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.