jstv – Page 37

August 1, 2021July 31, 2021

Summer’s End

In one day alone, lightning ignited 19 wildfires across Central Oregon.

August came and brought a scattering of rain showers, as well as a renewal of the heat warnings. The West is still on fire, the air quality drops to moderate and storms bring some rain but also lightning.

This week our escape was to drive a few miles west to the head waters of the Deschutes River and Tip’s favorite swimming hole.

The ODFW has placed restrictions on Oregon’s large rivers as water temperatures rise from the heat wave.

These “Hoot Owl” hours protect already stressed fish, limiting hours we can be on the water.

The Upper Deschutes benefits from higher altitude and mid-summer snow run-off, so it’s waters stay cooler and fishable, for now.

Tip loves this spot to wade the stream and play fetch. Once started it’s pretty hard to get his focus off the game. We’re glad to set our chairs on the shady bank and take in it’s natural AC.

There is a ten degree difference in temp plus the soothing sound of moving water (broken by demanding barks from the dog). Half a day on the stream and we all are refreshed.

July 25, 2021July 24, 2021

Relief from summer’s heat

In the high desert, even during a normal summer, the grasses have dried by mid-June. This year the forests and saged plains are tinder dry.

But on a river’s edge there is still an abundance of lush green growth.

This summer the heat of the day hits mid-morning and we’ve been fortunate to avoid most of the smoke and haze. So this week we headed to the river and the shade along its edge.

Now typically I’m focused on the insect life when wading a stream.

However, Jacqueline turned her attention, and camera, to the grasses lining the stream. It turns out there is a trove of tiny winged critters tucked into the leaves and stems.

We spotted wasps of different shapes and sizes, as well as some less lethal insects among the plants.

There were purple blossoms on nearly every stem which might have been the main attraction.

Tip didn’t seem to notice as he made numerous trips to the water from our shaded seating area.

Of course I concentrated on the bugs skipping across the water’s surface … trying to blend in and lure a fish to strike. The day’s heat is always degrees cooler along a river. Not sure how much longer the wildfire’s haze will be directed away from us, so we take advantage of any clear day.

July 18, 2021July 17, 2021

Smokey Days

Wildfires are burning all around us. This week instead of subjecting you to another appliance upgrade ‘update’, we’re just going to leave a picture of this morning’s sunrise on the AM walk. Yeah, it’s kind of smokey.

There are 600 acres burning on the eastern edge of La Pine, 4 houses were lost and a bunch of outbuildings. That blaze has a fireline around it. However, there are 6 thousand acres burning east of Sisters that still threatens homes up there. To the southeast of us is currently the largest wildfire in the western US. The Bootleg Fire is burning 220 thousand acres and remains very active.

A heat dome and the wildfires have kept us pretty much at home. Hope you’re doing better than us … though as the winds shift you don’t need to be close to a fire to still get covered with smoke.

This is an interesting web site to track not just fire activity but the smoke cover. We’ve seen a shift from good to poor air quality as the winds moved more westerly this last evening.

July 11, 2021July 10, 2021

It’s Was a Hot One

The past week was marked by record high temperatures in the PNW. As Oregon melts, we are in the middle of an appliance install project. A new laundry pair is in place. Kitchen appliances are ‘staged’ which means they exist somewhere in a wonky supply chain.

Mask wearing is only part of pandemic pain. Try buying a major appliance. We had to make choices around availability when it came to the pieces that really needed to be replaced. Even so, we are over a month on the first delivery and another 4 weeks (maybe) on the last.

Even just a LED makes laundry day a bit better.

The laundry (which is complete) was a big job as we had to repair some water-damaged dry wall. A process that evolved into pulling cabinets and a small counter off the wall which added to the repair work.

Sheetrock, mud and tape is not my strong suit but the job was small enough that we managed to end with a decent looking wall. New paint and shelves help camouflage imperfections in the patch work.

Paint was a big part but we also pulled up the vinyl flooring and put down tile. Setting floor tile is a bit more in my comfort zone. The room isn’t exactly square which made for some interesting ‘fitting’ moments, but we managed to lay down a nice new floor covering.

Now we wait on the delivery pipeline. The freezer side is more ‘just colder’ these days.

However, we did find a suitable fridge that will be here end of week. Hopefully there will be minimal melting.

The other good news is we have AC so the heat wave didn’t really hamper our efforts. With a bit more luck our home will be updated by end of summer.

July 4, 2021July 3, 2021

Home Fix-it

What started as a project to replace a washer and dryer … became so much more.

This week’s adventure is a bit closer to home … like at home. Just a few weeks ago our dryer started to take longer to dry and the start knob needed some creative fixing. So we decided it was time.

Appliance shopping post pandemic qualifies as an adventure, but to add to the complexity, we discovered a small leak where water feeds the washing machine.

Now we have the task of getting delivery on a laundry pair and repairing ruined drywall. The problem is complicated by a laundry area just wide enough to fit machine and walk-way.

The subsequent juggling of appliance delivery, plumber to cap the natural gas line and wall fix turned into a re-do on the whole room. New flooring, baseboard, paint and shelving.

New drywall in, walls prepped for priming.

The smallest detail will stall out a home improvement project. Thanks to having built a house, we have skills and no shortage of tools. However. it will take multiple trips to the hardware store before we have collected all the bits and bobs required.

Appliances get delivered the week this is posted. Presently we’re in the thick of the “mess” with any luck there be a load of laundry tumbling in a re-furbished space by weeks end.