Famine and Red Eye Fires

Life here at Planet Heston's sure has been hopping lately! I have hopes of posting a longer note, with pictures of our current events, but for lack of time at the moment, this will be brief. As many of you have heard, we had thunderstorms a week ago, with lightning that has started some fires in our area. Specifically, two fires are currently burning near us, the Famine fire and the Red-Eye fire. The Famine fire is closer, about four to four and a half miles south of us. The fires are within the BWCA, and are not burning in blowdown. We haven't had much rain, unfortunately, so conditions are dry.

The Famine fire is directly south of us, and on Thursday it made a strong move to the north, due to south winds blowing. On Friday, the fire didn't really move much, but the smoke made it look like it was closer to the trail than it actually was. Since the fire had pretty much stalled on its own, the firefighting aircraft concentrated their efforts on the Red-Eye Lake fire to the east. Later, they were able to put a lot of water on the Famine Lake fire, and that helped to slow down the front line.

Today, we are expecting cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity levels, conditions that are much more favorable for slow fire growth and increased fire-fighting efforts. Rain is predicted over the next few days also, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it arrives soon.

Yesterday, the sheriff issued a precautionary evacuation. The area that this covered extended from the west side of Iron Lake to the Gunflint Narrows Road, which goes in towards the Gunflint/Magnetic narrows. This evacuation was called in the event that if the fire had reached the Gunflint Trail, then it would not be possible to leave should someone choose to do so. All other areas of the Trail remained open. People who were travelling on the trail at that time were stopped, and if they were residents or if they had reservations at a lodge, they were allowed to proceed. This was a voluntary evacuation, and some of our guests chose to leave at that time. We stayed, as did some of our other cabin guests.

This morning, it is cloudy, and hazy across the lake. We are hearing some aircraft, and so we know that they are once again working on the fire. If you have plans up the Trail, we recommend that you call ahead for conditions, and then make decisions based on what you are learning from the people who live here. I will post more later on today, including some pictures, but for now I have to go clean cabins. I just heard that the local radio station, WTIP, will have a fire update at noon today. If you read this before then, you can go to http://www.wtip.org and click on the dancing moose to webstream. Then you can hear the information live. Greg is at the daily briefing as I type, so he will have information from that, which I will summarize also.

Thank you for your calls, and for checking in with us via the blog. We really appreciate all of the support. Talk to you soon!

Instow

This is the other end of the beach from my last posting about Instow and the other end of the season too. There is a car park behind the sand dunes at the estuary side of Instow and from there you can follow a rickety old track to the Cricket Ground. The beach is accessed from a path either side of here and is well away from the one used by most visitors. Perhaps this is why DAISI (Devon Arts In Schools Initiative) decided to use it as the location for some art in nature work - less innocent members of the general public to disturb.

This is where I went yesterday and am only just recovered enough to write about it today. I came with my youngest daughter in my role as Mum, and so was only given five five-year olds to look after - believe me this was enough! There is a reason why I chose to work with older children! The beach was very nice though and there are even rock pools you can mess about in. A little known fact that managed to surprise many locals when I mentioned it.

Ilfracombe

Having survived the night and packed up our tent we decided to pay a visit to nextdoor Ilfracombe. Ilfracombe was once a thriving Victorian holiday destination and is still popular as such. It has fallen into decline in recent years and is starting to look a bit shabby but still has something to offer the passing tourist. The harbour is pretty and is surrounded by plenty of nice pubs, cafes and gift shops. There is also the Landmark Theatre, known locally as Madonna's Bra because of the twin conical shapes of its buildings.

We went today because we happened to be nearby and to buy some seaside souveniers for my display at work; but we also decided to visit The Chocolate Emporium, a chocolate museum, shop and cafe in the High Street, as it had been recommended by a friend. It seemed to be the only shop to be shut on a Sunday but it looked very nice from the outside! You will have to wait for further details in a later posting I am afraid.

Colorful Days, Cooler Nights

Last spring, I remember saying more than once that everything seemed to be happening about two weeks early. Should I be surprised then that the leaves are also now turning early? We are not to the peak of color yet, but I definitely see change on the Canadian side of the lake sooner than I did last year. Most of the underbrush is bright with color: yellow grasses, golden bracken fern, bright orange on our moose maples. The New England asters are a shade of light purple, which contrasts well with the other colors. The birch and aspen are just beginning to show some change. And to go with all of that, the sky today is a lovely blue. We have defiinitely turned the corner into fall, as the night temperatures are down in the forties. The days warm up to the fifties and sixties, as long as the sun is shining, but once it goes down, things cool fast.

Despite the cooler times, my tomatoes are still very green. They are just cherry tomato plants, but I am surprised that most don't want to start to show even some orange color on them. At this rate, I will be picking green tomatoes to bring in and wrap in newspaper. I did finally get a small flower on one of my eggplants, but the warm weather that it needs is a thing of the past. It was a fun experiment nonetheless. The basil was prolific, and I have picked it to put up into pesto, for a small burst of summer flavor once winter has set in. We had patchy frost on Friday night---I noticed some on the dock and on the roof of the studio cabin. None of the plants got hit, but certainly that could happen almost any time.

