Mid day Sunday

[Bethers]

I picked up Ginger and we went to a garlic festival. The top booth is for the garlic folks, then lots of other booths, some more like a father's market and others like a nice flea market. One had some wonderful handmade suns, stars. Painted and decorated horse shoes and lots more. I could have spent a fortune there. I took a business card because he'll do custom colors, etc and he has a combination sun with horse shoes that I'd love for an outside decoration on the casita if he could paint the horse shoes a different color. But not in my budget today. I did buy some homemade garlic spread from the garlic booth and a fancy chew for TY. Ty's been chewing it long enough for this session so he's now napping after I put it away. Then we went to Dickie's for lunch before I dropped Ginger home and returned home. Our pretty common now afternoon rains have started, just lightly so far. I wouldn't mind a nap, but instead will relax and watch more of the Great Britain food competition show and maybe some of the Olympics.

[Colliemom]

Good Evening Beth. Sounds like you had a fun day. Nice that you and Ginger enjoy doing things together.

I guess everybody must be taking the day off. My day kind of flew by in a sense. Went to Mass this morning, then helped with coffee and donuts after. By the time I left there, went to Meijer and did some shopping and got home, half the day was gone. Spent some time following the Canoe Marathon. All done for this year. Bit too warm to do anything outside, but I like to start in the morning anyway. Just got back from a walk with the dogs. Too warm in that sun, but aMolly insisted we go. She is one of those dogs who does not like to do a potty in her yard. She likes to go to the edge of the brush and grass along the road aBut it gives them time to sniff and explore the world out there, like your Ty.

Saw some of the pictures coming in from Jasper. Devastating to say the least. They definitely will be writing tourist season off for the rest of this year and beyond. There’s 100,000 fires burning in Canada right now. California and Oregon fires are just unbelievable. Huge walls of fire shooting feet into the air. Karen, hope they stay clear of you.

Irmi, playing the pipe organ should be fun and a bit different. Thry can make such beautiful music. The one at my church has 2400 pipes and sounds like an orchestra depending on the music being played. We also have a smaller one that was brought over when we moved from our old and way too small Cathedral church to the bigger one we have now. It’s in the chapel which is used for smaller daily masses, small funerals etc. Barbie, sorry about the flat tire. I haven’t had one in so long that I don’t even remember when I had one last. Judy are you still downstate?

[Cudedog]

Saw some of the pictures coming in from Jasper. Devastating to say the least. They definitely will be writing tourist season off for the rest of this year and beyond. There’s 100,000 fires burning in Canada right now. California and Oregon fires are just unbelievable. Huge walls of fire shooting feet into the air. Karen, hope they stay clear of you.

Make that hundreds of feet into the air, sometimes. And then there are the fire tornadoes. . .

Anyway, current size of the Park Fire is 353,194 acres (551 square miles), with 4,200 structures currently threatened. It's now up to, I think, 7th largest fire in the history of California. And it's only been burning 4 days, according to CalFire, the state fire agency:

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire/updates/d8eea59d-35c6-4632-b2b7-2f8b9d13f63d

Update: As of 5:00 p.m., PST, the Park Fire is now at 360,141 acres. It continues to actively burn in difficult mountain conditions.



Anne

[Redetotry]

It’s been a long rather warm day here. One of our friends brings his 7 year old daughter over to visit with us every Sunday afternoon. She is an only child and is home schooled. I am amazed by her language skills and knowledge in general for a child her age. She never sees a stranger and has a library card to several libraries in the area and most librarians know her by name. There is a large number of home schooled children in the are and they combine for learning experiences outside the classroom.I had no idea there were so many children in the are who are home schooled. Today we played store and she had to make change for my purchases.

Barbie I would have been totally hysterical stranded in that heat for two hours. I hope you are feeling better. Judy I’m sad for your son’s dog. Anita I bought a Mac when they got rid of Windows 98 and have been very happy with the change. I’m surprised too that you heard about the fire near your daughter before she did! Irmi I know you will enjoy playing pipe organ at the other church. You would enjoy hearing and playing this one on campus. Here is a link https://pipeorgandatabase.org/instruments/21548. It has 3,312-pipes, and is a 3-manual, 58-rank, Reuter Pipe Organ (Opus 1741) built in 1970. I worked in an office in the building it is in and the woman it was built for practiced every day. The janitors knew they better keep the temperature in the auditorium perfect for it!

