Wind, No Power, and Fires North of Us

When Wind Storm 2008 hit our place in the afternoon Thursday it blew our flowering plum tree toward the house. We were able later to pull it back up. ( pictures to follow soon) The wind broke lots of branches and trees around our area. This pictures shows a new view we have from our deck. Fortunately the tree that blew down didn't damage anything when it feel. About the hour later the power went out. A tree knocked down the live wire up the county road from our house. When we called last they were predicting power by Sunday p.m. I had to leave this morning to come to Idaho so JEJ is home manning the house and property. Without power we are soon without water since our community system works with pumps from wells.

Along with the huge wind storm came fire. Fires broke out in many locations on both sides of Lake Roosevelt in Stevens and Ferry Counties. This is the smoke as you head north on Highway 395 past Kettle Falls toward Canada. The fire jumped the road and was burning on both sides in the brush. I believe two houses were burned. This is looking north on the bridge across Lake Roosevelt that divides Stevens and Ferry Counties. We feel blessed that we are safe. Reading at night by candlelight isn't so bad and a gas BBQ can heat up water for a great cup of coffee. Hopefully all the ice with keep our food cold and we will soon be able to water our parched plants.