Fires are raging here -

 

 

 

As you can see on this map, we have fires burning all over Oregon.  Our high desert has been hit particularly hard with multiple fires that have been difficult to slow down.  There just aren't enough resources available and the extreme heat and winds don't help.

 

 

 

All these fire fighting planes were sitting on the ground this afternoon.  I assume it is because they could not fly in such thick smoke.  But there has also been talk about a lack of resources, such as the fire retardant liquid being in short supply with so many fires. 

 

There are 16 large fires burning here right now with some 5000 people fighting them.  Help has been coming from many other states.  People have been evacuated from their homes in several areas and others are on pre-evacuation notice levels.  The smoke is so thick sometimes that you can't see the buttes and mountains.  Ash has been coming down - you can see it on the plants in the garden and on our cars.

 

Smoke obscuring the buttes and ranch lands.

While we are sitting here safe in our home, one has to think about when it might be our turn.  Every year there are more fires and we have been spared so far.  With the past weeks of extreme heat, everything is as dry as it would be in late August.  And the animals seem to be affected, too.  Yesterday afternoon I saw a coyote out in a pasture with cows and calves.  I stopped and backed up to see what he would do and he took off right into the herd of cows.  The valiant ladies stomped into action and chased him through the fence into the next pasture.  There, he met up with another bovine that wasn't happy to see him, either, and she took up the chase and sent him off into the underbrush.

 

We had our third snake come visiting - this one was a 4 foot bull snake (gopher snake).  In all our years here we have never seen anything but garter snakes and to have three of these new guys drop by in less than two weeks is unnerving.  When we tried to catch the last guy to relocate him, it was truly an adventure in futility.  And I think we looked pretty darned funny, too. with me barefoot in my flip flops gimping along using a ceiling fan blade duster to try to hold the snake while Tramp 1 put a box over it.  Every time I got it coiled up so he could catch it, he would get the heebie jeebies and just toss the box and invariably part of the snake would be sticking out and it would get away.  And we would try again and again with no luck.  I finally called it a draw and we let that poor snake get away - most likely far away from the two crazy people that tried to catch him!

 

We decided to get some peace of mind and ordered the above items.  We will use the repellent in areas we frequent near where the three snakes were found and around the dog kennel - don't want Chucky tangling with any reptile!  The tongs are 48 inches long and will be handy for many things, including snake wrangling!

 

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The latest fire report has over 350,000 acres burning here in Oregon right now.  We have a red flag warning currently in effect.  After weeks of heat in the 90's, we need some cool weather and would sure appreciate some rain, too!!!  We have more thunderstorms in the forecast for early next week....