August 10 - August 16, 2019 Microburst - Thunderstorm and Awning fiasco

Saturday - Aug 10
We got up about 9:15 or so. I had a horrible nights' sleep--uncomfortable, pain, etc. We walked and did our chores. Next we sat outside while the weather was nice. I took a nap for about an hour. Then we had the game warden, Nathan here a bit. I talked to him. The boat eduction volunteer was her from 1 - 3 PM. We had a sandwich for supper. About 7 PM we decided to take the dogs for a drive. We tried the notch trail first, but they were shooting there and it was really loud. We almost jumped out of our skins even though we knew they were shooting. So we left and went to the DNRC trust land and walked. It is flat and the dogs had quite an adventure. We got back in the pickup to return to the RV and it started to sprinkle. By the time we got to the RV (about 4 miles away). it was a bad thunderstorm- found out there were 50 mph winds gusts. Well, the awning got torn. But it was raining and blowing too hard for us to do anything with it. We saw a boat almost go under water. It wasweld and scary. We had no real warning either because we watched the 6:00 PM weather.  Next the electricity went out, so we ran the generator and watched TV.  A fire truck came through but did not stop. We noticed all the cabins around the lake did not have lights either. I tried to call and report it to Flathead Electric Cooperative - but not much luck since the account is not in our name. We just went on to bed and will check things out further the next day.

Lovely Little Flower

Tropical Bird Floating Toy

Sunday - Aug 11  71 degrees
We got up about 8:30 or so and we had breakfast - still no electricity. We turned off the generator and switched the refrigerator to propane. We took a walk with the dogs and saw the downed trees at the bottom of Echo Cabin Loop Road. There was a "Do Not Cross" Fire line - yellow tape across that part of the road. After finishing our walk we did our chores and worked on the awning. Finally we removed the awning fabric and folded it up and put it away. We are using the shade screen for now. After lunch we rested. The weather started lookin iffy (stormy, cloudy) again so we took down the awning bars and rolled up the sunscreen. We watched Longmire and Instinct. During the evening we ran the generator for TV and etc.

Monday - August 12
Steve was up at 4:00 AM with Poopsie. I was up with her at 6:15 AM - so we still did not have electricity. Then we were both in the RV and heard a noise and the electricity was back on and we had water. The water here at our spot is provided by a well with an electric pump. Anyway - we were so happy the electricity was on after 36 hours. We did our routine stuff including going to town and doing chores. We let the dogs ride along. The afternoon had some resting and then TV watching.

Tuesday - August 13
We had breakfast and then started getting the awning roller stored up to the RV. It almost took an act of Congress, but we got it done. It was scary thought, I thought one of us would get something broken. We used the rope and went across the top of the RV and Steve stood on the hill and pulled that roller up! Then we did chores and had lunch. Next we left for a long drive. Up north of Whitefish, we went up a forest road and found the beautiful Stillwater River and some huckleberries.  went up to Eureka, MT then the KooCanUsa Scenic drive to Libby Dam. Then down by Fisher River Road to Highway 2. We did stop at McGregor Lake Recreation area and checked it out also. Then we stopped at Kalispell and ate at Chic Fit A. Then home, pooped. This drive was from about 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Stillwater River

Road Construction stop - 20 minutes

Huckleberry

Stillwater River

Huckleberry

Nice place near Eureka, MT

Recreation   site on Koocanusa Reservoir

Near Rexford, MT

Libby Dam

Views from the drive

Wednesday - August 14
We got up about 9:00, it was cool ! After our usual routine we hung out awhile. Tony , our boss was by and brought us an additional box of toilet paper for our latrines. We visited with him for  awhile. The we napped and took the dogs out. It was too sunny to try to tie up the awning better - so we will do it in the morning. It rained a little again.

Thursday - August 15
This morning we woke up to fog here at Echo Lake! It was 54 degrees when I got up at 7:30 Am. We did all the routine things. Then we loaded up the laundry and trash. We got to the laundromat about 10:20 Am and finished about 1:00 PM. Next we cleaned Bigfork access and wet to Grateful Bread for quiche. Then the grocery store. We walked the dogs when we got back home. After putting away the groceries and laundry it was 3:00 PM. Where does the day go? We watched the last episode of Elementary - sorry that this show will not be renewed.





















