Hot Smoke

 Yes, its hot and smokey here.

Like most of Oregon these days.

Wildfire smoke from our own fires, add in the WA state fires, has settled in the valley, along with 90 plus degree temps.   

The Spokane fire that stole so many homes from families, upended lives, and probably killed pets, was sure tragic.  Even more so, for residents who lost everything, to find out it was arson.   A guy convicted of killing his father in Arizona has been arrested.

Today will likely be the hottest day of the week and maybe the smokiest.  We're supposed to get near 100, but with smoke filled  skies, it may not reach 100.  Like a cloud cover, the smoke.

A couple of fires started around here but were quickly put out.   One was sparked during winds when a branch fell on a power line.   

There was an odd shoot out near Cascadia (where else) when a man wrecked his truck, and pulled over at the entrance to River Bend campground up above Sweet Home and started randomly firing a pistol.  The campground and the summer camp for disabled kids were quickly locked down.  The guy got shot 3 times by police before he gave it up and went off to the hospital, in handcuffs.   What was his issue?  I don't know.  He sure has some issues though.

 Another incident here in town involved a man threatening his girlfriend or wife with a gun.  He shot their dog, too.   Besides all the other charges he incurred, one was animal abuse.  I love that he was charged for that. Poor dog.  Hope the woman gets away from him for good.

I watch the complaints mount over the $10 day use parking fee at the county park and can't help but think you idiots.  Not only am I referring to the county for charging that high for time at the park, but for the comments.  The commenters mess up and blame our Democratic Governor for the charges, when its the county, stupid.   This county is red.  Just for fun, I posted the day use charged for the three counties closest to ours, two of them all blue, one kind of mixed.   The blue one to the west of ours has NO day use park fees.  The blue county to the south has a $5 day use parking fee and the one to our north also has a $5 parking fee.     

So far so good with my knee, although I haven't tested it on much of a drive.   I got in the habit of going nowhere, for two months really, when it hurt so bad to drive.  Guess I better get out and go somewhere now, if it only weren't so smokey.   My brother's wife, down in southern Oregon coast area, said its smokey there too.

Last night when it cooled off, I went out into the cat yard, to do some weeding and was promptly stung three times by a small bee.  It didn't look like a yellow jacket, so small, but it sure stung like one.

That ended my motivation for weeding.  

Cougie, from Waterloo. This is how she spends hot days.   I like that.  Sleep away the hot hazy days.

Cougie with her cousin, Tball, both from Waterloo.  My middle agers.

Here's to heat and smoke.  Not long may they last.

Happy Knee

 Thursday my knee cyst was drained!

I went to the ortho on Thursday morning.   My friend took me over.

Happy to say it went well.  The ortho doctor looked at the mri and said well, its easy to see what's causing your pain--he pointed to the cyst in the mri.  Then he looked at my knee and compared it to the other one and said that needs drained.

So I was moved to another room where the ultra sound was and he guided in a needle and drained it.  I got to watch on the ultra sound.  Was awesome.  Then he injected some cortisone and that was that.

I was happy!  I wanted to give him a big thank you hug but I refrained.  The pressure in my knee had vanished instantly.  Hopefully the driving pain will be gone too.  No pain problem sleeping last night either.  At last!!!  Relief!  Ability to sleep through the night is a big huge deal.   It was so nice to have that back last night.

He told me to keep it wrapped tight day and night for a month to try to keep it from refilling.

I'll do that.  I used self attaching tape the first night along with support hose I got when trying to help my knee myself.  They're pretty tight but suprisingly comfy.  Today I got a compression sleeve.  

Thank you ortho doctor!   Hoping for the best and very grateful.

Waldo Trip

 I didn't want to mention I was going to Waldo today with friends, so as not to jinx it.   I'd messaged almost everyone I could think of to message, when my knee went south, to see if anyone wanted to go to Waldo Lake, but in their car, them driving, since driving has been the source of tremendous pain with my knee.  It's been better in the last week.   I've not tested it though, to see if I can drive more than 20 minutes.   

R and S replied, that they'd take me up.  They love adventure.  Two cat women from Salem, a mother and daughter.  What a blessing in disguise this knee problem has been.   We had a wonderful time.  At least I did sharing my beloved Waldo Lake with this kind hearted sweet pair.

I left with R this morning in her vehicle, that has all the amenities and such leg room!  Her daughter S went in another car, because she was continuing on, afterwards, to K. Falls.

It was a great day weather wise, although cloudy in the valley up until we got to Oakridge.  Then it was sunny, warm but not too warm, and perfect.

Lots of people there.  Well, not lots but enough.

We paddled down to the south end.  R couldn't manage the stand up paddle board she'd borrowed, too much work, so we ditched it along the shore and she rode behind her daughter.   

