Good grief … Again!!

Really ???

This is the fifth round of upper 90’s and I’ve had it! I had been patting myself on the back for being less whiny about summer heat…even given the unusual heat this summer…until last week when we had round four of upper 90’s PLUS smoke.

But, then it cooled. And really, even though we’ve had the unusual upper 90 boughts of heat, they have pretty much been short-lived with “an end in sight”.

The kicker is the ultra-ULTRA-dry conditions and worry about fire.

The heat, last week’s smoke, the dry and the worry … energy zapping.

So.

Birthday week started with a forecast that I wanted to ignore. On the plus side, Monday and today (Tuesday) did not reach the forecast high.

On the downside, last night the forecast “rain” did not happen, but thunder and lightning did happen and a fire started about 10 miles away … as the crow flies:

The forest folks jumped on this early and according to “breaking news”, the road that was closed has been opened so I think there is containment. All in all, considering the extreme conditions, we are so far very fortunate thanks to our DNRC and Flathead National Forest and many fire districts. ***see updated edit at end of the post.

And see the weather forecast way above…we are to cool dramatically on Friday and next week stay cool and hopefully get some rain.

Meanwhile.

This is usually not good news.

When the cat spends an hour focused under the oven that usually means there is some critter back there…

But, on Monday morning, a critter under the oven that kept Auggie happily inside…it was good news!

It was good news, because about 7:45, when Auggie normally would have been out and about…there was the unmistakable smell of skunk. Not sure who was the recipient as I had all windows open and none of us alarmed or heard any confrontation in the vicinity.

The important thing, though, is that it was not Auggie or Bear … HOO RAH!

Later in the day, neighbor Mel brought me huckleberries to be turned into huckleberry ice cream. She also brought me two dozen gorgeous fresh eggs from her chickens. Another HOO RAH! The eggs from Mel’s chickens are out of this world good!

I made the ice cream, but also reserved 3 big spoonfuls of the huckleberry puree to mix with my fresh lemonade mix. YUM! Huckleberry-Lemonade is an awesome “beat the heat” thirst quencher. A good trade.

Bear has the right idea for Birthday Week Heat!

***Edit 8/12/2015 a.m. Although there was a small fire that was quickly contained in Jewell Basin, the great plume of smoke is actually from a Glacier National Park Fire (Thompson Lake area) that blew up with yesterday’s heat and wind.