Smoky Days Continue

Good afternoon from smoky Northern California! It's unbelievable how smoky it still is here. Fortunately, I'm not right in the thick of the fires, but the smoke has gone on now for about three weeks. Whereas there were once over 1700 fires, our heroic firefighters have gotten the number down to 300, but they are tired.

Our governor has just ordered a second batch of National Guard personnel to be trained in firefighting. Our heroes need relief.

The heat of July, with the humidity tacked on, finally resulted in a death in our area. A woman, a senior citizen, died in Modesto yesterday. The air conditioning in her mobile home had stopped working. While her husband did his best with fans to cool the place, even at night it was 85 degrees. They said she died of heat stroke.

People are still being advised not to go outside much. My poor dogs love to run and play, but they are being kept inside more and more. The health watches last night said this prolonged situation could start to affect even the healthiest people. Those not using central air were warned that their swamp coolers could actually bring the smoke and dangerous particulates inside their homes.

The sky is just a long, dull haze of smoke, and that's pretty much how it's been since the last week in June. We've been in the 107/108 temp range this week. We're supposed to get a little relief this weekend -- high 90's.

So that's the situation in Northern California. I hope the President heeds the call for support. The firefighters are exhausted; they need help.

Now it's back to my Stargate SG-1 marathon on the Sci-Fi network. Good shows today. Right now one of my favorites is on - "Red Sky". There's a blooper of sorts in it that always makes me giggle.

Onward!