[OregonLuvr]

Good evening. Weather here is totally acceptable. mid 80's. But of course that will change this coming week starting Wednesday back into the upper 90's. Of course havent been able to do much outside this week. I am very bored!!!! I did wash the mirrors in the bathrooms LOL big deal. Swiffered my kitchen floor. I did go to Safeway and pick up my order. I bought a watermelon and it is just the right size. I only cut up half of it right now. It makes a refreshing snack. They had a few things I needed on sale so am all set for a while. I had a late lunch so not very hungry tonight. Fixed a caramel iced mocha that will have to do.

No fires right close to me but there are plenty burning that is for sure. One pilot died fighting the fires in Eastern Oregon He was from Bend, very experienced and 74 years old. Makes me sad. So far I dont have any smoke here and I cannot figure out why LOL oh well I will take it. I figured I would be changing my AC filters every couple weeks. But nope. All is well. I thought my electric bill would be higher, it is $122 so not too bad for the heat and this size house.

I am very pleased with my cataract surgery. Things are very clear now and I am on the computer NOT using my glasses. I have astigmatism so might still need glasses for fine up close work. I go on the 16th for evaluation of that. Beth do you still need glasses after your surgery??? For now this is working well. Alexa reminds me when it is time to do my drops. Beth glad you had a fun day. Makes me anxious to get out of the dang house soon. I am not housebound but I dont really want to go too far and every where that would be a nice drive has fires all around so home it is for now.
I am going to wash my car tomorrow that does not require any bending over.

[JudyJB]

Posting first and will read later. Am on Lake Erie south of Detroit, but this afternoon, I was roaming from a Canadian network , even though I am almost 20 miles from Canada across the lake. Am finally getting a U.S. signal, though I do have some free roaming in Canada. Yes, I am still downstate. Son from California is flying into Cleveland on Tuesday, borrowing a car from his brother, and on Wednesday heading up to Detroit area to visit his dad. But he will stay Wednesday night with me at campground and then heading to his dads on Thursday. I will head to Port Hope in the Thumb on Thursday for two nights and then to Otsego to visit my cousin, and then to Aune Osborn in the Soo for Aug 4-7, then into Canada. Lot of driving, but I spent my summers from 1950 to 2001 near Port Austin, four doors down from Port Crescent State Park and played there as a kid, way before it was a state park. Parents would send us down there for the day with some sandwiches and bottles of warm Coke. Want to visit area and pick up a couple of t-shirts from the town.

Had a good lunch yesterday with some ex-Ford coworkers from 12 years ago. Afterwards, I decided to get some takeout from my favorite Thai restaurant to refrigerate for dinner. Could not figure out why there were people lined up along the roadway in Dearborn, but traffic was stop and go. Turned out I and a lot of other regular drivers had accidentally joined the annual hot rod and 50s thru 60s car cruise!! Could not get off because police had closed off u-turn areas, and I knew driving through a neighborhood would get me nowhere, so drove very slowly with traffic for five miles, while being watched by crowds along the way. Nothing like inadvertently being part of a parade!!!! Did get my favorite Pad Thai with the spices on the side, and refrigerated it as soon as I got home. They make huge portions, so that will be 3 meals for me, one of which i just finished now!!!

Starting to get hot again, but very nice breeze off of lake. Today, I made crepes for lunch and cleaned my refrigerator. Last night, I defrosted my freezer. Took a brief walk also, but amazing how lazy I am these days.

Entire Jasper Park is closed now. I will keep watching it and look for another way to leave Canada in late September. I am sorry for the residents and that I will miss a large part of the town, even if I am able to drive past and camp in the Whistler Campground.

