Dr. Arthurs gives the thumbs up. |
Peggy, Jeri and Katie: three generations, enjoying the Scenic Marathon. |
Mike and Sheryl Self |
Girl Scout volunteers, along with Swiss Miss. |
Willie proudly wears his race hat after completing a 10K, and Mom inadvertently snaps a "selfie in the sunglasses." |
Well, they say this is the first day of fall. If so, it’s a beautiful ushering in of the
new season. We’ve had a nice dose of lovely weather throughout this year, and,
if past years are any indication, some of the best is yet to come.
Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year----until
late October, that is. When it lives up
to its name and all those leaves have done just that---fall---then, it’s not so
delightful.
We have the grand and glorious show of leaf and needle color ahead, so I won’t even think
about empty tree limbs today.
Speaking of which, some trees are burning up in the Grouse
Creek area in the “Wiley” fire.
Bill and
I turned into a couple of smoke chasers last night after being aware of the fire
for the past day or so. Since Grouse Creek is a favorite to both of us, we felt
the need to get up there and see where the fire was actually burning.
Turns out it’s in an area where we hiked on an autumn day two years ago: Wiley Knob.
We learned the specifics after watching the helicopter drops and meeting
up with Kelly Tucker and “Fergie” along the Sand Ridge Road. They’re Forest Service employees,
specializing in fires, and they were monitoring the situation as the water
drops occurred.
Kelly told us a crew will probably go in today and dig a
fire line in some pretty densely forested areas. We’ve been pretty lucky around here the past
year or so with fires, and it’s kinda surprising to see this one so far into
September.
It was good to see Kelly----again a former student. She worked as photo editor for the Cedar Post
her senior year at SHS.
Before our smoke chasing sojourn, our day yesterday involved lots of good and fun
memories, including a Seahawks victory.
I spent the morning with
Debbie and her gang of Girl Scouts and volunteers at the north water station
for yesterday’s Scenic Half Marathon.
Though I didn’t know most of the runners, a few former students came
through, and, in all cases, it was great to see them.
Among them were Self family members, including three
generations in one case with Peggy, Jeri and Katie. I knew they were coming after seeing Jeri’s
brother Mike and his wife at the stop.
We also enjoyed some fun at the end of our stint when
Willie, who had run in the 10K and finished first in his age group, came and
joined us. After Debbie, Swiss Miss and
I submitted to a mutual lukewarm water challenge, we decided Willie needed the
same.
So, some more glasses of water doused heads rather than going into thirsty mouths.
Yesterday's Scenic Half Marathon, I’m told included three runners (Willie, brother Mike and niece Laura) and about eight family members volunteering among the in-laws and outlaws of our extended
family.
It was a great and inspiring fun, and I’m
game for volunteering again next year.
Now, it's time to embrace this first day of autumn. Happy Monday.
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