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| Little tree frog enjoying the dogs' water on the porch. |
Friday 7/11. I took Dinga to the vet, got a latte and picked up the mail. Lots of mail. Was able to get back home before the heat arrived.
JB was up-&-at'em , doing lots of little chores while I was gone. He dumped the rain barrel and found there were two chipmunks inside, not just one. Later he helped me rinse it out with some water and bleach.
No breeze today. Our high was 94 and the heat just hung in the air, stifling everything, including my will to move. Not fun.
When I feed the girls their greens in the morning, I also clean out their poop from inside the hen house. Then every few days I dump it in the compost pile. They gave us three eggs today. This evening I gave them some icy cold lettuce and grapes to help them cool down.
Saturday 7/12. It was already 77 at 7:30 am! Partly cloudy with smoke and I could just barely make out the outline of the mountains.
We packed our go bags today. I can get a little freaked out if I think too much about why we are doing it, so I try not to. I feel better that it is done, though.
JB charged Miss Kitty's new battery today. It took five hours on the shop generator.
On July 4th, I got to looking around at everyone who was Up Here, these people who have been my family for almost 45 years now. We have all changed physically, but what I see when I look at them with my physical eyes is influenced by memory and knowledge of their characters. We may not see each other very often any more, but they are more dear to me than many of my blood relatives. And I am so thankful for their kinship and great sense of humor.
At 3:30 pm the temperature was waffling back and forth between 99 and 100. Up Here the heat of the day seems to be between 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm. An hour later it had already cooled down to 92. But again, there was very little air movement. When a breeze did come along, it was pure bliss.
Sunday 7/13. It was 74 with no clouds, no wind, no breeze, no air movement at all. I realize this is very good for the fire fighters, but. . .
There is another great article in the current Home Power magazine by Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze about water witching and wells. It is amazing to me that so many people do not believe in water witching. Like so many things, just because they don't believe in it doesn't mean it isn't real. Kind of like I don't really believe that the imposter (president) is the devil incarnate, but it doesn't mean it isn't true. Although I think he is just one of Satan's minions, as Mr. Evil himself wouldn't be that obvious or stupid. (Sorry, Kathleen. Didn't mean to bring him into your wonderful article.)
In readying our go bags, we also have to gather our rifles and ammo. One rifle, for whatever reason, was in the loft where we had to move a bookcase to access it. We ended up sorting a lot of books and packing up a nice size box of historical research books to donate to the local junior college. Can't believe we are still getting rid of stuff.
A light overcast formed by noon, a possible precursor to the thunder and lightening storms predicted for tonight.
I finished book five of the Dresden series, only nine more to go. Great reading for such a hot time.
JB fixed the wiring on the trailer that got ripped off last time we used it. He also attached the base on his Jeep for his new CB antenna. On Tuesday he is going to take our defunct washer and lawn mower to a scrap metal place. They actually pay $.03 a pound for this kind of stuff.
He is also going to Seattle on Friday to stay with his Mom for ten days while his brother and family go on vacation. He will be back on the 28th and then I leave on August 5 to pick up Aunt Nene for our trip to Idaho.
I drove Miss Kitty down the the main canyon road and back just to get her moving. As I came around the hair-pin turn to the game cam, I saw a big, brown blob in the middle of the road that, in the first nano-second, my brain registered as a possible bear cub. It wasn't though. Just a big rock that had dislodged and rolled down. I almost had to work up a sweat to get it off the road, more because of its awkward shape and the fact that I was wearing my flip-flops. I had my socks and boots with me, but I was not going to put them on unless absolutely necessary.
Not much air movement at any time today. Our high was 95, but most of the time it was about 88. Not pleasant. By late afternoon the air smelled like rain, but all the forecasts were for dry thunder and lightening. Seems to me we had a week of hot weather last summer during which I swore I would never again complain about having to put a fire in the wood stove on the 4th of July. Well, I'm swearing again this year. I would much rather have cool than hot. I put a packet of moist wipes in the refrigerator. They should be nice and cold by tomorrow.
Talk about better than TV, we spent about half an hour watching a little tree frog hop into the dogs' water bowl on the porch. After the initial plunge, he stayed mainly on the rim, slowly lowering himself into and then out of the water. He really perked up when a fly landed on the rim across from him, then in one leap he caught the fly and landed on the porch. A few minuted later, he was back on the side of the bowl. Fascinating! Or maybe we're just easily entertained. . .
A light rain fell for about ten minutes at 8:30 pm. The smell was absolutely heavenly. Even though it didn't last long, it was so refreshing. Jesse and I stood out in it, just soaking up the cool. We went to bed at 9:30 pm with NOAA's promise of thunder and lightening to arrive around 11:00 pm. According to Larry, this same storm has ignited more than 100 fires in Oregon.
Monday 7/14. It is 72 and mostly cloudy this morning. The thunder storm must have bypassed us, thank goodness, but there is more in the forecast for tonight. Larry and JB are planning to go fishing on the Columbia this afternoon.
Thought for the day: Sometimes I wrestle with life's problems. Sometimes we just snuggle.
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