ferguson fire update

very smoky here this morning.  yesterday was mostly clear air and blue skies (conditions can change hourly).  lots of air tanker activity yesterday...laying down retardant along the tops of the ridges to the northeast and north/northwest of our place.  on the map (credit dave toussaint) below, the red lines running along the tops of footman ridge and buckhingham ridge are the areas the planes have been laying down retardant lines to reinforce dozer and hand lines. triangle rd is the very light yellowish squiggly line that runs somewhat horizontally directly below buckingham ridge (better view in cropped map below).

 
on the cropped map below, if you draw a line from the little green mountain symbol on top of buckingham to the little suitcase symbol to the south, our house is somewhere near where that line intersects with the curvy yellowish line (triangle rd).

below is our house with a smoky buckingham mt. behind it.

looking dusky at about 11am

it's not always like the picture above.  yesterday it was quite clear and we got to see a nice blue sky...and lots of air tankers.

an air tanker outfitted to drop retardant

also had a pretty good view of a pyrocumulus cloud (huge billowing clouds that form above fires due to the intense heating of the air and its subsequent convection and contact with cooler moister air above) forming above the fire to the northeast of us.

we are doing alright.  trying to stay out of the smoke as much as possible and keeping an eye on what the fire is doing.  recent reports from fire officials have been optimistic for our area so unless there is a major change we likely will not have to evacuate.  it will most likely just be a matter of watching and waiting it out.

just add ducks

i spent the spring getting the emergency escape trailer for the ducks built and outfitted.  my goal was to get it to the point where it would be able to transport them safely if we have to evacuate due to fire or other emergency and then act as sort of a fully equipped shed that would provide them shelter, feed, and water wherever we may have to camp. 
after i got the trailer gutted and rebuilt the fold down step door i was sort of at a loss as to how to proceed.  i didn't have a clear vision of what would be the most functional use of the space inside and the odd dimensions of the trailer were a little bit of a challenge to me in thinking out the best use of materials etc.  finally, as with most of my projects, i just had to start and let the thing evolve, dealing with each element as it became necessary.
here it is, start to finish...


i started by bolting some 2x6" to the trailer body so i would have sort of a foundation to build onto.

i then did some basic framing of what felt like would provide adequate ventilation and usable space.

i roofed it with some thin plywood.  because i didn't want the trailer sticking up very high when i'm towing it there isn't enough space to stand up inside so i built a hinged roof hatch for added ventilation and that when opened will provide me head room when i need to go inside to manage things.

from trailer roof looking down through hinged roof hatch

i built the upper door and then used the pneumatic stapler to attach 1/2'' hardware cloth to all of the framing.

with the main structure finished i started work on making the space inside more usable.  to make the wasted space of the wheel wells functional i built storage racks onto them for holding square buckets full of various feed supplements.

since the new ducks we got last fall were never fully accepted by the existing flock we still have to keep them separated as far as housing (they forage together without giving each other too much trouble) so i built a division inside the trailer to keep the two groups separated during transport and to give them separate sleeping areas if we have to camp somewhere overnight.

hard to tell from the photo but the stall on the right is larger than the one on the left...small stall for the small flock, large stall for the large flock

each stall has a lidded, 4-gallon bucket full of water mounted at the back.  at the bottom of the buckets are nipple waterers that dribble water when a thirsty duck nibbles at them.  the ducks have this type of drinking water system in their sheds for overnight water so they are already accustomed to using them.

the wiring for the tail lights was in terrible shape and basically nonfunctional.  staal donated his time and expertise installing new led tail and marker lights and completely rewiring everything.  he also surprised me with fixing the spare tire and getting a hazard triangle to mount on the back of the trailer to make it more visible and recognizable as more of an agricultural type, and likely slow moving, conveyance.

the mount on the front of the trailer takes a 1 7/8" ball and since a 2" ball is more common these days that is what i have had on my truck hitch.  rather than having to unbolt and change balls on my truck depending on what it may need to tow at any given time i decided to get a multiball and new drop so that changing the ball just means pulling the hitch pin and rotating the multiball as needed.  there were no safety tow chains on the trailer so i bought some and installed them at the same time i installed the new drop and ball on my truck.

the ducks have had a little time to get acquainted with the trailer during some foraging outings and it seems like it will be fairly comfortable for them.  at this point it's road ready.  it's loaded with feed and water, portable fencing and other goodies.  should the need arise all we'll have to do is just add ducks.

may we never need to use it.