Down at Campsite beach and lagoon a bunch of paddle boarders and a sailboat and lots of dogs, they'd brought on their boards, were playing.  One lady said they call the island Dog Island now, because they turn the five or six dogs loose on it while they play in the water.  One little dog wanted to go find its person, who was snorkeling and jumped onto my board from another lady's.  I took Tiny Dog to Dog Island and he belly flopped into the shallow water from the front and headed off following his person, who was just off shore.

S and I paddled on down to the other two beaches at the south end, close to the burn.

Then we went back to pick up R where she was napping at Campsite Beach Lagoon.  I went on ahead, just dorking around.  Saw a convoy headed  down to the south end from the boat ramp.  They were pulling at least three paddle boards loaded down in supples and coolers.    I caught up with them and asked how long they were going to stay and they said five days and that they had a pizza oven.  They said come on over tonight, if you're camped down here.  I told them I wasn't but I wished I was.

Then S and R caught up with me and we all headed back to the boat ramp.  We retrieved, on the way, the stashed paddle board and I towed it behind mine, the rest of the way back.  Once at day use area, we packed up and R and I came home.  She drove.  It was really fun!

Lovely!

 I watch the weather when I want to go to the lake.   I knew yesterday might be a perfect day.

I'd had good luck with short driving trips and my knee.  Why not a 35 minute trip?   Because the last time I tried it, I suffered for it afterwards and that wasn't more than a few days ago.

Oh well, what's a little suffering for a good time on the lake?   

Off I went after doing all the cat chores here.

My cats have been very happy lately.   The very wild ones who never came in from the cat yard are doing so now.  Maybe its because I have a lot fewer cats now, due to aging out.  They could all easily live in a couple bedrooms.  Instead they have a large fun cat yard, a garage cat room, runs into the house and out, two ways.  Well they have it good.

Not to say I still don't have some very old old cats who won't make it to Christmas.   

Anyhow, I did the cat chores and headed out without ceremony, since my short little board thingy, is alway s in the car because I'm too lazy to take it out of the car.

The weather was absolutely perfect.   Not much wind, high, once it was achieved late day--low 80's.

I can't complain about the weather in the valley this summer at all.  Been perfect!

I got off the board after paddling across the arm from the boat ramp and picked blackberries.   I thought about bringing some home but knew they'd turn to juice in just a plastic bag.  

I crossed the lake then.  There were lots of motor boats but everyone was very polite and having a fun day.  I paddled lazily along the north shore, going west towards the dam and got almost to Gedney Creek boat ramp before turning around, unwilling to disturb a long line of Canada Geese.  I'd wanted to check out all the little picnic swimming spots along the north shore accesssible by parking along the road and walking down.

I used to go to those spots with various friends.  There is so much drift in the water and fallen trees.   An hour's work with a friend and you could clear out the drift next to a spot, make it great for your day and a community service for others later.

One of the larger nice day spots.   However, you'd need to navigate three feet of drift to get to the water from it.  Or just clear it out first with a friend.

Just a beautiful perfect day.   I took my knee brace and put it on for the drive home and wore it once home and took another aleve before bed and I had worn myself out and slept like a baby.  Maybe my knee is improving.  What if  I try a longer drive now?

Or a long walk.

Jenny poses and isn't she beautiful!  That's not a question.

Fires

In Seattle, there was fire, but not wildfire.  Gunfire.  Would you ever in a million years think "Let's not go to a fun community event because our baby could be shot?"  A toddler was one of the victims of two young men shooting at each other at the Seattle food festival.  Who brings a gun to a community event, thinking just in case I see so and so I need my gun to shoot him."  A fucker without a conscience that's who.  They need to execute those two young men, or be sure they never see life without bars in front of them FOREVER!  They have no regard for others, no regard for human life.  They have no business free roaming our communities.

Meanwhile, on the wildfire front......

Our wildfire crews are extremely skilled at what they do and now have help from other states and even from down under--Australians and New Zealanders.  I don't know if we have crews from Mexico here or not.  It would be strange if crews from Canada came, given our president's belligerence toward our neighbors to the north but in the past we've had lots of help from Canada.  Canada has its own forest fires to contend with currently.

Most of Oregon's fires were lightning ignited.  Our crews will get them stopped.   They know what they're doing.  We are lucky in that we are not densely populated like southern France and Spain who also are experiencing wildfires.  That area faces another heat wave that will only make matters worse.

The Nothing Grind

 I call it the Grind---when I just have to slug through.

I'm doing that here, with this darn knee thing.  The isolation it produces is staggering.  I feel for people without ability to get out much who don't have family or nearby friends.

Still, I'm surviving just fine.  

