Weather for this past week started with temperatures of 105º or more in Yreka and about the same in the Weed/Mt Shasta area. Multiple heat warning notices have been issued by weather agencies to areas here in south Siskiyou County as a result.
Last thursday it hit 102º about 1600 here in McCloud and again on friday at 1430. I had the blahs sunday so I just stayed indoors. No walkabout that day.
I don’t know how long it has been that hot and persistent here, if ever. Fortunately I have a heat pump and overhead fans, so with the overnight open windows, the house stays comfortable.
The week ended with a thunder, lightning, and heavy rain event which began around 1900last evening and continued over an hour as it moved to the northeast. Welcome rain and at a time when it wasn’t tempered by daytime heat so no or little evaporation.
The McKinney fire isn’t anywhere near contained and has claimed four lives so far, but it didn’t grow much from the 56K+ acres it was yesterday. There were a couple of small lightning fires in the Weed/MtEddy area which were handled well and rapidly.
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No Senior lunch this past monday because evacuees from the McKinney fire down river were evacuated from northwestern Yreka near the Oregon border west of I-5, are being housed in the Weed Community Center. Dogs, cats, and large animals are being housed in various spots across the County.
I went to Weed yesterday for a library run and a stop at Raven Tree in the Mt Shasta mall (which is really a small el-shaped row of shops) for a hummer feeder and the makings. It seemed only right to add a station for the hummer who has been calling each morning for several days.
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There was an interesting event in the neighborhood one day last week. There were five emergency vehicles at the next door neighbor’s house … two local fire company units one a medical unit, an ambulance, and a CalFire medical unit.
Like an old fire company horse who hears a call and is ready to be harnessed and go, this old emergency nurse’s first reaction, when I heard the call on the scanner and saw the units arriving, was to immediately go next door. Second thought was “nope” knowing there was no way I would be of any help at my age and needed to stay out of the way.
The activity made me think of a time we were dealing with a bad situation in the Emergency Department and a family member kept trying to push his way past me into the area where the doctor and another RN were trying to work and I was needed at the activity.
He was screaming as he tried to shove past me and I kept blocking him. A lot of what he was screaming was not decipherable until he shouted “YOU’RE A REAL BITCH!”
By then my patience was wearing thin because the situation at the trauma area was pretty busy and I said in as controlled a voice as I could manage “You want to see a real bitch, just keep trying to get past me.”
He stopped, looked at me, and went down the hall into the waiting room and sat there until the patient was stabilized and I went to get him and bring him into the room.
Of course, my 6’ (at that time) to his about 5’5” probably helped.
Interesting things you remember …
My neighbor is scheduled for heart surgery to repair a faulty valve any day now.
Turned out she was having a breathing problem.
I’ll go over for a chat when she gets home from surgery.
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I am once again fascinated by the dancing trees which I am able to see out my east facing living room window when there is any breeze.
One tree has rather long pliable branches and waves with slow, gracefully sweeping moves, much like a sedate waltz.
The others (aspens) go all aquiver and scintillate like they are doing the jitterbug with glitter falling.
Nature’s entertainment.
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Heard an article on NPR the other day about corporations. It seems they are “corporations” or a “business” in many legal situations where being a single entity is an advantage. Such as if a manufacturer of a weapon or drug or something like talcum powder results in damage or death to an individual, only the manufacturer or provider can be held responsible and sued as a single unit.
While in other situations, such as political donations, corporations are recognized as a collection of individuals each able to donate and so a single donation of one million to a campaign fund becomes multiple donations and 1million becomes ??? million while your donation, no matter how large or small, stays a single donation and the corporation’s voting influence on a President or any other elected official is ??? times more than your one.
From one comes many …
Doesn’t sound quite right.
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Near one of the entrances to Victorian Village where I live is a tree with two colours of leaves. I looked as closely as I could manage and couldn’t see any sign of grafting.
I’ll try to get John to take a picture of it next week.
Any horticulturalist out there know what this tree is?
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There is a new neighbor in the Village. She is in the unit previously owned by Jim who moved to an extended care facility.
We know she has a son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons who live in the area, but not much else about her.
Maybe I’ll stop to say hello some morning when I’m out on a walkabout, sort of like the lady who came calling on me when we first moved to Mt Shasta ino the little house where we lived before the house on the farm was built. She introduced herself as a representative of the Neighborhood Welcome Committee.
The final empty house in the Village is still empty. In the opinion of many of the current residents, it is too overpriced.
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Canada geese have been crossing overhead headed south east. It’s a bit early for migration so it must be the fires.
An area of northwest Yreka and down river was evacuated saturday because of a fire, being called the McKinley fire which was moving east. The Weed Community Center was the evacuation center
The power was out here from 0430 to 0458 due to a transformer caused fire in a wooded area just off I-5 in the Castella area. I knew the time because my backup generator came on and woke me.
The fire started pretty big because they were calling for additional pumper engines and personnel as well as water tenders and water drops using helicopters. Power was turned off in all overhead lines in the area. The fire was at 25 acres by 0740. By 1030 they had released all but two pumpers with crews and were doing mop-up.
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It’s probably due to my age, but I’m seeing more and more doppelgangers. I watching an interesting tv show a few days ago and I saw William Shatner, Gregory Peck, a middle aged Shirley Temple, Robin Williams (doing the limbo), Nichelle Nichols, and a couple others whose names I don’t remember.
Seems we aren’t as unique as we were led to believe, as least in looks.
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To end the week …
Some of your worries are relevant. Others are not. You need to differentiate between your real concerns and the imaginary ones. Step back, take a deep breath, and assess the situation logically rather than emotionally. You’ll find that nothing’s as bad as you think.
So, ‘til next week …