Idaho Wildfire Update: I made it here!

Well, after a flight cancellation and then sitting 3 hours on the runway in Atlanta during a lightning show, I finally arrived in Boise at 3:oo a.m. Eastern Time, after having got up at 4:15 a.m. the day before! After a good sleep, I drove about 5 hours to the Incident Command Post of the Shower Bath Complex, in Challis Idaho. I've been learning the ropes of an Incident Meteorologist since the minute I arrived yesterday afternoon. Today, the Fire Behavior Analyst took me out to the fire so I could get to know the situation a little better. The top photo shows how the heat of a wildfire can turn the side of a mountain into a lunar surface!

I was only close enough to the active burning to see smoke plumes rising from behind the mountain, while more minor smoke can be seen on the front. I also saw a pine tree torch up in seconds as the fire finished making its run up the terrain, but was not able to get it on camera.

Perhaps the biggest challenge in fighting the Shower Bath Complex (which includes the Shower Bath, Red Bluff, and Clear Sage fires) is the very rugged terrain. Take a look at the road the crew has to take to get to Shower Bath!

Well, I have to get to sleep, almost 10 o'clock. I'll try to update again in another 2-3 days. And now, a moment of appreciation for Marisa, who is holding down the fort with Autumn and Evan back home... Thank you, my sweet!

-Mark

WILDFIRE! Mark's been dispatched to Idaho

Just a quick update... which I am able to write because my initial flight got cancelled leaving me with a few spare hours.

I'll be near Challis, Idaho for the next couple of weeks... I've been dispatched to what is called the "Shower Bath Complex" which is a trio of wildfires in the Northeast Idaho Mountains. I'm in training to be an Incident Meteorologist (IMET), and this will be my first fire.

If possible, I will email Marisa photos and updates, and perhaps she'll be able to put some on the blog in coming days. But I will be very busy... 14 straight days, 14-16 hours of work/day. I'll be camped out with roughly 250 firefighters, incident staff, and support people. So far the trio of fires has burned about 110,000 acres, with an estimated containment date of September 30. It has also cost more than 20 million dollars to fight so far.

A few sites to try for more information:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/934/

http://www.nazteam.com/assignments/index.html

http://www.challismessenger.com/

Wish me luck! And even more so... wish Marisa luck as she will be working her job AND taking care of the kids by herself until I get back.

-Mark

Photo credits: Smoke plume photo on right courtesy of the Challis Messenger (linked above), of the Shower Bath Fire. Fire photo at top from about a week ago, a different Idaho Fire (there are dozens going on right now), courtesy of the Great Basin Incident Management Team.

Vacation Photo Album

Our vacation to Michigan was just wonderful (the only problem being that we came home to a dead refridgerator at 3 a.m. Sunday morning! Here are some highlights from the week. Forgive the messy captioning; we are exhausted and wanted to get this post done before we hit the hay.
Evan excitedly swivels in a funky diner where we ate in Mackinaw City before boarding the boat to the island.

We had many beautiful sunsets and lovely weather on Lake Huron! This particular evening Mark and I went out on the raft to enjoy the sunset.

On our way back down, we had dinner with Great-Grandpa and the Drouillards. The evening was bittersweet though as two days before Marisa's cousin Jill was in an accident and has suffered severe damage to her leg. She has to keep it immobile for 6 weeks and face a second surgery. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Uncle Joel took the whole week off to share vacation with us! We had so much fun with him there! Here Evan helps him mow. We love you Uncle Joel!

We were happy that Grandma Linda could come up for a day and night to join us! Here the kids enjoy beach time with their Grandmas.

We took a little trip to Ocqeoc Falls - not much when you're used to WV mountain falls, but the kids had a blast plunking around in the river... that is until Autumn got a soaker!

The last two days of our time at Grandma Laurie's cottage, Marisa's Aunt Mary came up with her granddaughters. The kids, whom we call cousins, had so much fun together, and the cuteness was out of control!

Mark and I got to go on a very romantic date to the Nautical Festival on Sunday night. Here we share a ferris wheel ride and get to know each other!

We had an amazing day on Mackinac Island. Here, Grandma Laurie strolls along gazing at the Mackinac Bridge. We rented bikes and rode around too, which was so quaint and fun!

Marley, Ellie, Evan, and Autumn get a free ride out to the sandbar!

Dad and Evan show off their blue eyes at a cute Italian restaurant where we snacked on the island.

Going On Vacation: Seeking Cooler Climate!

