It's been one of the most unusual weeks that I can remember.... Yesterday the air quality was so low that for the first time during the summer we kept the children at the childcare that I work at inside for the whole day. On Wednesday the airport was closed at one point due to visibility.
All of this is caused from smoke from fires to the north and at least one fire locally. While this is hardly anything compared to what other locations experience, it's not something we are used to in my most local corner of the world. I suspect that it will be more common. It was either last year or the year before that there were small wildfires within the county where I live and concerns about air quality.
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One morning I realized that the sky and one of my dahlia's was the same color.
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In the wildlife category, something else the local community hasn't been used to has been regular bear sightings. He's been around for over a month and has been seen sitting on a chicken coop, eating from bird seed feeders, and even taking a dip in someone's pool. And he's acquired a name, the Barkley Bear, in honor of where he was first hanging out.
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In the garden, tomatoes and lemon cucumbers are starting to ripen. The pepper was still green but I wanted a little bit of "bitter" for the bread salad I was making. I've also picked blackberries from the hedge and have been picking handful of calendula for salve. I picked a small handful of sugar snap peas last night as well.
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Sunrise: 5:48, Sunset 8:41. Current temp at 6 AM, 59 degrees F. The high today is supposed to be somewhere between 80 and 87 depending on which forecast you believe.
My dad has a theory that the warm weather crops have been late this year because the lows at night haven't been as warm as usual, sometimes below 50.