Friday - August 16  overcast and high of 74 degrees
We got up about 8:00 and did our thing. We took the rope off the awning and feel that it is secured pretty good with straps. After lunch I had a short  nap. Steve went out and did some weed eating-about 30 minutes - then he looked really hot. So I made him come in and relax and get cool.  About 5:00 PM - we went and walked at the DNRC Trust land, where it is flat. My left knee had been hurting and I wanted to walk to see how it did on flat ground. We also drove down to Ferdale, then came home and had a nice little campfire. The hot dogs, chips and S'more hit the spot. Next was TV watching and bed.

More tree damage on the way to Ferndale 

August 3 - 10, 2019

Saturday - Aug 3  84 degrees
Someone left a boat trailer here overnight again. We did our usual routines and had a frozen dinner lunch. Today I finally dyed my hair and Steve did his beard. We watched movies this afternoon - Mall Cop 1 & 2.  It was a slow day for us - not much excitement.

Sunday - Aug 4   85 degrees
Somehow we got up late  - 9:20 AM. After we did all our routine stuff, Steve put up a small shelf for coffee stuff in one of the cabinets. He also scraped the duct tape residue off the windows. He used Goo Gone and that helped. There was a lady who wanted a trash bag so we gave her one. She picked up a few pieces of trash on from the beach area and deposited the bag right under our awning. We thought this was rude. People are weird. This afternoon, the boat education people were here and I visited with them awhile. Later some people came and set up a shade tent not far from our RV - this kind of made me unhappy, but I got over it. At 6:30 we went to Burgertown and got home at 8:00. We also picked up ice cream at the grocery store.










Monday - Aug 5  87 degrees
We did our chores here and then gathered up the trash and laundry. We did our laundry and cleaned the Bigfork Access site and returned to the trash site. We got home and rested. Finally we finished putting away the laundry. Tonight we ate Canadian Bacon and eggs for supper. I worked on changing some passwords. Later we watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday - Aug 6  90 degrees
Today we did all the routine items plus dumped the sewer. We also changed the water filter (outside). I wanted to go on a forest drive but Steve was concerned about the left front tire on the pickup. So we called some places to see about a tire. I also took a nap. After I woke up - we got a call that Tire O Rama could get the tire we want. It should arrive by Thursday. I talked to one kid about staying off the dock. There were quite a few folks here, swimming, fishing, boating and floating. Steve messed with the sign on the dock- trying to keep it from getting removed. We stayed inside during the afternoon - didn't want to get too hot. When supper rolled around -w e went to town for Pizza. Later this evening I heard from one of my past co-workers, she said Integris layer off a bunch of workers through out their system. We watched Longmire then went to bed.

A leaning tree - we wonder when it will fall

Flowers on my walk

Wednesday - Aug 7  90 degrees
We were up at 8:00 AM and putzed around inside until 9:00 AM. Then we walked and did our chores.  Today we didn't  do much during the afternoon. We did go on a little drive down by Swan Lake from about 4:15 to 5:00 PM, but it was hot. So we came back pretty quick. Supper was Turkey Sausage, beans and chips.

Thursday - Aug 8  90 degrees hazy and smoky
I have been tracking the high temps - just for my information. It is always cool in the mornings - so we try to do most of our outside work then. It hits the high about 5:00 PM - then it starts cooling down again.  So even though we have had some high temps - they are brief. Today Steve fixed the mailbox on the road and also a post up by the DNRC land. I completed our volunteer timesheets. We hauled the trash to the container site and then went to Kalispell and got our tire put on at Tire O Rama. Next we dropped off the timesheets at the FWP office. We ate lunch at Costa Vita and also went to Walmart. We were back home by 3:45 and let the dogs out. Next we put away the groceries and I did some paperwork. That about finished us off for the day.

Friday - Aug 9  80 degrees and cloudy
Today after doing our routine stuff here at the lake we went to Bigfork to do chores there. We took the dogs along for a ride. If we don't take them places - they feel neglected (LOL).  We took them back to the RV and returned to town to get the oil changed in town. We ate chicken strips at Burgertown before we came home. Again in the afternoon - we took it easy. There were not too many people here until evening. We had beans and hot dogs for supper.