As much as we enjoy baking in the heat and humidity of a West Virginia August, today we ditch the popsicles and head for the cottage on Lake Huron (near Rogers City, MI)... meeting up with Grandma Laurie and Uncle Joel! We'll also be taking the exit ramp off of the Information Superhighway, but look for updates around August 13th-ish after we get back. In the meantime, enjoy the two new vid clips on the right:

1. Evan picks up WV Book and sings Country Roads - 1:25 - One of Mark's co-workers got the kids a WV book featuring the lyrics of that John Denver song "Almost Heaven... West Virginia" and it has become one of Evan's favorites.

2. Shortcake Antics - 0:35 -A quick clip as the kids try their best not to choke on strawberry shortcake while Daddy keeps making them laugh.

Also, in case you had missed them before, we put up a trio of videos in June: Learning 2 Bike, Trails & Tunnels of Grandview Park WV, and Roundin' Up a WV Hillbilly Dinner (squirrel chase). You can locate these on the right, under the two new video clips.

Adios, we're out the door! See you when we get back from Michigan.

-Mark, Marisa, Autumn, and Evan

Famapalooza crammed into 2 1/2 days

WOW. We got back Monday evening, after a 2 1/2 day trip full of family and friends! The kids usually handle travel well, but the trip last week Friday to Grand Rapids from WV took 12 hours because of traffic jams and multiple unplanned stops. Autumn and Evan whined and fought a lot on the way up... luckily, the way back from Detroit on Monday lasted only 8 hours and went quite smoothly.

But for having to make the arduous trip back and forth, we sure got everything in that we could! After arriving Friday night, we went to our family Reunion at Riverside Park Saturday afternoon. The reunion featured the remaining 2 out of 9 "kids" (my Grandpa and Great Aunt Josie) that were born of the original Sicilian immigrants, and a whole lot of the branches and twigs of the family tree from there. Nametags were used with geneology numbers displayed; a system that goes like this (see pic, click on for larger version): My Grandpa is number 6 because he was the 6th born of the original Sicilians... my Dad (a.k.a. his nickname Butch) has number 61 because he is the 1st born of the 6th born... my number is 614 because I'm the 4th born of the 1st born of the 6th born... etc. It was awesome to be able to make sense of the family tree in this way, including Autumn and Evan a.k.a. 6141 and 6142. With everyone wearing their numbers, it quite simply clarified the big picture for me, of how our immediate and more distant relatives fit all together... some of whom I hadn't seen in well over a decade (we missed the last reunion).

That same afternoon, we were able to run over to my Mom's house, which allowed a nice visit for the kids to see Grandma Linda and Nana. This was followed by a wonderful dinner sans kiddies for Marisa and me... with Joe, Judy, and even Marisa's brother Joel at the Bluewater Grille on Northland Drive!

The next day was our annual "Christmas in July" (picture at top of blog entry) hosted again this year by Joe and Judy... an afternoon full of food, opening presents, games, herding/referreeing the kids, and other general fun chaos. Mike and Rachel stopped by towards the end with their beautiful daughter Lauren (pictured here). Meanwhile, Brian and I did a "putt off" in frisbee golf... in which we bet punches. That's right, punches. Whoever lost, got punched in the arm. Guess who lost? The bruise finally went away a couple days ago...

Thus, our weekend came to a close... BUT WAIT, there's more! We drove Sunday evening over to Marisa's Mom's new apartment (well, new for me because I hadn't seen her in 7 months!). The next morning the kids eagerly swam at the community pool... you can see here that Evan has been bravely going under water lately. The swim was followed by a lunch gathering with a whole bunch from Marisa's side of the family, pictured below (including Ross and Dana, who the kids always love seeing).

And finally, the ride back home, and work/daycare the next morning. Phew! We were quite exhausted. The funny thing is, a week from now we are back in the car, on a LONGER Michigan trip all the way up to the cottage in Rogers City (near Mackinac Bridge). But this time, nothin' planned except to relax -n- enjoy. Ahh.... and this time, since I'm working midnight shifts up until then (I'll be accustomed to staying up all night), we're going to do a night drive to get there. Should be a bit easier.

-Mark

Changing Days

Our lives have changed quite a bit since I started work two weeks ago. I am loving my new job at HospiceCare, and though the kids had a rough week last week at day camp, today they showed no resistance when Mark dropped them off! This was a huge relief, as one day last week Mark almost gave in and put them back in the car! The kids always seem happy when we pick them up, and the teachers report that they're doing well, so we're happy.

