Archive for ‘August, 2015’

We’re smokin’

The good news is that the forecast cool front whooshed through with less extreme lighting, wind and hail than forecast.

The bad news is that even with the less extreme, there were something like 30 new fire starts. BUT, the big fires were not impacted by wind and did not jump fire lines.

Still.

Given that there are large fires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Canada… we are smokin’

It smells like a very bad, very stale cigar…

At least it is cool…cooler.

And despite the smell and the anxiety that smoky conditions create…

It is beautiful in an eerie sort of way.

The light, filtered through smoky skies, is unique.

Meanwhile… in this cool break we are regrouping…

One of my fans…it had a creepy amount of dust and hair on and in it. I spritzed it with a vinegar-water mix and then hosed it off. It is drying and hopefully I did not kill the motor with water, etc.

Onward to some catching up.

I’ve had Windows 10 on 2 devices for a bit over 2 weeks. No glitches on either device and no issues with Windows 10. I continue to LOVE it. As I’ve read comments from those who do have issues, the thing that springs to mind is “gamers” and those with older devices/drivers. I don’t have much in the way of oddity other than my work environment. And even though my work environment is mostly Microsoft, it is not 100% Microsoft (DevExpress tools) and believe it or not…Microsoft stuff does NOT always play nice with other Microsoft stuff but currently, it all does.

Whatever, I continue to be VERY Happy with Windows 10.

A kind of silly thing I love in Windows 10 is the Weather app. It does not have some of the detail that I go to in NOAA, but it is a wonderfully complete and easy to “read” picture of current weather… including sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset…

And historical info.

I am in Weather info heaven!

We be smokin’

Dark and Stormy

This morning…after a night that didn’t cool to 70F until 4:00 a.m. – the sky darkened, thunder roared and a whoosh of wind preceded a morning storm.

No rain, but dark skies and the cool wind made me give in to sitting in the kitchen with one more cup of coffee than usual and just enjoying the dark and stormy morning.

Birthday week heat, etc.

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.

It was a Monday

The last three days have been in the mid-upper 90’s and yesterday the smoke which had stayed high, dropped down to the valley floor and the smoky smell came with. The smoke is from fires in Washington State according to the news.

This morning started at 57F and I hoped that at least the smoke would keep it cooler but it topped out at 97F this afternoon. Blech! The smoky smell always makes me a bit anxious and more so this year with it so very, very dry. It is always hard to believe that there isn’t a fire close when the smell is so strong.

All of us are a bit cranky and also tired – I think the heat is tiring, zapping our energy just taking short walks. Bear asks to go out and he sometimes just stands on the sidewalk, pants a bit, turns around and comes back inside.

We are to get a cool front tonight and maybe even some rain and gradually cool down to normal (low-mid 80’s) over the next week. But even tomorrow’s forecast high of 88 will be an improvement of today’s 97.

I had a frustrating work day spending all day on something that should have taken me an hour or two.

And Auggie brought home a little snake. Thankfully it was dead. But snakes are not on the list of things that are ok to hunt. Gah!

It was a Monday.