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More Photos From The Carlton Complex Fire, Pateros Washington


Life is different right now, I have been on a few hikes. Mostly short ones when family is visiting. It's a nice way to get away from the constant busyness of life after a fire. We are making progress on the home front. We now have a bright red three sided barn up and the sweetest part is, it is filled with hay for the winter. One less worry to consume the mind with. The area for the house has been cleaned and we are getting ready for the footings. All kinds of construction terms I am totally not familiar with. Looks like trenches with lots of stakes in the ground to me. I helped hold the tape and get it marked off. I don't think I did the best job, I heard a lot of hold it here, no hold it there, no closer to the ground, do you have it right on the stake. I made the comment that it appeared like my help wasn't needed and I just assumed since it wasn't perfect it was going to be done all over again, why again was I holding the tape. But we survived the measuring and I am sure since I wasn't there when they started digging the measuring was done all over again. We are adjusting ourselves to living amongst neighbors, sometimes noisy, strange neighbors. We were a little protected and felt like we lived almost by ourselves on the hill, it's very interesting. The pictures of the sleeping bag are a special thanks to Sierra Designs I purchased this exact sleeping bag a few weeks prior to July 4th weekend to use on our backpacking trip. I used it two nights in the Pasayten Wilderness, Horseshoe Basin, Iron Gate Trail area. It was so comfortable, plenty warm, roomy and I never once felt restricted or claustrophobic. I had never sleep so well on a overnight stay in the woods. I lost all my hiking and snowshoeing gear during the fire that took out our house. Sierra Designs went out of their way to replace my sleeping bag, I can't thank them enough. Receiving the new sleeping bag was a bright spot in my day. I am slowly replacing items that were lost as needed. I need to start looking for some trail and flower books to replace my collection, it's hard to believe how much I used them for references. We are slowing moving forward, sometimes it's pretty mentally exhausting. So much to do when you start all over. I think I am almost used to the bare hills as I drive into Pateros now, can't wait to see them change and things start growing back on them.  Two pictures from our July 4th weekend backpack trip and more of the fire's destruction.

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