The black and white photo above is from the July 4th, when we attended a small-town parade (Buffalo, WV). It began with at least a couple dozen blaring loud fire trucks - the kids had difficulty prying their hands from over their ears, to pick up the candy that was being thrown from the vehicles.

And...family time continues! The kids enjoyed a recent visit with Grandpa Berry, and this weekend we are traveling up to Grand Rapids for a family reunion and Christmas in July with Mark's side of the family! It will be a whirlwind but we are so excited to see everyone, and hopefully get over to our dear Lake Michigan for a dip. Bye for now!

Grandma Linda Visits! And more Rafting Pics...

Grandma Linda just left after a jam-packed 2 day visit to WV! Yesterday in particular, we crammed in everything possible: Library (drop off books), Kanawha Falls (deck photo on left with Grandma below), Cathedral Falls (top photo climbing around rocks with Grandma Linda, and black/white Daddy and Autumn photo below on right), Hawks Nest (nice views), New River Gorge (big bridge), Ellen's Ice Cream Shop (downtown Charleston, pictured up on left), Live on the Levee (downtown live music on the riverfront), and finally, the twins' first time seeing fireworks, at the Leonardi house (Chris L. works with Mark). Not bad for one day, especially considering that it began at the pet shop; we finally set up the 2.5 gallon aquarium that Grandma Linda got for us several months ago... and had Autumn and Evan pick out one fish each: Two guppies they named "Pooba" and "Simple Simon." Thanks so much for visiting, Grandma! We loved hosting you!

As for our previous set of guests... we promised more whitewater rafting photos in our last blog entry. Find a set of 16 photos in our Flickr Page (click on the link)! Some of the photos are a bit fuzzy because they were taken with a waterproof one-time-use camera.

Take a look at this picture of what all the fun did to Mr. Decker: he zonked out on the chair, while everyone else set him up for a pretty funny photo...

As Good As It Gets!

Our guests just left for the trek back to Grand Rapids. This weekend was simply as good as it gets, all of us reliving old times while cherishing new ones. They all arrived Friday afternoon to an early dinner and pop/beer, then we played frisbee golf in Huntington until sunset. Up at the crack of dawn yesterday morning, after the babysitter arrived we got over to New River Gorge for a full day of whitewater rafting, adrenaline, and well, of course... think of the natural result of beans! Above is a "photo of a photo," a copy of one we bought from the rafting company. However, we brought a waterproof camera with us, and will share plenty more photos when those get developed.

Group shot from this morning before they all got back in the van: From upper left, Mr. Decker, Brian Decker (with Autumn), Uncle Joe (with Evan), Daddy... From lower left, Marisa, Mike Decker, Uncle Mike, and at bottom, James Mikrut. I think this weekend demonstrated poignantly how nice it is to live within a day trip's drive to everyone in Michigan, and how great to have so many fun things to do nearby, for anyone who visits. In other words, we're grateful for the move that brought us from Montana to West Virginia.

Now, today is all about preparing for the big shift in our lifestyle: Marisa's first day on her new job is tomorrow. We just got a pair of cell phones to upgrade to the 21st centurty, for all of the coordinating we'll have to do with our kids and work schedules. We're going shopping later for a few things, including another couple of child seats so both of our cars are equipped for drop off/pick up. It's also time to finally ditch Autumn's toddler bed and get her a bigger one. Other than that, hopefully we'll some "chill out" time this evening, since we're still sore and tired from the rafting! More photos in coming days... -Mark

Charting a New Course... Marisa joins Local Hospice!

Exciting times in the Pellerito Household! A few blog entries ago, Marisa alluded to a "new opportunity" that she'd tell you about later. Well guess what, it panned out: Marisa just accepted a position as a social worker at Kanawha HospiceCare. And what better picture to sum up this new lifestyle change, charting a new course, than this one that was taken at FestivALL Charleston. World reknown chalk artist, Julian Beever (click on this link... you simply MUST see the art he's done), stopped by Charleston's start-of-summer event and completed one of his famous 3-dimensional illusion chalk drawings. Marisa and her MOPS friends had a night out on the town, and hopped on board.

While the picture conveniently serves as a metaphor for our good news, we are also very much looking forward to the REAL thing a week from now, when we join the Decker twins, "Big Dave" Decker, James Mikrut, and my brothers Joe and Mike on a whitewater rafting trip down the New River - it's been planned for months! Thanks to Joe for putting it all together.


