Mother is the Invention of Necessity (DIAL-UP WARNING)

[DemoTex]

Wait, no! Necessity is the Mother of Invention - that's the ticket!
Remember my outside shower contraption? It is great on a wind-less,
warm day. But those days are few and far between on East Butte. What I
needed was an indoor shower - inside the heated lookout tower.

My good friend Katie - a fire-fighter on the Engine 634 crew and an
avid surfer - provided a valuable clue last week that helped me solve
my problem. Katie remarked that after a day in the surf, she and her
friends would use a make-shift shower while standing in a large
Rubber-maid container. Bingo! I had a large Rubber-maid container in the
lookout storage shed. The rest is in the photos (without me showering,
in case you were worried).

The color-rich photos are from late yesterday (Sunday 9/4). Small
cumulonimbi were putting down virga (rain that evaporates before it
gets to the ground), with a setting sun over the Newberry Caldera.

We had a small lightning bust this afternoon. Engine 634 staged at the
lookout and kept me company while we watched for lightning. We only
had three strikes on the east side (high desert side). One started a
fire that Engine 635 spotted from Fuzztail Butte and, within a couple
of hours, put in the "Contained & Controlled" column. But there were
many more strikes on the west side.

Tomorrow is my day off. It has been two weeks since my last real day
off (I am on 13-on 1-off schedule). I'll spend the day in physical therapy and acupuncture
treatment (big C5-6 C6-7 C7-8 neck problems). Some day I might
elaborate.

OK, here is the latest. Word is they are keeping us on an extra two
weeks, until October 22. The July-August drying/lightning cycle (with
high Haines & ERCs) is here now as a late August/September fire
weather problem (I'll tap dance around this one and just say, "What? A
change in the local climate?").

Mac

BTW: Tonight's spectacular photos of the Shadow Lake Fire blow-up will be posted, probably, Wednesday. When I have EVER described photos as "spectacular?"


The poncho will be replaced with sheet plastic this week


The advice in "The Graduate" should not have been "Plastics," it should have been "Rebar!"










Virga over the Volcano Rim

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Gorgeous pics, my dear DemoTex!

I love your ingenious shower! Now you can be warm and clean...

You've got a rugged schedule out there. I think they might be taking advantage of you, or something, but I guess you have to take what you get...

Hang in there, and be safe!

:hi:

[DemoTex]

2. Thanks Peg

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. That last picture is breathtaking

[tridim]

4. Thinking about breaking out the watercolors and painting it.

Stunning photo.

[pa28]

5. Looking forward to those shadow lake pics.

I could see a really energetic plume at sunset but unfortunately smoke obscured most of the view. I was hoping DemoTex got some quality shots and it sounds like you did!

[DemoTex]

11. I have been waiting for a good shot on the plume - I got it at about 8PM!

Shadow Lake went from about 500 acres on Saturday to 1500 acres yesterday. Early today it was at 3000+ acres. Sections of the PCT are closed.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to post those shots until Wednesday at the earliest.

Mac

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2550/

[DrunkenBoat]

6. That tub diesn't look like it would catch much water -- a little kiddie pool or washtub might work

better?

But nice rig.

[DemoTex]

8. I take a Navy shower

I start with about 4 gallons of H-2-O in the bucket, nice and warm. I wet my hair, and turn off the water. Shampoo and rinse quickly. Then I do the bod with soap, quickly. Then I rinse for a minute or two under the warm trickle. I never use more than two gallons. I re-hang the bucket over the counter for dish and hand washing.

[hay rick]

7. 13 on?

Ouch. How do they cover the lookout on your day off?

I worked for the California Division of Forestry in San Diego County as a "fire season" firefighter for 2 years in the 60's. I think we usually got laid off in September, but I'm foggy on the details at this point. The date was based on the "fire index" which was supposed to measure the susceptibility of brush and trees to wildfire. In Southern California, the Santa Ana winds were a huge factor.

Our local lookout tower was on Mt. Palomar- the Mt. Palomar of telescope fame.

[DemoTex]

9. They will stage an engine at the lookout tomorrow

I have trained several of the E-634 crew and they are quite good on the Osborne Fire-Finder.

[hay rick]

13. Truck with a full crew?

What size crew? Presume the truck is still "in service" as regards to responding to fires.

[southmost]

10. thanks for sharing

i will probably need to use this type of shower get up , till i fix my place up as well

[slay]

12. That's awesome

macgyver-ish even. :)