Friday August 21 was the smokiest since 1980 Mt St Helens eruption

Smoke from fires in Washington State



Friday August 21 was the smokiest since 1980 Mt St Helens eruption according to The Spokesman Review in the August 22, 2015 article.
Using the specks from the Airnow.gov website.  Little relief is expected in the foreseeable future.

The forecast calls for continued unhealthy air today and Sunday.   

Loop for Saturday August 22,2015 USA Click on the AQI Loop tab for this loop

from current readings at Current airnow.gov

We are using those blue paper masks when we go out. I will see how that goes for me.  Thankfully it is not as bad as it was Friday! 

Praying for all who have lost so much including the families whose members have perished.

Crafts from FaceBook and Jaquo that I like this month - August 2015

Crafts, Fun and Music - from FaceBook and my Fellow writers at Jaquo that I like this month!

Each Month I am going to add links to some of my favorite blogs, stories, and crafts that I find on FaceBook, and the internet. I am featuring my fellow writers from The Writer's Door and Jacquo as well.

From: Link:
Confessions Of Crafty Witches

CD Mandalas: These look like an easy project for all ages, from child to experienced. 

I can't wait to make some of these for gifts!
Transform old or blank CDs into beautiful Mandalas
to hang into windows or from trees , Great kid craft project

Video Tutorial-->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U50Am87344E
Did you see how her cat was in the video??? Cute!

Text tutorial-->

http://www.newmexicoarttherapy.com/nmata-blog/a-cd-mandala-adventure

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From Sharon Shelly at Facebook

Spray canning lids orange, tie together, insert some cinnamon sticks and instant pumpkin 

decoration that smells good, too!

Instructions for Canning Lid Pumpkin

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 Link to Story 

about Merry's Spinach cookbook.

 Book at Amazon The Spinach Collection: Easy Healthy Versatile      Delicious Kindle Edition   ASIN: B013MIF7VI  by Merry Citarella 

Merry Citarella [click on her name for her website] has written a great Spinach Cookbook. .

This cookbook is available at Amazon.com.  I downloaded this cookbook and it has soe great recipes in it.  

Merry has stories at Jaquo.com and this is her link below.

http://jaquo.com/tag/merry-citarella/

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How about these darling Spider Cupcakes 

by Cheryl Mikesell  Jaquo Writer Cheryl has these great stories with her favorite Country and Western Music at http://jaquo.com/tag/cheryl-mikesell/

So easy and cute for your Munchkins or anyone!

Full Instructions here for Spider Cupcakes

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Nancy's Pumpkin Pinwheel Cookies Recipe

Don't these look yummy??  Nancy is a prolific writer and blogger: Here is a link to many of her stories at Jaquo:  Nancy Hardin

Full recipe from Nancy here:  Pumpkin Pinwheel Cookies Recipe

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There are so many great writers and bloggers at Jaquo.com here is the link to all of them: 

Jaquo Magazine Writers

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Ruth Cox has a great blog about her dog Tidbit and her new dog Valentino.

Tidbit's blog www.dogpawsitivetidbits.com

Ruth Cox's dog Valentino

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From  Corrnina in Canada:

 http://glitternspice.com/

We find this great recipe for "Ice Cream" made from just Bananas and Coconut milk, added M&M's to look like Despicable Me Minions!

Full instructions and recipie at:

 glitternspice.com/minion-ice-cream/

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Marsha Cooper has a great blog with a plethora of Craft ideas that she has been working on and has made

http://marshasspot.blogspot.com/2015/08/frugal-friday-with-marsha-my-entries-to.html

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Richard from the UK has everything you wanted to know and more about Music Facts and ongoing commentary about the songs that have peaked at Number 2 on the UK music chart since 1960...

Here is the link to his website:http://forevernumber2.blogspot.co.uk/

Another Blog Seventied Music with videos and music you can hear that Richard has is here: http://www.seventies-music-archives.com/
He has another blog, too: http://flashbackexpress.blogspot.co.uk/

My favorite from Harry Nilsson: "It was all change at the summit of the UK music chart this week in March 1972, as Harry Nilsson's debut British Top 20 hit, "Without You", climbed two places to Number 1"

Link to the Video of Harry Nilsson song "Without You"

Washington State fires - Smoke and Dust Aug 21, 2015

Loss of Firefighters, Smoke and Dust in Washington State

From the blog that reports smoke from fires in Washington State:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015

Smoke forecast through Monday 24 August

We are deeply saddened by the loss of local firefighters, homes, property and 
wild spaces in our region. Stay safe and look out for each other.