The kids are very excited about joining the "YMCA school" (a.k.a. day care the rest of this summer, which turns into preschool in the Fall). We've told them how proud we are that they are big enough to go to school - what better way to smooth over this big lifestyle change? :) It felt like fate, in that just when Marisa's dream job showed up in the Charleston Gazette, our turn came up on the YMCA day care waitlist - we had almost forgotten that we had entered our name on it in the first place. It's also simply just the right time for Marisa to get back into the adult working world... the kids have enjoyed the benefits of 3 1/2 years of her staying at home, and sometimes she gets very tired of talking to little kids/no adults almost all day. What's more; Marisa's new employer is quite flexible, and will allow her to still meet with MOPS Tuesday mornings, and also scale back on hours during this coming Fall so she will not be working a full 40 hour workweek then. Also, they will work around our times off that we already have planned this summer (Family Reunion/Pellerito Xmas in July, and Michigan/Grandma's Cottage in August). And finally, since my schedule is not normal, there will be many times where I can take the kids late/pick them up early from the YMCA, or even have the day off together with them.

So... after a tumultous and sometimes very tough almost 4 years since everything turned upside down with the loss of my job... everything especially now really seems to be coming together just great for us. :) :) :) -Mark

The kids dance to some swing music at FestivALL today, where I toted them in their little red wagon. There's been so much going on in Charleston lately, it's really exciting. Before this dancing bit, we had been to the library street fair, which was a blast for the kids. Except mealtime. We had been there all morning, so by 12:30 I reluctantly conceded to myself (Mark was at work) that I'd have to buy the kids standard fare for lunch. Evan wanted a hot dog and Autumn wanted pizza. The tables were close to each other so I sent my eager son over to the pizza table with a dollar, and next thing I know it's on the ground and I'm apologizing to the tight-smiling volunteer. Then I'm buying Evan's hot dog and next thing I know Evan is howling. Not ten feet away he had tripped over some pipe in the grass and scraped his face up, while some fairgoers stopped to help him as I dashed over, the hot dog landing in the grass and Autumn demanding to know if there was pepperoni on the piece of pizza I had just purchased for her. A fair attendant rushed to our aid, offering ice in a rubber glove and some help to the car, where our meter was almost up. We finally made it to the car, got the wagon out, and the kids ate happily in their wagon while I got to enjoy a little culture without chasing after them for a few minutes. Ahhhhh. -Marisa

A Review of the Hailbomb Storm that just struck Glasgow, MT

The Mothership Approacheth. Just in case you were wondering, this is what it looks like just before a hailbeast is unleashed on the high plains of Montana... and unfortunately, in this case, it slammed into our former homestead of Glasgow. The top photo was taken by an employee of the National Weather Service.

The NWS Storm Survey concluded 20 to 35% of homes in Glasgow (depending on what side of town) had at least some sort of damage, including broken windows, pitted siding - from wind driven hail - downed trees, etc. Nashua, 15 miles "downwind" from Glasgow, faired worse, with 90% of homes sustaining damage. The storm produced widespread gusts of of 60-70 mph along with hail (even a measured 89 mph gust outside of town), and for the day Glasgow recorded 2.55" of rain; this, in a place that averages only 12 inches of precipitation a year! Water filled the only way to get under the railroad, right in the middle of town.

Crop damage was extensive. Our friends, the Fasts, lost more than 3000 acres of what would have been a bumper crop (good moisture so far this year). Even small hail, when combined with a driving wind, can mow down the fields. To get an idea, take a look at what little is left of the Glasers garden. The Burkes, meanwhile, have been working on their new house for about a year, but were just put a little further behind with broken windows and screens. (This picture, however, was sent to us by the Glasers)

The bottom picture below shows a cross section of the storm on the NWS Glasgow Doppler Radar. The purples, pinks, and darkest reds show the highest amount of reflectivity, or in other words, where the largest objects (big raindrops or hail) can be found within the storm. Hail in particular reflects and shows up extremely well on radar. The pinks go all the way up to 25,000 feet! The storm also has a strong tilted updraft and "bounded weak echo region" (BWER), where a weak reflectivity area is surrounded by strong reflectivity at about 18,000 feet - about 3/4ths or so of the way over on the right in the image. A BWER is a classic sign of an intense updraft, one that can support large hail growth. The good thing about this storm was that there was plenty of warn time. It developed late morning a good 200 miles or so west-northwest of Glasgow, and set a predictable steady course from there. A Tornado Warning was issued, but no tornado was ever confirmed.