The fishing should pick up for trout, now that the nights are colder. I've been told that they are seeing many on the depth-finders, but the fish are unwilling to bite. The bass, on the other hand, are still biting and still fighting. No sign of walleyes since mid-July. Where do they go?

With Greg in Alaska, the donkeys are depending on me and Paul and Addie to answer their calls for room service. Moses won't usually sing for me, like he will for Greg, but ever since he started receiving oats as a supplement to the hay, he will call for me twice a day. Addie fed both Moses and Jethro one evening, shortly after Greg left, but she didn't know about the plan to feed Moses his oats, too. By nine that evening, he was singing to me, and I figured out that it was because he was expecting something. I find it funny that a donkey can learn something so quickly as he has. On sunny days like today, he is sitting up in the pasture, soaking up sunshine. Life isn't too tough, I guess.

After six days of driving, Robert and Greg pulled in to Alaska on Wednesday night. They had several days where they chose to drive five hundred miles or more. Once they got to British Columbia, they slowed down a bit, so as to enjoy the scenery and to do some hiking. They called one evening after spending several hours on a hike up to a glacier. They never did reach the glacier before it was time to turn around and come back down, but they really enjoyed the trek. They drove up through the Yukon Territory, visiting areas that Greg had been through twenty years earlier with his good friend Art. The fall colors are at peak there right now, and Greg has been taking many pictures.

Tomorrow, Greg flies out to Fairbanks, and Robert will stay behind in Eagle, to join the kids and teachers there for a trip down the Yukon River to an old mining camp. They will learn some history, do some exploring, tour the dredge, and do some water sampling. He is having a great time meeting up with the friends that he and Paul and Addie have made up there in this last year. After the trip, he will load his truck and make the drive to Fairbanks, to join up with his good friend Ben. Soon the snow will start to fall in those areas of Alaska, and he needs to drive out soon, or he won't be taking his truck with him!

The bread oven is still going, at least once a week. Fresh ciabatta and wood-fired pizza are always on the menu. It all tastes even better because we eat it outside.

Camping

I don't know why but last thing Friday night I thought it would be a really good idea to go camping. I think it was the prospect of a beautiful weekend and a vain attempt to prolong that summer holiday feeling. Anyway, we searched the internet, found a good campsite, packed the ca and off we went.

It was a lovely campsite, and very busy too, excellent views over the sea as you can see, and we were lucky enough to find quite a level pitch. This is North Morte Farm Holiday Park in the tiny village of Mortehoe nestled between the bigger holiday towns of Woolacombe and Ilfracombe.

We arrived at around 5.00, set up the tent and cooked our BBQ (once I'd been down to the shop to buy the matches I'd forgotten to pack.) Sitting in the sun and drinking cold beer was lovely.
Then the breeze began to pick up and by 8.30 had turned into a howling gale. By 9.30 it was gusting so strongly I began to wish I'd packed a pair of shiny red shoes to click three times. Unfortunately my husband refused to listen to my chants of "There's no place like home" so we just had to go to sleep hoping that we didn't wake up under a pile of canvas, half way down the cliff or actually in the sea.

You can probably guess from the fact that I'm posting this that I lived to tell the tale, but it was a very noisy night. I can thoroughly recommend camping anywhere in North Devon, especially somewhere with fantastic views, but do check the weather forecast carefully first.

Broomhill Hotel Sculpture Garden

Summer holidays are now definately over, doom and gloom settles as I return to work. Still, we were broken into it gently by a visit to Broomhill. This is a place frequented by teachers undertaking training. Today we learnt the finer points of watercolour painting on very wet paper.

This is a lovely place to visit if you are into art. Head out of Barnstaple towards Lynton on the A39 then turn towards Ilfracombe on the B3230 and its about a mile down a leafy country road. Entry into the gardens is �4.50 for adults and �1.50 for children. The hotel also does fantastic food for residents and non-residents alike (this is why teachers really come!)

The gardens stretch on for quite a way, easily long enough to walk off whatever delights you sampled for your lunch, or that extra dollop of cream you had with your cream tea. There are hundreds of scuptures to look at, ranging from the weird to the wonderful. The most famous is the giant red shoe which meets you at the top of the drive. Some are quite hidden away, so you have to keep your eyes peeled. Inside the hotel is an art gallery, entry to this is free, and there are even scuptures in the loo!

Horse Riding

September has arrived. Winter wends its way towards us. And although you can feel it in the air first thing in the morning by lunch time today it was boiling hot again. Thank goodness for that as we'd booked to go horse riding and it would've been miserable in the rain.

There are plenty of place to go riding in North Devon. They all charge pretty much the same at �18 an hour per person, but some insist on you having lessons before they'll let you out in the big wide world. We went to Kingsland Stables in Woolsery (Woolfardisworthy as the sign reads). They offered us a deal on a family of five at �70 total. They were very friendly and great with the kids. We went on a two and a half mile ride down country roads and along a woodland track. It was very pleasant.

Horse riding - ahh! One of those things every little girl wants to do - until they actually get on the back of one and realise its not all its cut out to be. My littlest one was moaning of a sore bottom by the time we got off! She loved feeding the horses some carrots afterwards though. And actually they all want to go again now! Bums recover easily obviously - well young ones do anyway! I can't say the same about mine.