Happy Thursday!

Wow! Two posts in one week. How have I done that? Well, I’ve been home stuck inside because of the smoke.

Dennis and I took a drive up to the trailer last night because we were getting reports that ash was falling.  This is a photo of our grill cover at the lake. It was like snow flurries up there. Needless to say we only stayed about five minutes because we didn’t want to be inhaling all of this into our lungs.  Although we have smoke here in Spokane, so far there is no ash falling here at our house.

These were the billowing clouds of smoke we encountered as we drove towards the lake.

I haven’t watched the news today, but as of yesterday’s evening news, the firefighters hadn’t lost one structure. That is unbelievable to me considering the amount of acres that have been burned by this fire. Much of it is on the reservation and they’re trying to save the sacred spots too. So far they have been successful.

Edit to add: I just looked it up and this fire has consumed 34,200 acres as of 6:00 this morning.

I really don’t think our trailer is in any danger. It has been hovering around 100°F for the last three days, but we’re supposed to have a cool down this weekend with a possibility of rain.  Please join me in praying for the firefighters as they work 12 hour shifts in this horrendous heat and smoke.

Now to a more pleasant topic. Yarn! These are Mandy’s and Piper’s socks.  As I said in my last post, I will finish Piper’s while we’re visiting so I can be sure to get them at the right length. She is a growing girl you know! :-)

Some progress is being on the “Which-Way Filet Baby Blanket.”  I must confess, I have spent a lot of time reading a new book that I received last weekend instead of crocheting.

Alicia ordered me this America’s Test Kitchen cookbook off of Etsy. It goes through all seasons up to 2017. Am I the only one out there who loves to read cookbooks? I usually don’t end up making very many of the recipes, but I sure enjoy reading them. This is an unusual cookbook. Each recipe explains the science involved and why it is such a good recipe. I have barely even made a dent in reading it. This thing is huge. About 3 inches thick!

I hope you’re all having a good week. In reading blogs it seems like everyone is having a very busy summer.  

I’m looking forward to our road trip in September to visit our Omaha family. We will be there for Piper’s birthday. We’re also planning to make a quick two night/one day stop at the Black Hills and go to Mount Rushmore. We haven’t been there in years and we would really like to do the night lighting ceremony again.  Before we moved to Spokane, we went to the Black Hills every year for vacation and then on to Yellowstone National Park. I do miss those days when the kids were small and we did things like that as a family. I know you can never turn back time, but those were some really good times. We didn’t have much money, but that really didn’t matter on those trips.  In those days we could take a two-week camping vacation on less than $300! Isn’t that unbelievable?

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”  Numbers 6:24-26

Blessings always,

Betsy