[Bethers]

Karen, I had my astigmatism corrected also. I see clear for distance and computer range, but need glasses for close, phone, reading, etc. Opposite of before lolol. But reading glasses are cheap. I discover the Dollar Tree and pharmacy ones are cheapest, but have cheap lenses that are impossible to keep clear. I will probably end up buying my reading glasses on Zenni. I'll wait until they say my eyes shouldn't change anymore. I did but a three pack of them last week on Amazon that have the better glass with blue light blocking. Inexpensive and way better than the store cheapies.

Judy, I'm so sorry about the dogs diagnosis.

[Acadianmom]

Beth, sounds like you had a fun day.

I decided to eat some things out of the freezer for lunch. I defrosted two chicken thighs and baked them. Took some black-eyed peas, dressing and gravy out. I bought a container of watermelon yesterday. They sure want a lot for watermelon but I never can pick a good one.

The fires are terrible. I have a cousin that lives in Northern California but I'm not sure where. I hope my brother doesn't have any fires near them in Canada.

I wear glasses sometimes after my cataract surgery but mostly because they get dark outside and I never could get along with sun glasses. I can see the computer without glasses but I have a monitor so the print is probably bigger than what it would be on a computer screen. Sometimes I need glasses to read print.

Judy, every December one of my clubs has a Christmas Campout and i end up coming home on Sunday when there is a Christmas parade in Lafayette. So far I have made it before the parade starts but there are people lining up along the street.

We never did get any rain today but we are back in the 90's. I waited until it cooled off and mowed the hill again. Luna doesn't like the wet grass to touch her behind when she goes out. Funny dog. It's getting dark so need to go get the cats in.

Martha

[JudyJB]

Found a new map of town of Jasper, noting what is and what is not damaged. Most of the damage seems to be in southern, residential area of town, not downtown itself. Schools and hospital do not look like they were damaged, which is good. https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25017986/mapofdamagedstructuresjuly27_r86fry.pdf

No information on the campgrounds south of town, like the one I am hoping to stay at, but the article said they would be posting map of outlying areas soon. Also, no maps yet of rest of national park, but I am looking at other areas I could go to if Jasper is cancelled. Can always come back another year.

[snowball]

Beth is the garlic spread used to make garlic bread? sounds like a great day...sounds a lot like the farmers market in Salt Lake City... crafters food and produce... haven't been for a long time but there was someone who always had mint lemonade so yummy
saw a thing on oh yahoo about a rottie and 4 puppies being rescued guess one rottie died and 2 puppies are missing.. they took them out via helo
Sounds like Jello plans may need to be used Judy hopefully the area that you want to camp in will be ok not damaged by the fires... so many fires going on just sad... that would have been quite the experience to get caught up in almost a parade...
we have haze in the air or perhaps it was clouds but a air quality advisory was out for a period of time... and that huge fire down in CA so sad it's not possible to fathom the magnitude of the fire... just pray that they get it under control soon...
when I had cataracts removed I opted to keep them the same as I figured I've worn glasses to see distance for most of my life I think I was 10 or younger... now I sorta regret it... glad all is going well with your Karen and how do you wash your car without bending down? probably do it more often than I do ... I think about it every once in awhile then it doesn't happen usually coming from the store when I pass by the car wash place and don't want to take the time while it's so hot to with groceries in the car...
made some creamed potatoes peas and ham for supper tasted pretty good... had a spinach and strawberry salad it's one of my favorites... not sure if its the combo or the dressing
that was interesting about the kids being home schooled... BJ .... my great granddaughter is going to be home schooled... not sure the reasoning but I am pretty sure her mom will do well did read a teacher say that the one thing they had seen home schooled kids lack in was math... and was good to get a good resource program for that... I need to pass it on... my concern is more the socialization she is more of a retiring child at least when I see her...I'm not sure shy is quite the right word but I'd like her to have more friends
Irmi have you had an opportunity to listen to the organ on Temple Square in SLC? I don't recall the amount of pipes that they have but lot's ...
We need quite days Sue even you
Martha how many cats stay inside? I was totally surprised when dd #3 said that her two sleep with her didn't expect that to happen
you all have a great day
sheila