Fire and Ice

 



I sure can't figure this one out, so I'm hoping there might be something in the newspaper tomorrow explaining what this is all about.

At about 10:30 this morning, I looked out the kitchen window. About 1/4 mile down the highway I could see a tall flame. I went outside, but couldn't tell what it was. Using the camera I zoomed in, and discovered that one of the large propane cylinders at the distributor was being flared off.



Just a couple minutes later, it began to sleet. I was so interested in watching the fire that I didn't take a picture of the ice collecting on the kitchen steps, but when I looked at the pictures... well, just compare them. In the first, the air is clear. In the second it's white. That's because of how heavily the slush was falling.

I watched and watched. I didn't call 911. I mean... this tank is just yards from the office of the distributor. There are businesses all around it. Cars and trucks were passing by on the highway, the drivers apparently paying no attention. There were no police cars, and no fire trucks nearby.

How long did it last? I didn't watch every minute, but approximately five hours. Five hours! I know that's a big tank, but that's a big flame. I'm amazed that it took that long to burn out. And why would a company choose this method to empty a tank?

How Much is This Blog Worth?

Remember the package? I promised to show you what arrived by UPS yesterday. And I will, but the whole thing is pretty strange.

Have you ever seen blogs with widgets like this one? The blogs that display them are usually valued at something ridiculous like $23,000. I have to wonder how that could be real. I just ran that program for this blog, and you can see where it ended up. Definitely not a big investment opportunity. Actually, it's hard for me to see how it's worth even that much in a monetary sense.

But now, we're getting to that package. About a month ago, I was contacted by Columbia Sportswear. As a result of seeing this blog, they wanted to send me a coat to test and give them feedback. Don't you find this a bit ironic? I hiked 4395 miles on a National Scenic Trail, without a single commercial sponsor. The two that I ever asked for anything turned me down cold. That hike wasn't interesting enough to provide gear for testing. But as a result of this silly blog, where I blabber about hiking and snowshoeing and whatever... I am being sent a coat to test.



And this is not just a "coat." That's where the value of this blog comes in. This is the Columbia Prism Ice Omni-heat Parka. That's a mouthful, and it should be. This is a $270 coat system. I think if you take all the winter coats I've owned in my life and add their cost together, it won't total $270. (And that counts the $75 dress coat my mother bought me in college.) So, I guess this blog really is worth at least that much money.

This is a highly technical garment. It has an outer and inner coat with a special lining. I suspect it's going to be too hot for me, since I tend to overheat quickly.

But it's quite good looking, don't you think? It's going to kill me to wear this for hard outside play, instead of as a dress coat for the next 20 years. Really! I can't believe how much coats like this cost. This goes against every shred of frugality I live by. But... a gift horse, er, coat, must be tested.

So I wore it for my walk this afternoon, knowing that it should be too warm. Indeed! I wasn't halfway around my loop before I had to take it apart, and just wear the shell, because I was sweating.

Prepare to see more of the Columbia Prism Ice Omni-heat Parka.

U - V - W

U is for Unknown: I got a package today. Tomorrow, I'll tell you what it is. The contents are rather exciting, but it needs a whole post.


V is for Voted: I did. I'm sure you did too! (OK, if you are in the USA.)


W is for Writing: and it's also for Winner! The Accentuate Writing contest for September had "vengeance" as the theme. I tried an experiment in the format of the story, and I wasn't sure if I succeeded in telling the story well enough. Well, I guess I did, because "The Third Person" won first place!

Some of those stories that previously won should be available soon. The next book in the series to come out is Elements of Love, and I have a winner in that one, and a digital download.

If you are an aspiring writer, a published or underpublished writer, I can't recommend the Accentuate Writers Forum too much. Lots of support, resources, and places to submit writing, and plenty of chat, too. It's free!

Top Commenters- October

A big thank you to every single person who left a comment this month. I really enjoy the interaction... it is the life of a personal blog, such as this one. Those of you who are my most faithful commenters, as usual, I'm happy to promote your blogs for the next month with a small banner in the sidebar.

There were a total of 45 different people who were inspired to "say" something, and at total of 242 separate comments (not counting my own responses to them).

The top 10 for this past month are:
Ann's Snap & Edit (Ann- 32 comments)
Spinning Lovely Days (Ivy- 26 comments) tied with
Carmen's Chronicles (Carmen- 26 comments)
My Journey (rainfield61- 25 comments)
Dennis the Vizsla Dog (Dennis' dada, James- 18 comments)
Duxbury Ramblers (Carol- 16 comments)
Secondary Roads (Chuck - 14 comments)
The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life (Jean- 13 comments)
Duck and Wheel with String (Lin- 9 comments)
The Joys of Simple Life (betchai- 7 comments)

Blue Blazes! (and a Winner)

Although several people said they thought the contest would be fun, I guess it either wasn't, or people were too busy with Halloween. There was one entry, so she is the winner. It's Emma of Nature Center Magazine. She left a comment on each noted post, and found one other blog with each of the required items. The Nature Center Magazine will have the 125x125 banner for a month. Congrats, Emma!

Today turned out to be a beautiful day, so this afternoon I headed right back out to where Ellen and I were yesterday. My trail section has been ignored way too much over the past two years, while I've been completing my North Country Trail quest. Of course, I am maintaining more miles than I should (9), but I want to keep them.

The trail blazes need to be repainted every few years. You can see how beat up this one is getting. How well they last depends heavily on what kind of tree it was painted on. This is a jack pine, which is a terrible tree for blazes, because the bark flakes so easily. But... when that's what there is, that's what you paint.

So, the first thing you have to do is scrape off that loose bark. As you can see, on the jack pine, that also pretty much removed the blaze. (Oak, by contrast, holds the blazes really well, and maple is good too.) Scraping doesn't hurt the tree a bit, as long as you don't cut the inner bark.

Just so you know, I pictured the very first blaze I did this afternoon, and only that one, because after that my hands were too paint-covered to touch the camera.

After the surface is all clean and fairly smooth, you paint the new blaze. The official size for the NCT is 2x6 inches. The official paint is Nelson "blue." It's an oil-based paint that is formulated specially for use on trees.

I think you have to have a certain form of insanity to paint a lot of blazes. It's a nasty, messy job. You get bark in your eyes. You get covered with paint (I have one set of clothes I wear, just for this job). And, you have to be careful to make those nice square corners.

So, how much did I get done today? About 1.5 miles each way... total 3 miles. That's really my limit for one day of this project. I actually ran out of paint near the end, but I can catch those few blazes when I go back. Ellen and I scheduled a blazing day for Thursday, but it's supposed to rain, so that might not happen.

Anyway... I'm very pleased to be bringing my trail section back up to snuff!

Tomorrow, I'll post the top commenters for October.

Trail Work