On my drive home from work on Monday evening, July 3rd, I saw a plume of smoke rising up ahead. Forest fire, I thought, and I was correct.

Just south of the town of New Castle, off County Road 335, a fire was moving up toward the top of a ridge. I stopped the car and took a couple photos with my camera; this is the best of that bunch.

Hogback Ridge fire near New Castle, Co

I decided to take a bit of footage with my iPhone 6+ even though I was parked on the shoulder of I-70. Cars going past me are visible in this 2-minute clip:

[cincopa A0LAqAeVNZ1X]

As of this morning, July 4th, the fire has been contained with the aid of air drops of fire retardant and water dropped from helicopters. The fire burned about 120 acres of land.

Due to record (or near-record) heat and low humidity, the countryside is very dry. Most western counties have fire bans in effect; no open burning of any kind is permitted. The cause of this burn is not yet known but given the closeness to a county road it is highly likely human-caused.

In not so dramatic news, I was at The Lot last weekend and cleared part of Homestead Acre, creating a large pile of brush to be chipped and a pile of logs to bring home and cut into firewood. I walked the border of the property and located all the corner markers, weed-wacked the driveway, filled the water tank to the top, and did some other cleaning around The Box. An afternoon thunderstorm on Sunday cut my work day a bit short  — but getting any rain is worth the interruption.

I did take some time off on Saturday from projects in the woods to attend the Elk Horn Ranch homeowner’s picnic, the first time I had attended this annual event in the five years we’ve owned The Lot. I met the association’s current president and talked with other home and lot owners while chowing down on hamburgers, fresh fruit, and other picnic items. It was a very relaxing break from working on The Lot.

This upcoming week will again be busy, as daughter Felicity is flying in to Denver and stopping in Colorado for a couple days (on the way back to her Pacific Northwest home). Felicity decided to take a vacation trip to Washington, DC and other East Coast cities during the last weeks of June. Her Colorado stop is something of a layover between both coasts. She will arrive on the 6th and hit the road again on the 9th (a brief but welcome visit).

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Rambler’s kittens are now 7 weeks old.  I’ve started taking them out of their mother’s pen during the day so they can drink water and munch on dry kitten kibble in a separate enclosure.  Rambler is a bit of a bitch, and reaching in to grab the kittens is a “careful” process. The kittens are not feral exactly, but they’re not people-friendly either.  Socialization will be interesting with that group. The sooner they are weaned and away from mom, the more successful socialization will be.

Happy Trails.