Can’t sleep; wide awake for a couple of hours. I’m impressed/concerned by the “silence.” No night sounds whatsoever; no traffic on the highway. That is unusual. I turned on the TV and (at this hour) regular NBC programming (and nothing I wanted to watch). ~~~~ Wait…, listen: It started raining at 4:10.

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My little rain gauge has documented approximately fifteen inches of rain since Saturday, August 26, one PM. An unscientific weather report.  🙂

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Postscript 9:00 AM ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Telephoto pictures from entry steps because I didn’t want to go out in the rain. That was (is) my second Garden Tower. Several residents wanted to set it up in the CARE garden–and grow some fresh veggies. Our Facility Director vetoed the project. LORRAINE is guilty (repeat: LORRAINE is guilty) of not moving the original cardboard box full of “rings” to a dry (drier?) location.

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Postscript 9:50 AM ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FYI: If you are watching Harvey aftermath television coverage, you see sunshine and no rain. However, I’ve had steady rain since 4:10 and no hint of sunshine. Wind, too, but not strong enough to worry. No confirmation but I speculate we are on the “backside” of Harvey moving into Louisiana. ~~ OK, OK, confirmation at 9:40: Senator Ted Cruz talking about Beaumont being hit by the tropical storm. At 9:44, Houston TV meteorologist said “Beaumont is taking a beating.”

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Postscript 10:50 AM ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How many residents at CARE and/or Rainbow’s End RV Park considered that Lake Livingston might “flood” the surrounding areas?? Honestly, it never occurred to me!! I’m just deep in thought, and steeped in TV disaster news. NO news of flooding in our area; only one brief statement by TV meteorologist regarding “Trinity River is flooding at Goodrich.” ~~ Correction (10:45): Now the meteorologist’ (plural) are talking about Lake Livingston (a man-made lake) and Trinity River flowing south to Houston.

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Postscript 3:00 PM ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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All this water!! All this media coverage. However, an email message arrived from a follower and his subject line “Water? What Water?” Portions of the message follow:

There are nine fires visible from Bend. Actually, if it weren’t so smoky nine fires visible. Not a cloud in the sky for ten days, but you wouldn’t know it because we haven’t seen the sky in ten days. Well into our fourth straight week of 95+ degree heat with the only relief in sight the inevitability of winter, and no precipitation since early May. Three fires on Newberry yesterday afternoon started from the exhaust of an idling vehicle in dry grasses, two more spotted off of that, one at that timeshare RV park at Vandervert Rd, and a fire south of LaPine has closed the highway. A cigarette butt…  fire…  yesterday morning blew up so fast it closed all three of the Santiam passes by mid-afternoon. Big one going up in the Alpine wilderness and there’s another just north of that in the Jefferson wilderness, both of which are threatening the pass to Portland. The town of Sisters has been evacuated. Everything about this place has an other-worldly feel to it.

(Lorraine) The following sentence is alarming: “It could burn from Mt Shasta to Southern Alaska.” (Lorraine) Mount Shasta is Northern California so the implication is three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) and British Columbia, Canada, are burning.

(Lorraine) His closing sentence: “The sooner summer is over the better.” He read my clip art.

Lorraine here with a question: Have I been Rip Van Winkle? Have I been asleep for twenty years? I haven’t seen TV coverage about those severe fires in Oregon. Why, oh why, too much water here and too little there?