Smoke Billowing Over

 Yesterday looked overcast in the morning.  I thought I saw mist.  Maybe not.  More probable not.

I noticed that there was smoke behind the hills - to the north, to the west, to the east, to the south.

The north and east don't seem so terrible compared to the west and the south.  The smoke has spilled over and into the valley.  I tried capturing the red sun last night, but the picture is not the same as what I saw with my naked eyes

So this is what the photograph looks like

But it looked more like this -
or maybe something in between

West and South hills have seemed to disappear.  Took most of these this afternoon while we were walking Bonnie

We got a notification from Alexis about our air quality - as though our breathing wouldn't have been able to figure it out on its own.  We've seen worse.  Last year was worse.  

I look at so many elements people are currently fighting across our nation.  The floods, the fires.  Each time I hear of a hurricane in Louisiana I think "Why do those people even stay there?"  

I suppose it's possible that there are people in Louisiana who look at what's happening in Oregon and think, "Why do those people even stay there?" 

We've been here six years.  I feel blessed that we have never had to evacuate.  But we think we're prepared to do so.

My allergies are going haywire and I've been coughing.  I am certain it is due to the poor air quality and not to COVID

Do Not Cross the Board

               We have done a few more home projects including power washing the house and hanging blinds. 

 

           The power “wash” came out more like a power “rinse” as the soap didn’t seem to be coming through.  After watching a tutorial Roland went back and did the cars – so though the house has not been washed – it does look much better than before.

           We moved things around to get to the windows.  As we did so, a board fell to the floor near the couch between the living room and hall.  Bonnie had been outside but I had let her in.  She remained behind the couch and I didn’t think much about it until she started whining.  I asked her to come but she remained until I picked up the board and then she brushed pass the couch.

           Really?  She was unable to move forward because she couldn’t cross the board?  The thickness was less than the steps that she will move up and down each day. And she wouldn’t step on or over it?  Wow.  Who knew?

 

          So yesterday I was doing laundry and the exhaust wasn’t working properly according to Roland.  He had me open the door to the back room in order to let the air flow for better ventilation, but I did not want Bonnie back there.  Who knew that this flat board would hold her back?  It’s quite miraculous really.  

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda . . .

 Last year when I enrolled Jenna for ORCA, they came back with her to enroll as a senior - which sounded absolutely cool to me. But neither Roland nor Jenna seemed particularly interested in advancing her - especially because Jenna wanted the opportunity of graduating with her class mates at the local high school and not online.  This morning she informed me of the death of one of the staff members who just recently died of COVID.  I don't know why she thinks that.  She doesn't seem to have a source.

It is too late for us to enroll her back in ORCA.  As I mentioned, the school has been put on week delay from when they were supposed to start.  Oregon has called in the national guard to assist with the problem the state is facing with COVID (more specifically the Delta Variant) outbreak.  The state has made national news.  I wish we would have enrolled her as a senior.  Then I wouldn't feel like I am throwing her to the lions den.

Visiting Canines

               Bonnie has been acting squirrelly lately.  We didn’t know if it was because of her allergies or the elements that animals can seem to sense better than any mechanical weather forecaster.  I let her out yesterday and noticed that there was another dog near our unused black car.

I heard Jenna cry, “Why would you let her out?!”

“I didn’t realize there was another dog out here.  Besides, why wouldn’t I let her out?  Maybe she needed to go.”

I don’t know that Bonnie had even tried going potty.  I tried luring back into the house.  She wanted to check out the dogs (turned out there were two of them) but was not vicious about it – which must have meant they were both male.   The border collie seemed a bit put off by Bonnie’s presence and would growl and then Bonnie would growl louder.  Jenna did not get a picture of the three of them interacting on the hill but Bonnie was obviously the smallest of the three.

 

Jenna brought the other two dogs into our brand new room.  I don’t think it was intentional at first, but it seemed a way to keep them safe.  Unlike our neighbor’s menagerie behind our yard, we don’t recall ever having seen either of the dogs before.  Especially the larger of the two.  I would have remembered seeing a St. Bernard before.