My former neighbor stood me up yet again last night.  She'd invited me over for pizza and game playing.  I asked what time, and got no response.  At 5:30, I finally texted her again and she was in Springfield or Eugene with her roommate at something her roommate had tickets for.  

I cut it off with her.  Makes me feel like crap when someone does what she does so often.  To plan on something, get ready, not plan dinner here, and then she doesn't even have the courtesy to let me know?  But this is her way.  She's not going to change.  I told her by text this morning, goodbye, to never ask me again to do anything with her.  Should have done so quite some time ago.  

We're lucky here in the valley.  Outside of a couple really hot days, our weather has been mild.  High 70's yesterday.  Low 80's today.  Same for rest of week, maybe even a bit of rain Tuesday.   It's actually been perfectly wonderful summer weather here, not too hot, not too cold, a bit of rain here and there, with the  thunderstorms (last Friday).  Can't complain about the valley weather so far.   Not when central and eastern are scorching and on fire and floods in parts of the country.  We are Lucky!

I make myself get out of the house daily.  I take drives, to see if I can slowly get back into it, with my knee, if I do it daily, gradually increasing length.  I went to a vender event at the church a couple blocks from here yesterday.  Gleaners were doing it, for a fundraiser.  It's a different Gleaners group than I was in.   I wanted a donut and found one there, at the church gym kitchen counter. It was not a donut, turns out, even though it looked like one.  It had a cake bottom turned soggy, because they'd been packaged probably while still warm, in an individual food storage container.  I tried one bite and then accidentally dropped it.   Oh well, the $3 went to a good cause.

Then I went to Lebanon, to a Saturday vendor market set up in a parking lot.  There I got a piece of fudge from the old man who sells his baked goods to, as he told me one year, get out of the house, and I also bought a palio muffin.  The lady who made the muffins is a bee lover and the bits of muffin she had for samples were delicious.  There are greens in the muffin!  I saved it for breakfast this morning.   The fudge was too sweet. I couldn't eat more than  a couple of bites.

I went on to the Mennonite Store, where they sell overstock of all sorts, and damaged goods, etc.  They didn't have any especially good deals there.   With that store, because their goods vary tremendously, I check back once or twice a week, if in the area, to see what they might have on deals.

Today I'm going to head to a park by a river.   Maybe down at the Calapooia River or up the N. Santiam.

Sisters

 The town of Sisters is located on highway 20, the same highway that travels through Albany, Lebanon and Sweet Home, then on out and up through the Cascades to Sisters a central Oregon iconic town.   Highway 20 is joined by highway 126, that snakes up the McKenzie valley, out of the Eugene area, past Cougar and Blue River Reservoirs (places I used to go often), the trail to the infamous Blue Pool (Tamolitch) where immortal young people get hurt and die at extraordinary rates, jumping into the 36 degree water from a height and on to Clear Lake, where the McKenzie begins, before joining highway 20.  Highway 22 heads out of Salem, north of highway 20, east past the N. Santiam towns like Stayton and Mill City that burned partly in 2020 and Detroit, to veer south and join highway 20.

Three Highways to Sisters. 
 Highway 20 is in the middle out of Albany, barely visible as its not as travelled as highway 22 to its north nor 126 to its south out of Eugene. However it is the one that continues on, after the junctures, to the east.

Sisters is named after the three mountains south of the town, in the Cascades.  Collectively they are called the Three Sisters.  Faith, Hope and Chairty.  On a clear day, they are visible from where I live,   From Waldo Lake, two of the sisters are visible to the North and a bit east.

The town of Sisters is now a hipster haven, with trendy expensive artsy shops.  A lot of wealthy people and even celebrities have second homes in the surrounding area, which includes the gorgeous revered Metolius River and Camp Sherman.  It is a mecca to outdoors people seeking adventures.

The last time I went to visit the Metolius was in the winter, in the search for Bella, the cat who went down over the mountain in the car at Tombstone Pass with her young driver who missed the corner, never to be seen again.   I had not been given an accurate location for the accident and finally decided to go visit Camp Sherman's iconic store and the river itself, although the store was closed for the winter.   

The Metolius

Sisters is very close to being consumed by the Akawa Butte wildfire.

Only the north end of Sisters is under any evacuation notices at this time, however.  So its not like the town is doomed.  Winds shift.  Weather changes.  We all hope Sisters will once again beat the odds and be safe.

Story yesterday on public broadcasting about the Akawa Butte Fire.

Yesterday I went up to the Reservoir.  My knee only hurt on the drive back and then most of the night, punishing me for my indulgent trip to the lake.  I can't swim with my bad knee right leg.  I can frog kick with my left leg and swim with my right arm so I don't turn in circles, lol.  May not be an ordinary sight but works for me.   It was very pleasant there.   I had to get out and do something, was going nuts with the sheer isolation of it all.