If you are interested in following my fire lookout weather , here is a great website.

[DemoTex]

http://supercow.uoregon.edu/~pmowx1/wx.htm

This is the virtual weather page from the website of the Pine Mountain Observatory, which is about 10 miles northeast of my fire lookout and at almost exactly the same elevation (about 6500 feet above sea level). Except for localized meteorological events, our weather is just about the same.

My boss brought me a new toy today! It's a Bushnell Elite 3200 Firefly scope with a Spi-Tronic Pro 3600 digital level. It attaches to the Osborne Fire-Finder and will allow me to obtain sufficiently accurate azimuth and vertical angle information to use Dragon-Plot to obtain "legal" solutions.

A "legal" is a position within the general survey, to wit: township, range, section, and quarter-of-the-quarter section. For example, Pilot Butte (in the city limits of Bend, Oregon) is positioned on the general land survey at Township 17S, Range 12E, Section 33, NW quarter of the SW quarter. Enough about that!

I've been "out of service" for almost two hours now. I closed down at 18:00 PDT (6 PM (for you Freepers, Mickey's big hand on 12 and his little hand on 6)). I had lightening on the butte at about 5 pm. The storm lasted until about 5:45. The visibility stayed zero for over an hour. Now, off duty, I am looking at a broad field of steam devils, which look just like fire smokes, out to the north-northwest (right where I logged many cloud-to-ground lightning strikes before the storms hit here). While I typed that last sentence, the fog rolled in again and the visibility went to dog squat .. oops, sorry Nick-Nick.

That's about it for this dispatch. I need to browse GD/LBN/Lounge for a while, and my email and a couple of other websites.

BTW: All of these dispatches are going into my DU Journal, so you can always check there for the latest.

Ciao for now ..

[BrklynLiberal]

1. lolololololololol

I closed down at 18:00 PDT(6 PM (for you Freepers, Mickey's big hand on 12 and his little hand on 6))

[Mind_your_head]

2. Cool beans!

But we all want to know, what's your "take" on AF 447, as will Pitt asked you earlier today{

Peace & :good will:
M_Y_H

[DemoTex]

4. I responded to MercutioATC within Will Pitt's thread.

Basically, I said that I have way too little info (as a former ALPA airline accident investigator) to say anything at all about AF 447. I've got a message in for my bud on the NTSB, and I hear that my buds John Cox and John Wiley have been waxing eloquently on CNN.

My home phone message machine back in SC is full of queries, too (news media, old editors, etc.). Good thing Dr. DemoTex is in Los Angeles this week .. she would give them an ear full. AF 447, as sad as it is, is one reason I am in the Deschutes NF wilderness for the summer.

That does not mean that I will not post info on DU if and when I get it. I will. It is my obligation. But there are a lot of other aviation professionals on DU who can pinch hit for me.

[Mind_your_head]

5. Understood.

It's really cool what you're doing currently!

Peace (and thanks)
M_Y_H

[Arctic Dave]

3. How is the Tee-Pee working out for you? n/t

[DemoTex]

8. Glad you asked!

I need to talk with the tipi people in Bend. I'm not sure I have a spot to pitch it on the top of this butte. The only really level spot is a heliport. Not a good place for a tipi! But I am still in love with the idea. Oh, I'll get a tipi. If not here, then back in my beloved Appalachians.

[Arctic Dave]

13. Tipis rock! :)

[L. Coyote]

6. Did you check out Moab? Don't miss Smith Rocks State Park and

Ranger Eric's tour of Fort Rock Cave.

[Catshrink]

9. And are you anwhere near the Deschutes Brewery?

This is one of my very favorites:

[DemoTex]

10. Not out here in the wilderness ..

But I do think I saw it in west Bend the other day. A few blocks from the west-end Safeway and Ray's? I'll sample their product!

[Catshrink]

12. Definitely check them out

http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/

Black Butte Porter -- awesome!

[Catshrink]

7. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Isn't it jarring to be up in the tower during a lightning storm? Have you been able to take any photos of lightning strikes? I'm sure you dread seeing them because of the danger they pose.

Stay well.

[DemoTex]

11. Almost 105 years of lookouts ..

I have never found any chronicle of a lookout injured by lightning. The tower is a Faraday cage, electrically isolated .. like a car or airplane. A close strike is, indeed, jarring. I love the storms .. I just get in my "lightening chair" with it's glass insulating feet.

[LWolf]

14. While I love thunderstorms,

all those lightning strikes are likely to get fire season started with a bang. Thursday's afternoon squall was jaw-dropping from where I sat. Wind, huge hail, buckets of water, instant little flash floods, along with the thunder, lightning, and dark.

And, of course, Wednesday, a student was struck by lightning in the high school parking lot in LaPine.

I'll second the recommendation for Black Butte Porter. You don't have to go to the brewery to get it; it's in all the local stores. ;)

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Do you keep Nick on your lap????

How does he handle thunder and lightning? I have to give my German Shepherd some Rescue Remedy...and I have the Anxiety Wrap that helps as well.

I found some great pics of your area....
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/about/photos.shtml


I looks like Paradise

[DemoTex]

17. Nick stays on the bed, which is electrically isolated too.

His vet in SC prescribed Ace Promazine 25 mg, which does a good job of calming him.

BTW: Great collection of photos. I bookmarked the site. Thanks.

[Canuckistanian]

16. Aha, I finally located you on Google Earth

That's quite a hill you're on there. I even sort of duplicated your view of China Hat, the Caldera and the 3 Sisters.

I was looking for info on your tower and I found this:
http://www.forestlookout.com/eastbutte/

Have you seen this site? I tell you, for every subject, there's an enthusiast's website.

[DemoTex]

18. I studied that site very well before taking the job.

I was offered about 10 other lookouts in Oregon, Idaho, and N. Cali at the same time, but that website's excellent info on East Butte made up my mind for me. The info there is so good that when I got here I found things exactly like I expected tham to be. No surprises.

The only thing different now is that it is not a contract position. It is a US Forest Service temporary position (mid-May through mid-October, or end of fire season).