Roland jumped the gun and called animal control to come collect them though neither Jenna nor I agreed with his presumption.  She had taken pictures to post to instagram or other media in which others might be able to view.  Her friend dropped by and they both hung out in the back room with the two dogs.  They referred to the dogs as Collin and Bernard.  Jenna said she was willing to keep Bernard and Ruth could take Collin as she seemed to have a better relation with the dog and Bonnie was more tolerable of Bernard than Collin.

Both seemed to be well-mannered and friendly dogs.  They also appeared to be an added expense just in dog food alone.  And it’s not as though our yard has the best room to house a St. Bernard.  But there was a response to the post.  The information gave Jenna an approximate location.  The girls walked them to the area and let them off in a trailer – are you kidding me?  A dog that big needs more room than that!

Just after the girls returned without the dogs, the sheriff went around the house to claim the dogs which had already been returned.  The girls were happy that they no longer had them to put into his custody.  They said he looked mean.  I did not even see him.  When I went out to talk to him I saw a white SUV backing out of our driveway.

I hope the owner of the dogs is okay and that the dogs do not escape again.  I would love to ask them how it is they ended up in our yard.

Oh, That's Not Good

     Jenna and I both need our hair thinned.  I called the hair salon just the other day to learn that they are shut right now due to COVID, but do plan to reopen.  Well, great.  Do I even want to go anymore - although the last time we went, it was just the three of us there.

    A lot of businesses have closed due to staff members testing positive.  Businesses that are open are short-staffed.  I don't think any of us should be shopping anyway.  Unless it's essential - like toiletries and medicine.

    Jenna was supposed to start high school on the 31st this month.  A reminder was sent out last week on the 19th.  Yesterday we found this post: 

    Oh, please.  Jenna could have finished her schooling last year at ORCA but had wanted the opportunity of socializing with her friends once again.  I wonder how many of them will make it to graduation.  I wonder if there will be a graduation.

Your “Free Agency” is Infringing on Mine

        Sunday’s meeting was quite awesome. Our bishop tackled the sensitive subject of following the counsel of the prophet.  He started off sharing one incident in Church history in which the saints were being persecuted and how the division that exists today was alive back then.  I notice that during my studies how often our own lives parallel with the saints.  In a way we are “marching” to our own “Zion’s Camp” (here) as we struggle to do the right thing and shed our pride or judgment.  

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/3-
little-known-details-about-zions-camp?lang=eng

       We have our free agency to follow the prophet or follow the crowd.  But I often feel that the “free agency” abused by others infringes on my own.  I remember airlines, restaurants, hospitals and other places who offered smoking sections – as if the smoke is seriously going to linger  only in those sections.  Come on!  I happen to be allergic to cigarette smoke.  Lighting up from two to ten feet away from my nose is the same as blowing it directly into my nostrils. 

       Eventually workers who came in contact with the second hand smoke started to experience health problems that were similar to the smokers.  So the smokers had their “freedoms” for a time, but eventually they were taken away.  Some places offer smoking sections but it seems like the majority of buildings (at least in the western states)have a no-smoking-anywhere-in-the-building policy.  Not only does the smoker have to go outdoors but are required to remain a certain distance from the building and only on a certain side.

       I can’t speak for everybody, but I enjoy the quality of non-polluted air.  I can breathe a lot freer in a building that doesn’t have that stench lingering.  I can’t even smell it when I am around it, but my body still reacts negatively when it does happen to linger in my presence.  So yesterday we were infringing on the rights of the smoker vs. the non-smoker.  Today’s issues are mask and no mask and the vaccination.  It’s a trial that each of us is dealing with.  Are you going to stand up to President Nelson or Joseph Smith or God?  Are you going to say they got it wrong and you know better? 

       I’m certain that it was not an easy talk to give.  I hope all those who were present (even those who attended virtually) were able to feel the same spirit that I did.    

Never Saw That Before

 We had been walking Bonnie around Millsite Park.  Jenna pointed out the pinecones and asked if they normally grow on the trunks.  

In all my days of seeing pinecone producing trees (and I have seen A LOT) I have never seen them growing into the trunk like what is pictured above.