West Fork Fire

 A forest fire broke out yesterday near the intersection of West Fork Road and Ski Run Road.  We were driving back from Billings yesterday and saw the smoke from about 15 miles out.  It is very unusual to have forest fires in March, since most of the time it's still cold and the ground is covered with snow at this time of year.  But this winter has been anything but normal, it has been very warm through most of the winter.


As we got closer to Red Lodge, we got more and more concerned.  We could tell that the fire was very close to the new house.  As we drove by the Fire Department, the first trucks were leaving for the fire.  At that point, we were allowed to go up to the house.  For a few hours, we watched the Fire Department and Forest Service bring in the trucks to attack the fire.

It was difficult to tell where the fire started yesterday afternoon.  At points we couldn't see Ski Run Road, which is less than one half mile away, but we could occasionally see flames heading north towards Red Lodge Mountain. We later found out the fire started about a half a mile from the house.

The Fire Department jumped right on it and got the fire contained within five or six hours.  The wind was gusting to 65 miles an hour and the fire quickly covered 600 acres.  We left to get lunch and the emergency personnel wouldn't let us go back to the house for a few hours.  The road to Red Lodge Mountain was also shut down, so the skiers had to stay on the mountain.

Finished the Hard Stuff

Last week we finished a couple of the hard, high things.  John's crew finished the outside siding and they just made it with enough siding to finish the job.  The siding is a pre-stained Douglas Fir that comes from Missoula, Montana.  The wood is milled in small sawmills, some of it from standing dead timber.  Around Red Lodge there is plenty of standing dead timber from recent forest fires, some of which is being harvested, but much of it is left to return to nature.

 The other high, hard thing completed was hanging the chandelier in the living room.  The ceiling of the living room is 23 feet above the level of the floor.  The chandelier is suspended 10 feet from the ceiling and it weighs 40+ pounds, so it was not easy to get it up to make the electrical connections.  It took 3 bucks of scaffolding and then a six foot ladder on the top level to attach the chain and make the electrical connections.

Mouse's eye view of the front door

Porches and Doors

We now have two exterior doors that we can use, the door from the garage into the house and the door to the porch.  The door to the porch gives us access to the views of the elk rearing range and the West Fork canyon.  I can't wait to sit out there with a glass of wine and a good book this summer.

We also have all of the inside doors in place with door knobs and hardware installed.  The doors are hemlock and look great.  John's crew will begin installing the door and window trim this week. We only have one problem so far and that is the stain that we picked for the two big exterior doors, it's a little too orange.  But once we are in, we can overstain and tone it down to a light chestnut color.  Or at least that's the plan.

The garage doors were also installed this week and fortunately the colors match the soffits and the trim.  If we had any valuables, we could lock them in the house.

Yesterday, we moved a few boxes into the basement.  The renovation of our rental is scheduled to begin next week, and rather than move stuff around in Broadway Rose, we opted to just bring some of it to the new house.

Rock and Tile

Measuring for sconces on the fireplace

Gary and Arnaldo made lots of progress this week on the rock facade on the fireplace and the bathroom tile floors.

Arnaldo and his crew have laid the stone  in sections from the top down.  I am used to seeing rock laid from the bottom up, but they started with a section near the ceiling and laid the rock up to the ceiling.  They come down another 5 feet and work up to the recently completed section.  Last week, they finished down to the mantle area.  They are using a rock that has been mined in Montana and then sawn down to 3 to 4 inches thick.

All of the bathroom floors are tiled and all but one have been grouted. The ceramic tile has the appearance of old wooden floors.  Next up for tile mason Gary is the ceramic wall tile in the showers.

Not Wood

The rock masons came and dropped off their tools and materials to begin work on the fireplace. However, there was a problem with the rock - it was muddy.  When Gary asked how they planned to clean it, they said they would use a wire brush on it, after the fireplace was finished.  We knew that would never get all the mud off and the colors of the rock would be dulled.  So Gary hand washed each rock, in five gallon buckets.  The water isn't hooked up to the house, so the water had to be hauled in as well.

Washed Rock

Light fixtures have arrived