365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
A Brief Respite
Day 310: By mid-afternoon yesterday, the brief respite we had from wildfire smoke was in retreat against a new onslaught. Although the Mountain hadn't been clearly visible at any time in the previous 24 hours, you could at least distinguish glaciers from rocks, and that for the first time in two weeks. But as the saying goes, all good things come to an end. This morning once again, there is no Mountain on the horizon, only a blurry red disk rising in the east. I consider myself to be in good physical condition, yet the smoke in the air impairs my breathing, leaves me feeling tired, worn and, if the truth be told, not at full capacity mentally. On the other hand, I am grateful that it isn't worse. Ranger friends have been evacuated from both Yosemite and Glacier due to the wildfires there. As tinder-dry as the Pacific Northwest currently is, all it would take would be one lightning strike, one careless toss of a cigarette, one fool leaving a campfire smoldering, and we'd go up in a puff.
Labels:
Longmire,
Mount Rainier,
smoke,
wildfires
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