait for perfect weather to do anything, it's not going to get done.  

[Plymouthy Adams]

we kinda wet right now...we also rarely get forest fires...actually we get the woods set on fire on purpose enough just to burn the underbrush out...never anything serious two foot high at max I would say....they constantly burning the pine straw in the pulp wood forests.....right now it is so humid I am not so sure you could strike a match....

[keithb7]

A cool pic of the storm last night here in my backyard. 
Multiple strikes over a 10 min or so period. 

 

 

[Los_Control]

Yes the weather has been really wet this year. Keeping up with the grass has been a never ending chore.

Really happy I have the riding mower. But still, I have other things I need to get after.

 

On the other hand, it is saving me money. I have not had to water the lawn much this year.

Garden is growing wild.

As @Snipersays the grass will go dormant with lack of water. I am fine with that in the front yard.

While in the back yard with dogs, they would run down the dormant grass and leave nothing but dirt. So I water.

November is usually my last mowing of the season.

[T120]

Sitting here this afternoon with the air conditioner straining to keep the temperature at a comfortable level here at home,  I  came up with another reason to keep the old Dodge 2 Ton farm truck....If this trend is to continue in the coming years,the truck just may come in handy to load up our stuff and head for cooler climes... ?