Tuesday July 13

[Shirlv]

Morning All, humid and hot here too. There was a heat advisory for yesterday and today so just hung out at home. Have a pick up order at Walmart today and taking my brother to pick up his repaired truck. I have just about given up on the tomato plant, it is being cooked to death. Water isn’t helping with the extreme heat trapped on the balcony. Irmi, I feel for you and Steve in this heat. Be careful. My thoughts are with our western members. Be safe

[OregonLuvr]

Shirl, So far my container tomatoes are doing well. I harvested about 6 tomatoes yesterday, boy nothing like home grown maters. This morning will make a BLT for breakfast LOL I dont like the skin much on tomatoes as sometimes it is really tough. I make a crosscut in the end then scald them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then dump them in cold water. Then cut the tops off and the skin peels right off. Slice them up and put them in a container in the fridge. I learned this trick from my inlaws in Kansas. Thought it was weird but now I think it is awesome LOL

Housekeeping chores on the agenda today. Need to vacuum and dust. The sun shines thru the windows and shows I haven't dusted for a while. Don't need to go anywhere today and just have to water the flowers outside. I might re-pot my Christmas cacti, I have 2 of them. I never have much luck but a friend bought them for me when I moved into my house so I feel like I better give it the ole college try to keep them alive.

My friend was evacuated from the Mega Bootleg fire down Klamath Falls way and so far the news for them is that the fire is in their backyard. I feel really badly for them as I know exactly what they are feeling. They are at the fairgrounds in their travel trailer but need to move by the 22nd as the fair starts then. They have the unknown, I watched my community burn on the news that night so knew the outcome early on. They are still hopeful. This is another terrible year for fires and more to come I fear.

[Cudedog]

My friend was evacuated from the Mega Bootleg fire down Klamath Falls way and so far the news for them is that the fire is in their backyard. I feel really badly for them as I know exactly what they are feeling. They are at the fairgrounds in their travel trailer but need to move by the 22nd as the fair starts then. They have the unknown, I watched my community burn on the news that night so knew the outcome early on. They are still hopeful. This is another terrible year for fires and more to come I fear.

Hello Karen. This is terrible news, indeed. It looks like - at least so far - Oregon is getting hit with larger and more intense fires than California is.

Where does your friend live? I keep tabs on fires that happen around KF, because I am still interested in moving there. One day, I hope.

Looking at the fire map for the KF area:

https://maps.nwcg.gov/sa/#/%3F/%3F/42.4762/-121.1806/10

It looks like the Bootleg Fire is still about 30 miles or so from KF (although I readily admit that 30 miles isn't much of a buffer if winds get behind the kind of major fire the Bootleg is proving to be). Unfortunately, some of the outlying communities to the north-east of KF are frighteningly close to this fire - Sprague River, Bly, Beatty and probably others that I am not aware of. Chiloquin is about 18 miles from the fire, but Chiloquin is west of the fire and the fire appears to be moving east and south.

Bootleg fire:


Jack Fire (east of Roseburg):


Even KF is too close for comfort for the Bootleg Fire. 30 miles might seem to east coasters like a lot of buffer, but about the only thing between the Bootleg Fire and KF is 30 miles of severely drought-stricken dry and dead brush. All it would take would be a good wind. . .

I am also seeing from this map that there might be a new fire south-west of KF. Not good.

Anne

[OregonLuvr]

Anne my friends live 3 miles north of Beatty. They are in their travel trailer at Klamath Falls fairgrounds and the Red Cross is feeding them. They do have to move by the 22nd as the fair starts there. A ranger told them their house was still standing but fire was in their backyard so they are not holding out much hope. They boarded their animals a couple days before they went Level 3 so the animals are safe. Got their 2 vehicles and RV out but nothing else. The winds are still blowing from the west so that is a good thing and that is the way they mostly blow but we know that can change anytime. They are not getting much news on exactly where and what direction the fire is going. I didnt get any info either until that night watching our community burn on the news. They have acreage so not the same situation.

Fires are starting up all over Oregon and Northern CA every day. Everything is so dry. The Jack fire is only 10% contained. Bootleg fire nothing yet.

Edited to add her latest update
This AM. 201,900 acres. I discovered a little secret. If I call our landline and the answering machine picks up the house probably is still standing. Sometimes it is good to be old school! We did hear it spread 7 miles in all directions,and if true then it either went around our house or they dropped retardant.

