August is near its end.
September creeping in.
We’ve had fires this late before.
Smoke billows from the south over the hills.
It’s hazy.
It’s hot.
Please let it rain.
August is near its end.
September creeping in.
We’ve had fires this late before.
Smoke billows from the south over the hills.
It’s hazy.
It’s hot.
Please let it rain.
The skies have appeared blue the last couple of days. White clouds for the most part – though there was a large cloud of smoke billowing over the hills. Evidently it moved on its way though I don’t know where. One of the water fitness attendees comes from Winston. She said she almost did not attend this morning because of the smoke (I don’t know which fire) but it was clear in Myrtle Creek.
Carolyn had us work out in the deep
end as the wind continued to blow. It
made the class more spread out though there were only ten of us – five or six
less than usual. If all the regulars
were to turn out at the same time, there would probably be over 25 of us.
I feel like it is a safe guess
to
say that my family has been
to
Yellowstone at least 15 times
from
the time I was born and up
until
my father’s death.
I
remember fires having
closed
Yellowstone Park –
but
never flooding.
This weather has been so strange.
I
know that I mentioned
how
tired I get
each
time the wind blows.
I
don’t know why it
has sent me
into
a coma so often – like
I’m taking
sleeping pills that
knock
me out into another week.
The
fact that it really does happen
is
strange.
I
also get hot
whenever
it rains.
When
I am sound asleep and
the
rain is pounding
on
the roof, it is not the
sound
that wakes me up.
It
is the rising temperature
in
my body.
Why
does it do that?
Why
would I get hot when
the
rain itself is so cold?
That
is also strange.
I
never referred to the summer
as
“fire season” until
I
moved to Oregon.
The first exposure I had to it was
the
year 2015 when
we
first moved to Oregon.
being
set to low in
July
through September.
I don’t recall our first exposure to
smoke and
haze until
August of 2015 when we
chose to explore Grants Pass.
It has been smoky most Augusts that
we have assisted at the pear farm
in Medford.
Strange.
And now it’s wet.
Wetter than I remember Oregon
being this late in June –
if at all.
I don’t wish to
see fire season delayed.
I would like to not see it at all.
Or smell it.
Or breath it.
https://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/2017/
09/the_worst_wildfires_in_oregon.html
I want to stay safe.
I want the weather to stay cool.
I like the 50 – 60 temperatures.
I don’t like the
constant vacillation of
“today will be in the low 40s but may
end in the high 80s.”
That isn’t nice!
Jenna starts school tomorrow and had
hoped to have less hair to deal with. I
had set up an appointment for each of us to get our hair thinned out – though I
wondered if it we better just to recreate the pandemic hair from last year.
Because we were already out and
Jenna hadn’t gotten the schedule that would supposedly be sent out by August 27
(that was the original plan anyway. Tomorrow is the first day of school and no
schedule has been identified. I told Jenna we could swing by the high school to
see if we could figure out the source of the problem.
Walking to the school from the street made for
an interesting challenge all by itself.
This is a view of the high school parking lot:
I seriously have my doubts about this being finished tonight
and ready for the students who drive to school tomorrow.
The smoke continues to envelop our community. The stars have not been visible the last couple of nights. The hills appear to have been swallowed. This road which runs alongside the high school seems to be a drop off into the unknown.
The air is thick and white where I live.
Other parts of Oregon are yellow and orange – like San Francisco.
I doubt there is any blue sky that can be seen on the entire west coast.
Forget COVID. Forget politics and presidential candidates. People have lost their homes in more way than one. They’ve either been burnt to the ground or criminals have come to ransack and destroy their houses in other ways. Aside from material possessions which can be replaced are sentiments that are lost.
I was watching abc news that provided the following:
This hazardous air quality did not exist for us until after Labor Day and then descended quickly.
They had set up for an evacuation for those that live in Glide – only that became hazardous as well. Now they are at the Douglas Fair Grounds. There has been such a great out pour of generosity to those who have been evacuated and don’t know if they will even be able to return to once was their. community. Neighborhood are gone – just as neighborhoods have been destroyed by Hurricane Laura.
Bizarre whether in
Wyoming too – though I don’t know if anyone has had to evacuate due to an early
snow.
Photos retrieved from facebook, *screenshots from abc facebook page
# AP Photo/Paula Bronstein here and KVAL's Austin Johnson here
Just six and a half months before the pandemic Roland, Jenna and I had gone to Bandon. And yet it feels like decades ago since we made that trip on Labor Day weekend last year. I did not think about that Labor Day until yesterday when I was looking for a picture of the fog.
We chose not to go anywhere this year due to COVID. When Labor Day had turned into night I was lying in bed and looking up at the stars. What a beautiful sight to see stars all summer. I didn’t realize that Labor Day would be my last opportunity even though I spent several minutes admiring the twinkles (which appeared to be twinkling as the fan had been lightly moving the blinds).
The next day the RS pres. had picked
up to attend a mini-RS meeting. We’ve
had four now beginning in Canyonville, Riddle, Working sisters, and
Tri-City. Will have one more in Myrtle
Creek. I enjoyed the scenery as we were
outdoors. The light breeze was
inviting. The skies were clear on the
drive home. But sometime between 1:00
and 1:30 the smoke crept over the mountains until they seemed to disappear.
Sometimes fog and smoke will
appear the same as both distort our vision.
But fog is clean and rises. I don’t have any problems breathing in the moist
clean air. Smoke descends – it envelopes
and lingers. Smoke is not pleasant. It chokes. It destroys. It does assist with cool colors
sometimes. But it’s certainly not worth
what the fires take away.
From earlier posts I am sharing these pictures of the fog and the smoke:
Our hometown has not been surrounded by smoke and fire as it was in 2017. I don't recall the governor issuing evacuation orders in 2017 as the hot topic that's been presented this year. We have been told that the entire state are at Level 1: be prepared to leave Level 2: pack up to head out and Level 3: LEAVE RIGHT NOW.
We are at a level 1 saddly there have been and continue to be several at Level 3.
this photo shows the opposite. Sky is white and sun is blood red
Evacuations are taking place
all around the state
Douglas County has had some
fires
Douglas County is large and so
we aren’t always
directly infected at Myrtle
Creek and have not seen
smoke all summer and so I can’t
complain about it
only today did the smoke
swallow the mountains
It almost feels overcast outside and yet
there's a yellow/orange/white reflection from the sky.
The smoke has left the sun with an awesome
glow that has an
eerie feel to it when it peers
through my windows like
in science fiction movies when
the aliens are
about to invade. But it is 2020 after all.
The last six months have
seemed like a
work of science fiction. I think it looks like this on
the entire west coast right
now.
Daily Express |
OPB here |
Daily express see here |
I did take the two above; I have cropped the photos |
I took this picture in January last year |
Newswatch 12 here |
Miles Furuichi here |
Robin Loznak - News Review here |