Monday, September 14 Deaths 511 (+0) Cases 29,484 (+141)
Meet the new day, same as the old day. M was out for a few minutes sweeping up ash from our back patio. As recommended in the poem, he spread a bit of the ash at his shrine to the dead. The rest went into a trash bag destined for the landfill. Air quality still quite bad.
While M was working, E went to look for a couple of take-out lattes. No luck. Coffee Culture is down; Starbucks is down. While she was out, she heard the announcement of a Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation order for the area in and around the town of Holley, Oregon. Holley is a little town on the Calapooia River, and is another place that M has driven through recently. It’s about 27 miles southeast of Corvallis. We know all about evacuation alerts levels now. Level 1 means get yourself prepared to evacuate. At Level 2 people are encouraged to leave; those who stay should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The system is fine if the fires give enough time for the alerts to be issued and if everyone gets the word. For a day or two there, the fires were moving faster than the alert system could deal with.
After dinner, there was a Level 2 Brownie Alert (Be ready to bake at any time) and E had to go over to Market of Choice and get a mix. When she got back, she turned around and made them.
Tuesday, September 15 Deaths 519 (+8) Cases 29,662 (+178)
The window project moves forward. A estimator from Smith’s Glass came today to finish measuring. He had planned to come last Thursday, but the area where he lives was put on Level 2 and he was occupied with preparations for the family to evacuate. E had made the brownies mostly for the purpose of giving some to him as a gesture of support. Today he reports that they are still in the house but still all set to go. There are two different fires burning near where he lives, one four miles to the south and another 14 miles to the east. The former is the fire that we mentioned yesterday, near the town of Holley.
Despite the fires still burning, our air quality improved overnight, from Hazardous all the way up to Unhealthy. M went out in the garden for half an hour or so, wearing a pretty much useless mask. He says that at first it feels wonderful just to be outside and that the air doesn’t matter. But after a while it feels distinctly unhealthy, especially if you do any exertion. Time to go in.
E has been trying to keep up with her walking regimen indoors. By alternating step aerobics with tramping around from room to room, she eventually convinces her watch to give her credit for several thousand steps.
Wednesday, September 16 Deaths 521 (+2) Cases 29,850 (+188)
E had her hair done today and got some big news there. Claire, her hairdresser, has announced her retirement at the end of the year. Inveterate traveller and very smart cookie, Claire is someone we have depended on for insights into all sorts of things. Hopefully we can keep in touch with her through this transition. Otherwise, we shall be lost.
We also did some chores today, dropping off things at both Bottle Drop and Good Will. The garage was filling up with empty seltzer bottles and donation goods. We still have two large items that we would normally donate to Habitat, but they’re been shut down for months. Bleh.
Thursday, September 17 Deaths 521 (+0) Cases 30,060 (+210)
Reasonably good COVID report today: no Oregon deaths yesterday and a daily test positive rate of just 4.84%. Wildfire news is also promising as rain is forecast for this evening and through the night. We’ve had a number of days now when rain was forecast but failed to arrive, so we shall have to see. If rain comes, most of it should fall on the western slopes of the Cascades, which is exactly where the fires are, so our fire officials are all “cautiously optimistic.” Already many of the worst fires have been partially contained in the places where they were approaching population centers.
Air quality remains in an issue. At 4:30 this morning it was in condition orange, the best we’ve seen for a long, long time. But by 6:00 A.M. it was back up to red, by early afternoon it was purple, and just now, at 4:30 in the afternoon, it is back into the dark purple Hazardous zone. We’re thinking we should have gone for an early walk.
We’re into Season Four of Cable Girls and the fearless foursome remain really busy. Carlota was framed for murder. When she was convicted, she had a kind of breakdown (which was distinctly un-Carlota-like, but the writers have no shame). Her lover couldn’t stand to see her like that and decided to save her by confessing to the crime herself. She manufactured enough evidence to convince the judge and now Carlota is free but Sara/Oscar is in prison condemned to death. No problem, though, the girls are planning a prison break and Detective Cuevas has inexplicably agreed to help them. This is, of course, ridiculous, but fortunately it all goes by fast, like the pages of a comic book in the wind, so we don’t need to resort to the fast forward button. In other news, Francisco has awakened from his year-long coma but has amnesia. Pretty much everyone knows about his miracle recovery except Alba/Lidia. Carlos, whom she has just agreed to marry, has been hiding it from her because Francisco was her first love and he and Carlos have always been rivals. Last night’s cliffhanger was Lidia coming home after a tough day of planning the prison break and running into Francisco, alive and well in her living room, dressed in a really sharp suit. Presumably we’ll see how that scene goes later tonight. Lurking in the background, Doña Carmen is out of prison and plotting again, some dastardly business having to do with once again kidnapping innocent toddler Eva. E’s friend in Spain warned us that the writing deteriorated after the first two seasons, which caused her to give up on the whole deal. We get that now, but we’re not giving up quite yet. We only have about 12 40-minute episodes to go.
Friday, September 18 Deaths 521 (+0) Cases 30,342 (+282)
So the promised rain finally came, starting about 8:00 last night. It came accompanied by lightning and thus had the potential to douse some fires while starting others. So far, however, it appears to have done mostly good. The biggest fires are not out, but all have been knocked back a little, a welcome development.
This morning, the air quality index was around 70, roughly in the middle of the yellow zone. This afternoon it is 30, roughly in the middle of the green zone. Wow. Great to be getting outside. Pandemic and wildfires aside, it was nice to finally get some rain again.
Saturday, September 19 Deaths 525 (+5) Cases 30,599 (+257)
A couple of walks today. Wonderful air. And then in the evening, Magnum Infinite Chocolate ice cream bars, one each. All is well.
Sunday, September 20 Deaths 526 (+1) Cases 30,801 (+202)
A lazy Sunday. Septembers are often lovely around here, sunny and cool with damp, misty mornings. The smoke ruined all that for days and days, but today was very fine. Waffles for breakfast, an hour or two of walks and gardening, Burgerville lunch, iced decaf on the patio at 4:00. Nice.
After dinner we tried to watch Cable Girls S5-E2, but it was just too dumb. We’re saying goodbye to the chicas. Also tried to watch Laundromat with Meryl Streep. We weren’t in the mood for that either. E wants to watch Derry Girls. After that, we might go back to Turkish things, especially as we’re getting serious about an online Turkish class taught by our friend Umut. It would start October 5th.