Television interview and a Ride to the Lake

I think it was Tuesday that we drove out to see if the trail to the lake was open.  It was!  Yay!  We had planned to ride yesterday, but the smoke rolled in.  That was disappointing.  So, we went to Costco to buy toilet paper.  It's expected that prices for tp will increase significantly now that 47 has put tariffs on Canada.  Wood pulp for toilet paper comes from Canada. 

Yesterday we were on television.  A reporter came and interviewed us about our experiences evacuating.  We were chosen because Jim wrote an email to three members of the City Council about our experience evacuating and included posts from Nextdoor about other residents' experiences.  He also sent it to three members of the local media. There is a lot of concern in the public about how difficult it was to evacuate on Indian Trail due to traffic volumes, and watching flames in their rear view mirrors.  This concern is exacerbated by the fact that a 300 unit apartment complex is moving through the planning commission process, which will put an additional 300-600 cars on Indian Trail, a main evacuation route.  So Madeleine Mullins from KXLY came to our house, carrying a big honking tripod with a camera on it, and talked with us.  She's very likeable.  Most of it was edited out, but I think we presented well and did not sound like wingnuts.  The article and the interview can be found here.  The video starts playing muted, so look in the lower left hand corner and click on the sound sign with the slash through it.

Today we rode to the lake.  The heat was off, the air quality was good, and it was just a stellar day.  The park employee previously told us the fire had burned to the fence and the recreation area.  Actually it burned the fence as well.  The was no water, and no fire retardant, so I'm not sure how they put it out.  

There is a  really good article about why Spokane did not run out of water while fighting the fires.  It also mentions the fact that the waste water treatment plant ran for 18 hours and performed perfectly with either no staff, or minimal staff.  Previous urban fires have done terrible damage because their water systems could not hold up to the demand.  In this instance Spokane did get the infrastructure right.

I have a photo from the other night. Today's original post had to be deleted because it was infected with css code that was not only messing with that post, but everything I've ever published. I have no idea how this happens. Hopefully I will get lake pictures up at some time in the future.  Right now I would just like to be done with this.

Sun set.

 OK, I quit.

Dolly Parton Has Left Us

This is one of the nicest tributes to Dolly that I've seen today.

That is all.

Canada and Joanne

This is part of the reason Canada bailed on the trade negotiations.  When the team from Canada arrived, they thought they had the agreement that had emerged the prior week.  Instead the people from the US pulled these things out.  No way would this be accepted, especially interference with Quebec.

Dairy Market Access: The U.S. demanded that Canada alter its supply management system and accept Washington's interpretation of how dairy licensing and market access should be allocated for American farmers. [1, 2]

Removal of Retaliatory Measures & Provincial Bans: Washington called for Canada to drop all retaliatory tariffs, for provincial governments to end bans on sales of U.S. alcohol, and to scrap "Buy Canadian" procurement policies. [1]

Industrial & Auto Sector Terms: The U.S. introduced last-minute terms targeting Canada’s auto sector and production rules. [1]

Digital and Media Regulations: The U.S. pressed for an overhaul of Canadian online streaming and tech laws, which Washington asserted discriminated against American digital and media firms. [1]

External Trade Autonomy: The U.S. pushed for restrictions on Canada's independence to pursue separate free trade deals with other international nations. [1]

Language and Culture Protections: The U.S. targeted specific Canadian laws designed to safeguard and protect the French language and Canadian cultural heritage. 

Labor Alignment & Enforcement: Washington demanded that Ottawa strictly align its regulatory approaches and information sharing regarding forced labor and child labor. The U.S. sought to use these restrictions as economic leverage over Canadian supply chains. 

Automotive Refusals: While the U.S. initially offered to lower existing auto tariffs from 25% to 15%, it introduced restrictive production terms and flatly rejected Canada's counter-demands for lower tariffs on heavy trucks. 

Total Rescission of Retaliation: The U.S. demanded that Canada entirely drop its previous counter-tariffs without the U.S. providing parallel concessions on major Canadian exports like lumber, steel, or aluminum. 

There's so much more to say about the orange ball of crud, but I think I'll give it a rest.  

