BRRRRRRR!

 

Who would have thought that in a matter of a day or two the temp would drop 20 degrees? The high was 93 one day and 73 the next. This morning’s low actually dipped into the 40s. Is summer over? I would guess it will be warm again, but the excessive heat spells are probably over. It certainly feels like fall right now.

I wonder what the garden will think about this change. Perhaps it’s relieved.

Mike dug a sweatshirt out of the bottom of the clothes hamper this morning, and if it’s chilly this evening, I might need to switch to my winter sleepwear. We slept under a blanket last night for the first time in weeks.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the cooler day to bake cookies and chocolate zucchini bread.

We need to go to town to check on things and get supplies, but I read in today’s paper that Hwy 12 is closed until further notice from the Spaulding bridge to Peck (24 miles) due to the “Gwen and River Fires” burning near Juliaetta on the north side of the Clearwater. We can take an alternate route, but I wonder about tourists traveling Hwy 12 who don’t know the territory, especially motor homes and camper units. Hopefully adequate alerts are provided to travelers.

In fact, after cycling the ridge this morning, Mike reported he had never seen so much traffic on Old Hwy 7, and we realized that people would have to come this way to get to Lewiston. And he also said that they are now harvesting on the ridge just south of here – the other side of the cemetery. Our farmer is probably harvesting someplace – just not here yet.

The National Weather Service also provides an air quality alert for the Valley until July 27 at 10:00 p.m. I guess at that time the air will magically clear. The paper says the Valley air quality is rated as “hazardous, stay inside.”

COUGAR STORY

Bess gave a low growl from her perch on the front porch early yesterday morning, so I stepped to the window to check. I was startled to see a cougar standing at the barn, staring back at Bess. I called to Mike to come quick, but as he was coming, Bess leaped off the porch and took chase. I screamed for her, but she doesn’t hear and probably wouldn’t have heeded anyway. The cougar disappeared around the back side of the pond and Bess nonchalantly turned back as if that oversized cat had been dispatched due solely to her efforts. The cougar was gone by the time Mike arrived at the window, so he had to take my word for it.

Mike reported this incident to our neighbor, but turns out he already knew the cougars are “in here.” Apparently his family even hunts them. Who knew? KW