[JudyJB]

I wish the western states could have some of our rain. In northeastern Ohio where I am now and where my son lives, we have had almost an inch of rain each day for the past four days. Every time I go out, my shoes and feet get soaked from the grass and hidden puddles. And it is pouring again right now--just added another .7". Luckily, I got out around noon and dumped my tanks and then drove my son's car to get a few groceries. The whole area of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky are soaked. Plus, this has brought out little gnats and mosquitos, which means I cannot go outside even close to dusk.

It looks like some southern areas of California and bits of Utah are getting some rain, but almost nothing in Oregon and Washington, which is really strange.

Saw gastroenterologist yesterday, and he said that people like me without a gall bladder end up with digestive enzymes constantly being trickled into my digestive tract which irritates it when there is no food. And when you do eat, it dumps even more, with more irritation, causing my problems with diarrhea. So, he gave me a powder I need to take once a day to slow this down. It is orange flavored, so I had to go out to get orange juice to drink it with. Second appt was with dentist who scheduled me for next Monday morning to have a tooth pulled. Am probably going to get an implant, but wow are they expensive!! Process will take a year, so at least I will have time to pay for it.

[Cudedog]

Thank you, Karen. I pray that the home of your friends has been spared. Beatty was one of the small towns closest to the Bootleg Fire according to the map under the link posted above.

Such strange times we are living in.

[Colliemom]

Afternoon all. Just finished some painting on a couple of woodcraft projects. No, not mine. One is a wooden water can that was given to me and the other a table my dad made for our little porch, back when we lived on the lake. Decorating it for my porch now.

Rainy day here, wish I could send it to you gals out west. Judy, would you be, believe we haven’t had any mosquitos at all this year, otger than one here and there. People have been remarking about it. I guess southern MI has them all. But we did have a big outbreak of gypsy moth caterpillars destroying the leaves on oak trees, dropping their poop and pieces of leaves all over and just being a nuisance. They are now gone I think. Where I am, we were on the northern edge of the outbreak. It’s sporadic in the lower peninsula. HOA on the next Lake over and maybe ours, will be getting this area sprayed next spring. County won’t do ut. Ec ause it’s not a county wide problem.

Was reading an interesting article this morning, about how the National Parks are dealing with the post Covid tourism. Thty are short handed as are many places. Some restrictions are still in place, some cabins and lodges have reduced room numbers and dining facilities, campgrounds are moving to reservations instead of first come, first serve. Grand Canyon has closed three shuttle routes cause it can’t meet Covid safety requirements. Rocky Mountain and Yosemite NP, now require you to set up a time that you will enter the park, to keep crowd down. Glacier and Denali require reserved time slots to drive on their popular roads now. Same for Acadia in Maine. There are other changes too, so one is going to have to check before going. I’m glad I got west back when I did. Not that this will be permanent, but you never know.

Karen, hope your friends house survives.

Guess I had better go get the fur kids from the groomers. Need to drop recycles on the way, so best get going here.

[Bethers]

Oh Karen, my heart goes out to your friends and all suffering through these fires.

I changed sites today and should be in this one through the remainder of my stay. I got out the good vacuum and hopefully did a good job getting up a lot more dust and dog hair than I can with my little rechargeable. Yesterday I was miserable and think my allergies and asthma are acting up more than normal. I called the clinic associated with the hospital in Panguitch and have an appt for this afternoon. Of course, yesterday it turns out we had quite bad air quality, and I went in a room with horrendous cologne/perfume that smacked me as I walked in. Bad combination. Today, of course, I'm not so bad, but I want to confirm it's my asthma. And get meds if it is... Me who hates meds lol.

Weather-wise we are expecting rain this afternoon. Possibly heavy. But most of the time it goes around us. We shall see.

[BarbaraRose]

So scary about the fires! I would hate to be dealing with that here! I can live with the heat (but will still complain a little ).

I couldn't get to sleep until just after 2am. So when I woke up at 6:30, I was still really tired, but it was getting warm and stuffy in the house already, so I packed up Lola and her things, and a book, water and snacks for me and headed to the clubhouse. There were just a few other people there. I set up Lola's new screen room and got her settled in there. She seemed pretty comfortable in there and after awhile, even ate a little food. She didn't seem to mind the 2 dogs that were also there. By 11:00 they told us the power was back on. Two of us waited about a half hour to make sure our places would be cooled off by the time we got home. Just got home 10 minutes ago and now I need to leave for work soon. Luckily, this means I don't have to bring Lola to my co-worker's house for the day.