The news of Joanne's death has sort of taken the stuffing out of me.  Ellen did a wonderful write up, so I think I'm going to purloin her work, which you can find here.  Joanne was truly a woman of substance.

 

Forest Managment

Yesterday the AQI was good enough to ride, so we did.  We were hoping that the trail would be open to the lake, but it's not.  We snuck down the road that vehicles towing boats take to the lake, but the trail was still closed.  Then we were busted by a park ranger who was really nice.  He said they're working hard, but people just can't be there, it is not safe.  We apologized and departed the area.  

Forests need to be managed.  In Spokane we just can't have those thick, luxuriant forests in places where it rains a lot, they'll burn.  Ponderosa pines can have their branches trimmed up 20 feet with no ill effects.  The last time DNR did cutting and thinning, our project was limited to trees less than 8 inches in diameter.  Apparently there was a thought that the big trees would be logged for profit.  Not bloody likely given the terrain.  Anyway, a new Ponderosa study says to limb them 20 feet up and have 30 feet of separation.  The trees' bark is fairly resistant to fire.  The president of the HOA is adept at working the DNR grant system, so we're going to try for more money to get more tree removal and limbing done.  Tree removal is incredibly expensive.  We're small neighborhood, 23 houses.

Here is thinning.  I'm having to readjust my thinking on what a healthy forest looks like.

More thinning.  

In 2003 the B&B fire burned 91,000 acres in Oregon.  Here is a really good article on the fire and how it changed forest management.

As you may have noticed, I'm a lot more interested in forest management now than I was. 

This is from Facebook, posted by The Other 98%.  I can't just link to it, so I'm pasting it in its entirety.  It's emblematic of the current administration.

The chief of the U.S. Forest Service told Congress in July, under oath, that his firefighting force is "stronger than at any point in recent years" and "fully staffed and equipped to respond aggressively to every unplanned ignition."

Last week, in one 72-hour stretch, more than 600 requests for crews, aircraft, and equipment went unfilled. Aircraft and crew requests alone were turned down 265 times in three days. Most of it came from the Pacific Northwest, where fire had just torn through neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington's second-largest city.

That is the gap between what the Forest Service says in Washington and what its firefighters are living. Nine of them told the Guardian the agency is nowhere near staffed for the fires the country now gets, and that they are barred from saying so in public.

One fire captain explained it with a number anyone can hold. A soccer team puts 11 players on the field and keeps a roster of 30 for substitutions. In the Forest Service, he said, there are no substitutes. "Showing up to a game with 13 people is insane. Playing a whole season with 13 people is abuse. That's how we fight fire, and nobody gets to take a day off."

The country has sat at "preparedness level 5," the top of the scale, since July 18. More than 49,200 fires have burned over 7.2 million acres this year, past the ten-year average, in a fourth straight year of drought, with the worst months still ahead. This is the fire season the climate now hands the West every year, and the federal force built to meet it is getting smaller.

The break is at the management level. The specialized bosses who run large fires take decades to train and cannot be replaced in a season. The teams that coordinate major disasters numbered 46 in 2023.

There are 38 now. In Oregon, during a year that has burned more acres than any on record there, private contract crews sat idle because there were not enough qualified managers to run them, said state senator Mike McLane.

The Trump administration cut roughly a fifth of the Forest Service in 2025. The firings did not target firefighters, but they hollowed out the support roles crews now cannot fill, as the fire seasons keep getting worse.

The chief keeps telling the public the force is stronger than ever. His firefighters have a blunter word for it.

"How are we supposed to feel," one fire captain asked, "when our leaders, the same people who get up and speak to the mourning families when firefighters die, are lying about our capacity?

So, that's it.  47 continues to run the country in to a ditch, but at least has has his security blanket, AKA the binkie.  The press is finally covering Natalie and I now understand why she's giving Secret Service the willies. 

 

Life in These United States

Greetings and salutations.  

Currently there are two major issues with the food supply.  Taylor Farms has received the most attention here.  The recall of contaminated bagged salad was withdrawn after the owner gave 47 a bunch of money.  Taylor Farms is everywhere.   

