This is a great thread Topher, thank you!
A tear , a chuckle and many smiles. All in here. Love it!
Here is a recent story in my life.
So, last spring got really dry up in these parts, which is not uncommon. The forests were dry and the lake water was unusually low for the time of year. Summer storm season kicks-off about this time. One particular afternoon there was a series of heavily charged electrical storms brewing in the region of my cabin. Its an area with a lot of forest, lakes and rivers. Areas where these storms often form. Unfortunately on this day these storms were bringing it right close to home. Lightning in fact struck the forest in at least 3 locations. All by the time the evening was over. Sadly I know this number because there were quickly 3 growing forest fires on the map, all of which were uncomfortably nearby. Below is a picture of the one that began the shortest distance away. This photo was taken over the lake shortly before the evacuation
Thankfully that pictured fire was quickly attacked by the fighters and it was promptly contained. It was to the West. West winds are prevalent in winter and very much still a regularity year come spring. So it was a relief to big done with it. Unfortunately, there was still a much larger fire further to the north-west. It was not contained and in fact beginning to take a ride on a strong wind. Watching the internet for its growth trajectory for the next several days to a week became my obsession. Sadly, It seemed like the more I payed attention the stronger the wind got. In turn the strong winds were spreading the fire faster...straight towards us no less. At its most rapid rate of spread, the fire burned through an area that brought it 10km's closer over a period of only 8-10 hours. This overnight fire-from-hell was now only 2+ kms away. Oh boy, I could feel the heat.
As you can imagine, I was not feeling so shit hot about things at this point. Covid-19 lockdown and now this misery. It was a mental struggle. I have put a shit-ton of sweat and passion into this place and was feeling particularly humbled by the prospect of it becoming firewood.
Then a miracle occured. The wind shifted. A simple miracle perhaps, but definitely effective. No longer pounding out of the NW, a wind rose up in the south and held the advancing border of the fire. This weather shift also brought rain, beautiful, glorious rain. The fire was completely contained in a few days.
While the water bombers were up in the air, fire fighters on the ground had set up sprinkler kits on our cabins to protect them from sparks. In the process of doing so they needed to land a helicopter in order to load and unload their gear. Being that there was not already a landing pad, a series of roughly 50-60 trees were taken down by the lake close to my cabin. It is a flat rock and really their ideal access point.
This summer I was left with the task of cleaning up the mess of cut trees. Over the course of a couple of months I limbed all of said trees and piled the branches in a heap. A really, really large heap. I cut so many lengths of tree trunks that I decided I would pile a bunch of them on there to. I still kept plenty for firewood. It was a lot of work piling it all up, but I still made sure to feel thankful for all of the black fly and mosquito bites I was receiving:ror:
I still had a roof overhead.
Fast Forward.
This new years eve, the weather up here was as good as it gets for this time of year. All of my few neighbors were up their cabins to celebrate the end of 2020. It seemed the time had come to ceremoniously burn the slash pile. Leaving it to become a summer fire hazard was not an option and everyone was hungry for some excitement.
So I lit it! Boy did it burn!