It is cooler but still very humid here, but a nice breeze which helps some. (that's my itty bitty weather complaint for the day! ).

[gypsyrose1126]

So sorry to hear about all the fires, droughts, and chance of more to come. We are short of rain here, but not in a drought situation so far, thank goodness. Hope everyone is safe and rains arrive to help the situation.

[BirdbyBird]

Another issue with the National Parks and near by hotels and restaurants, is that many depend upon foreign college students to work the tourist season. Not being able to travel due to Covid has had many effects down the line. My son and daughter in law both work full-time plus some and have depended upon an au pair ever since their third child was born. They have not been able to hire another since the last one rotated out, I think they have been able to used a local college student but when both parents are working whether at home or riding the train into NYC, the extra pair of hands and eyes are greatly needed.

[JudyJB]

My son and his family eat out a lot, so last weekend, we went out twice. In one place, they had multiple tables free, but had a long wait for tables because they had no one to serve. In another place, they were closing early because they had no one to cook, so the owner was in the kitchen doing the cooking, where there should have been at least two cooks. Luckily, we got there in time before they closed for the day. In both places, they had help-wanted signs, and the waitresses said they just could not hire people, and their old employees were not coming back. One restaurant had even raised their hourly pay by $1 and then another $1 per hour. People do not want to work in hot kitchens doing hard work for minimum wages anymore, especially when they had already been laid off from previous similar jobs. Don't blame them.

And I was also told that Cedar Point has had a big problem because of the foreign workers they have depended on in the past. They have doubled wages from $10 to $20 per hour and are giving hiring bonuses. Pollsters have said that a lot of workers in retail or the service industry and who had been laid off by the pandemic have decided on new careers. They have gone on to different careers, are going back to school, or are starting their own businesses so they have more control. It is not that they are all collecting unemployment, but they want more money or jobs with better hours or need to find childcare.

I had to make a u-turn down an industrial park also a couple of days ago, and tons of signs out--some saying they would train people. And did you hear that firefighters in California were quitting because they were receiving only minimum pay for such dangerous and hard work? After the pandemic, they can now find higher paying jobs. What is interesting is that all of this happened after the Plague in England and in much of Europe!!

[Cudedog]

Went outside just now - 3:39 p.m. to check my outside thermometer. Was pleased to see it is "only" in the lower 90's, which seems cool after several days of 110.

What I wasn't pleased about is that there is a very heavy smoke smell in the air and a bit of smoke in the sky which cuts down a tiny bit on the sunlight.

Don't know where this smoke is coming from - I am a bit south-west of the Beckwourth Fire, the largest fire currently burning in California at around 93,000 acres. Don't think it is the Beckwourth, though, because prevailing winds here generally blow from west to east, so any smoke from this fire should be blown on eastward.

I got new filters for my air purifier last winter (LOL - 'just in case') I guess I might need to get the air purifier out, the filters changed, and turn it on.

Hope there isn't a new fire somewhere nearby.

Anne

[Redetotry]

ISecond appt was with dentist who scheduled me for next Monday morning to have a tooth pulled. Am probably going to get an implant, but wow are they expensive!! Process will take a year, so at least I will have time to pay for it.

Judy I had to have a front tooth pulled last summer and they gave me the option of a bridge or an implant. I chose the permanent bridge and I am really pleased. He made a temporary bridge the day my tooth was pulled and it also looked great.

[Bethers]

Judy, I highly recommend my dentist in Progreso, Mexico. But I understand those who don't want to go to Mexico or have a dentist they want to stay with.

Well, I'm on meds for my wheezing associated with my asthma and meds for my bad sinus infection. I diagnosed myself correctly and even knew the prescriptions I'd be given. But it's also a relief that it is what I thought. And I was pleased with the doctor I'll probably never see again. Well, I hope I won't!

Anne, I was told to watch and be careful of the bad air quality we've been having. Another side effect of the fires, among other things. That said, I refuse to keep myself holed up inside all the time. I already do more than I'd like.

Barbie, I have nights like those, too. No fun!