Taylor Farms operates under these names:
Earthbound Farms, Eat Smart, 
Walmart: Marketside, 
Target: Good & Gather, 
Kroger: Simple Truth, Simple Truth Organic, 
Aldi: Little Salad Bar and Simply Nature, 
Whole Foods Market: 365 by Whole Foods , 
Safeway / Albertsons: O Organics and Signature Select, 
Publix: GreenWise, 
Costco: Kirkland Signature (select packaged salad and produce items)
They also sell under their own label, and there is a lot of it on the shelves.

Federal data reveals U.S. foodborne illness cases are up nearly 400% this year compared with the recent annual average.

The FDA also released a warning about salmonella tainted eggs that have the potential to be fatal if not cooked sufficiently. Eggs should be cooked until firm, 160F. The 2026 Salmonella egg recall by Midwest Poultry Services involves plant/identifying codes P1950 or 084962, and best-by dates from July 20 to August 17, 2026.

Screw worms are also with us, as well.

Last Friday we went out to the alternate trail head we're using until the bridge replacement completes.  We were hoping to make it to the lake.  Alas, alack, that was not to be.

We talked to a park employee who told us the recreation area was fine, it burned right up to the fence and was stopped there. However, the trail is damaged with debris.  They're working on it.  The park on the other side of the river, that previously burned, is burned once again.  That will take some time to recover.

That burn was the Aubrey White fire.

The Aubrey White Fire broke out on July 6, 2025, burning roughly 40 acres along the Centennial Trail in Riverside State Park near the Bowl and Pitcher area. The fire triggered local evacuations, road closures, and minor structural damage. In August 2026, court records revealed that a suspect named Aaron Farinacci confessed to setting the Aubrey White Fire as part of a series of arson fires in the Spokane area.

That's the sociopath who set the recent fires.  He had been in jail in Arizona, served 10 years of a 12 year sentence for killing his father.  His father asked him to do the dishes and he killed him for it.  Some people just should not be out in society.

During the evacuation, I threw our helmets into a large bag, knocking my helmet mirror off in the process.  The mirror does not stay on this helmet very well, my last helmet was much better.  Anyway, it took more time than it should have to get it back on the visor.  This is what is should look like, please make a note of it.  It tends to defeat my spatial relations.

The insurance people were out in large numbers.  I took this on August 13.  Not sure when they got here, or how long they are staying.

Finally, there is this, a robot lawn mower.  It's like a roomba with blades.

That's about all I want to say.  47 is back to being a demented threat to the planet.   Everyday it just gets worse.  And yet, the republicans are just fine with it.  

A Ride in the Car

We had trash pickup today.  The city sent out a message that they would get to as many recently downgraded Level 3 areas as possible, but that it wouldn't be all of the houses.  We put the wheelie bin out with hope, and they did show up.  So, now we can stop fly tipping, which makes me feel like a villain.

This was the sunset last night.  Notice the number of contrails we can see.  There was also some blue in the sky.  This was an improvement from what we've been seeing.

Today we took a ride to see what we would see.  One thing we saw is that we can get to our primary grocery store.  That was good.

There is so much misery left by the fire.  This was a fire set by one sociopath.  One guy started the Old Trails fire.  This is up the hill on the bluff.  Spokane has many vinyl fences, they're cheaper than wood, and faster to put up.  They also melt when confronted by fire.  The hill side burned right up to the fence.

There are many staging areas for fire vehicles.

Fire retardant on the road and an apartment.  It's an amazing chemical, there is a hill side that was sprayed, you can see the burned grass stop exactly at the retardant line.

Here is the apartment that got covered.  Apparently it is very difficult to remove from structures.  Look at the signs, they're pink.

There were four duplexes on Indian Trail Road.  Now there is one.  The other three burned.

 

This is the road that vehicles used to take their boats down to the docks at Nine Mile Recreation Area.  It's closed at the moment.  There is a strong smell of camp fire in the woods.  According to the internet, Nine Mile recreation area was not damaged.  
 

This was a huge church, Riverside Real Life it was called.  It burned to the ground.  Happily the memory care facility next door was spared.
 

That's what we saw.  Sorry about photo quality, all were taken from a moving car, so they're not great.  I think my cell phone camera struggles with bright sunshine and trees.  

That's it.  That's all I have to say.