Staying Ahead Of The Firestorms

I had been getting somewhat nervous about the amount of dead dry brush around my place. Until then I had pretty much left it alone because it was part of the natural ecosystem which I did not want to mess with in that I might throw some natural balance out of whack.

Then came the enormous raging wildfires just about everywhere else in the high desert and nearby mountain areas and it was primarily just this kind of dead dry brush that fueled the desert firestorms. So I dug a 5 foot wide banked pit down in the wash that runs along the western border of my place, waited for some rain to dampen the area and then went into town to the fire station and got a permit. Over the next few days I fed all of my dead brush through a controlled fire in that hole. I had buckets of water and various tools immediately available on all sides but the fire did not get out of hand and the place slowly took on a new clean landscaped look.

This caught the interest of Tom & Katherine. They have a lot of bushes and trees that were planted over a decade ago and had consequently accumulated various piles of dead dry brush including the branches from a row of Cottonwood trees that Tom had just cut down to be replaced by a more natural vegetation. In exchange for my future use of their wireless signal (see page 1), I dragged all of their dead wood to my fire pit. Two days later, that was done.

The Trailer That Nobody Loved

While talking about T & K I want to mention a wondrous event that occurred. Tom also had a trailer, an ugly white aluminum thing parked out in back of his place where they couldn't see it. But I could. In addition, there was an ugly white pickup truck parked even closer to our line of sight. Those two objects tried very hard to destroy every photo I took in that direction, especially the sunsets, all of which required careful doctoring in Photoshop Elements to strategically move bushes around until those objects disappeared. Hopefully you did not notice.

Then one day I received word that they had sold the trailer. However, as time went by, the buyer turned out to be a no-show, just as contractors were turning up to access construction of an addition in that very spot. So I offered to move the trailer to the other end of their property, for a price, to get it out of their way, trying not to show that I would happily move it on my back if I had to and that I would even pay them for the privilege. Fortunately I was able to maintain my cool and not mention the latter thought as they readily accepted my offer. This is another good reason for having the van.

They and the procrastinating buyer were concerned about whether the trailer could even be moved without an expensive set of new tires. I found that with the help of a few cans of Pennzoil Fix-a-Flat, the trailer was perfectly willing to move right on out and down and around and up into its new parking space. If you scroll back up a page or so to the picture of their spread, you will see the trailer parked in its new temporary location in the upper right corner of the image.

A few days later I was up in my hill working on my new road when I saw the buyer arrive with his heavy-duty pickup truck every bit as capable as my van. He spent maybe an hour looking over the situation including discussions with the tenant Chris, and with Neena the neighbor across the street. Then I watched him get in his pickup and drive away - without the trailer. I learned later that he had relinquished his interest in the trailer for fear that he could not move it without attracting the attention of the authorities, or something like that.

This brought back memories of my own overwhelming trailer move in 1969 - I was terrified, but there was also that part of me that said: "Just DO IT!" - and I did it, and I had problems, but the trailer made it, eventually, albeit minus a few parts.

However, with all that had been going on, Neena had taken an interest. Her significant other, Bob Malin, is a chronic collector of things he can't throw out so he puts them in the front yard to deal with later, while Neena is constantly looking for ways to deal with them now. The next day, at her request I towed the trailer across the street and parked it next to their place (out of my sight). Done! Now she has a place to put things and hopefully he is smart enough not to say anything about it.

I have since received word that the white pickup truck is also gone, a new rippling pond is in back and the addition is underway, along with some significant landscaping. I am looking forward to seeing the result.

Copyright © 2007, Van Blakeman