Some days are a little less smoky up here, now, mostly due to the incredibly hard-working firefighters from 40 states that have conquered nearly 1500 of the 1800+ separate wildfires that have barbecued the top half of the state for the last 17-18 days. There are some very stubborn areas still burning, though. And of course, there's nothing like record-high temperatures being added to the situation to make it more interesting for everyone. Our outside thermometer registered 98 the last two days (high last year--92, once). But, not too far away, it's at least 10 degrees hotter in the Valley and 114 in Redding. Tomorrow (Wed), maybe higher.
For us, it's a mere minor inconvenience. We moved critical elements of Tom's office down to a bedroom on the lowest level during the day. His real office is on the third floor of the tower area, which got up to 92, yesterday--nasty. Two flights down, we've got a high of 78, no matter what. That's without the A/C, which we ran once last year just to test it (it works). But, since we can function just fine without turning it on, that's what we're doing. The kitchen gets to the mid-80s in the afternoon. So we stay down here all day...
...until it's cooler. Then, like little nocturnal woodrats, we come up for a snack. We also usually watch a little TV in the evenings (there's a nice ceiling fan in there and lots of doors/windows to open). A guilty pleasure, these days (including Tom!!)?--"So You Think You Can Dance". No kidding. I don't know how it happened, but there it is. We were hooked from minute one. I think it increases my appreciation of the athletic limits of the human body even more than the Olympics. Extremely entertaining. And it's a humane judging process. Then, naturally, it's right back to "Masterpiece Theater"...
Here's a way fun thing to watch. The only thing I'd change is the end. Such a waste of a perfectly good, well, you'll see...http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1820683
Also, because I didn't have anything more appropriate, I put up a shot of a butterfly (pale tiger swallowtail) on the catmint that I took yesterday.
