July 9, 2014 Smoke & Fires

Fire way to the north of us.

Monday 7/7. We have so many humming birds Up Here this year.  Right now I am making eight cups of syrup for them about every two or three days!

Another hot day with a high of 88.  Basically just did inside chores and read books.  The laundry dried very quickly on the line.

Larry and Elsie returned home relaxed and tanned, but with quite a story.  When they were nearing the dock where they had parked their truck and trailer, Elsie commented that she didn't remember the ground being so black near the parking lot.  It seems that some nutjob had been setting off fireworks there and started a fire.  It came within twenty feet of their vehicle!  The perpetrator was caught and fined.  

They drove up to visit this evening bearing some walleye fillets from their fishing expedition.  Larry caught a 27"'er.

Tuesday 7/8. It was 70 and clear with more hot weather predicted for the next week or so, and thunderstorms in a few day.

I was finally motivated to sort out my two piles of papers, since it was just too hot to do much outside.  The heat doesn't seem to affect JB as much as it does me, so he did a lot of little things out there before lunch, then worked on cleaning up and sorting out the shop.  Says he can actually see his work bench now.  

At about 4:30 pm, I noticed smoke way off to the north.  I took my camera to the north ridge and got some pictures of an incredible pillar of smoke coming from the Entiat area.  When we spoke with Larry on the radio at 9:00 pm, he said it was already burning up to 2000 acres.

Earlier in the day JB called to cancel the rough-cut mower we had reserved.  We were going to use it to cut a lot of the bushes down in the trees, but it is so dry now that one little spark from it hitting a rock could really cause a problem.

Our high for the day was 99!!  I think some of my brain cells are melting.  And the heat is definitely sucking out most of our energy.  There was very little air movement until evening, then we sat out on the porch to enjoy the breeze.

I finished Jim Butcher's second Dresden novel, Fool Moon, for about the third or fourth time, and started on the the next one.

With all the windows open, the breeze managed to cool down the house so it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be to get to sleep.

Wednesday 7/9.  It is 67 and partly cloudy this morning with a light breeze, and strong winds in the forecast, which does not bode well for any fires out there.

Thought for the day: Life is complicated and not for the timid. Garrison Keillor