Father's Day, Farewell to Friends, and Big Storm Strikes Glasgow

Happy Dad's day to Popski, Great Grandpa Pellerito, Grandpa Berry, Great Grandpa Berry, Joe, Mike, and all others within the realm of Fatherhood!

Father's Day Weekend for us started with a wonderful yet bittersweet outdoor party/cookout, held jointly in the backyards of our house and next door. Wonderful, because there were about 30 of us who gathered during a picture perfect, low humidity, firefly-filled evening... but bittersweet because the reason for the party: Our friends and neighbors, the Woodworth Family, are moving to Virginia near DC. The oodles of children spent a few hours playing games, blowing bubbles, and eating lots of junk food... while the adults kicked back, talked, ate, drank, and generally gave up getting the little ones to bed at a reasonable time. At about 10 pm (about 2 1/2 hours past bedtime), Evan and Daddy laid out in the grass for about 15 minutes to look at the stars and blinking airplanes, to which Evan said "This is like a camp out!" The trees were electrified by the constant flickering of dozens and dozens of fireflies. Autumn sat up on Daddy's shoulders, arms to the sky, trying to catch them. It was fantastic. Evan even woke up this morning crying "I want (sniffle) to have (sniff) another... PARTY."

We are going to miss the Woodworths, including the munchkins (first and fourth from the right in this picture) who have been such good playmates for Autumn and Evan... it has been so great having friends right next door especially during our time adjusting to our new life in WV.

But, at least there's one good thing to come out of this - since they are moving, the Woodworths have generously given us their swingset/playplace, which we moved into our backyard a couple weeks ago. It is getting VERY heavy use each day... and has quickly turned into a serious kid magnet for our section of the neighborhood. We joke that sometimes it seems like we're turning into the Timberlake Circle daycare.

And finally, I have to unfortunately end this with somber news: Our former hometown in Montana, Glasgow, just got absolutely pummelled by a very strong "supercell" thunderstorm this evening (Saturday) with 50-65mph winds and baseball sized hail... all with more than an inch of rain in about 20 minutes. The hailbomb marched basically right down the main artery of the region, Highway 2, hitting town after town after town (possible tornado involved as well, but not confirmed yet). It undoubtedly caused tremendous crop loss because of the high winds and large hail, and we already have heard about lots of broken windows and damaged siding. There is probably serious roof damage as well. Glasgow is a town of only 3,000 people, almost 5 hours from a mall and 2 1/2 hours from a Walmart... so meeting a sudden need for building/repair supplies is going to be difficult. We do not know the extent of the impact of this storm on our Montana friends (though the ones we reached north of town apparently didn't get hit bad at all), as this just happened only a few hours prior to me writing this. They are in our thoughts - hopefully things are not as bad as it appeared on radar when I was at work earlier this evening. -Mark

WV Hillbilly Recreation (including new video)

Today we went to Grandview Park, a part of the New River Gorge National River near Beckley WV (a little over an hour from our house). And no joke, on the way, a large black bear barrelled at full throttle across both sides of the interstate, well enough in front of us for it to be very funny instead of scary. We had to do a double-take to believe what was really happening, as the thing clumsily jumped over the median.

After the bear encounter... at the appropriately named Grandview Park: In addition to amazing views of the gorge - from 1400 feet above the New River - we found an awesome hiking trail which involved climbing on sandstone walls, through rock tunnels, etc. The kids had a great time, though unlike Evan, Autumn did not want to go back through what she called "the spooky tunnels" again. Here's a little pic, but we will upload a movie of the hike soon to the blogsite.

Until then, check out our newest video clip on the right side of the website, under Video Bar: "Roundin' Up a WV Hillbilly Dinner" which features the kids chasing after members of an unnaturally numerous squirrel colony that reside in Ritter Park, of Huntington WV. We went there on one of my days off last week. Enjoy! -Mark

June days

Naps are rare these days, but the other day after being out in the hot sun all morning, we popped in a video for some down time after lunch and this was the result. We also had a few hours the other day to go check out a new park (new to us, anyway): Ritter Park in Huntington, where the kids most enjoyed chasing the unnatural quantities of docile squirrels running amuck (video coming soon). Here's Autumn in motion and Evan and Dad hanging out on a peaceful bridge. I am savoring these days with the kids as I consider soon going back to work. An exciting opportunity has come up and I will keep the blog posted...