Link: Firefighters killed near Twisp: ‘three big heroes protecting small towns’

Three firefighters who died in a firestorm near Twisp Wednesday:
 Richard Wheeler, Tom Zbyszewski, and Andrew Zajac. 
(Photos courtesy of the families)

Air quality has improved across much of eastern Washington in the last 
12 hours as the dry cold front pushed through, increasing the intensity of 
northwest winds. Most areas are reporting Good air quality now. 
But alas, reports of rapid fire growth are steadily streaming in. 
The Red Flag Warning remains in place until at least 11:00 pm PDT 
with high wind gusts in many areas (up to 50 mph in the Okanogan Valley). 
There is also a strong possibility of windblown dust in the Columbia Basin today.

Things calm down on Saturday morning and surface winds turn east to 
northeast in much of the state (north winds in the Okanogan and 
Columbia River Valleys) through about Sunday afternoon. 
The smoke we exported to Idaho and Montana will return to us along with 
smoke from Idahoan fires. Smoke is very likely to make its way into 
Western Washington as well. However plumes that are able to get 
high enough will likely get caught in westerly flow aloft and keep
 heading eastbound.

Keep a close eye on the monitors and local forecasts as expected levels 
of pollution will depend on today’s fire growth. Expect pollution to begin to
 build regionally over the weekend. Valley winds will be mostly terrain driven,
 so expect poor air quality at night. Overnight temperature inversions are
 likely to be strong, so smoke wont clear out all that quickly after sunrise. 

Areas close to fires and the far eastern parts of the state are likely to 
see air quality varying from Moderate to Hazardous.

Columbia Basin and Cascade Foothills communities, including communities 
close to the Columbia River Gorge will likely see air quality varying from
 Good to Unhealthy. 

Western Washington including the Puget Sound region is likely to see periods of Moderate or USG air.

National Weather Service has also issued Air Quality Alerts for much
 of eastern Washington due to wildfire smoke, through noon on Monday. 

Washington Fire Season 2015 - Evac in remote town of Conconully

August 19, 2015 -  Conconully Evacuation Notice

The remote town of  Conconully has been given notice to be evacuated.  Fires threaten this small town in North-Eastern Washington in Okanogan County, Washington.  



‪#‎OkanoganCountyFires‬ An immediate evacuation has been issued for the town of Conconully and surrounding area for a advancing fire. The fire is coming off Funk Mountain and Sugarloaf area moving south towards the town of Conconully. Persons need to be aware of their surroundings and evacuate immediately. Law enforcement and fire crew are in the area to assist leaving the area on Conconully highway. Do not wait for door to door notification, leave immediately. Listen to local radio stations for up dates.

Photo interactive map link: 

https://www.facebook.com/Okanogan.County.Emergency.Management?fref=nf

Smoke from the #Wolverinefire continues to cause Unhealthy Alert for Eastern Washington 

The unhealthy alert is still in affect for my area of Spokane.  
I want to go out, but it would be very difficult for me.  We pray for rain for relief for all those affected in all the fires in the Western USA. 

#SmokeWolverineFire 

See what the Wolverine Fire up Lake Chelan put out in smoke this morning August 1, 2015 from a Satellite view. Received from US National Weather Service Spokane.

More information is available concerning air quality at the following websites:

Ecology: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/Default.ltr.aspx
http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/
This image is as of 8am Aug 19,2015 today and shows the concentration of smoke and how it is drifting.

Image August 17, 2015

Smoky Air - Unhealthy Alert for my area

Unhealthy Alert for my area - Smoky Air from fires

Since I have moved to the Spokane area of Washington state the middle of July we have had many days with unhealthy air.   We are all praying for the safety of the firefighters and volunteers to battle these blazes.  Alerts we can see from this link: 

http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/p/state.html

Photo of the area of fires in the Pacific North West

 The red dots mean unhealthy air from the fires.  In Spokane where I now live it has been unhealthy for at least a week.  I wanted to go out shopping Friday, but it was too smokey.  I have COPD so this is a warning I cannot ignore.

My daughter says that the Spokane area is like a bowl and the smoke collects in this bowl from the funnel created by the surrounding hills and low mountains.

We are all praying for rain to help with these fires.  If you go to that link you can zoom in on the map areas and there are other links there that will show you a recent satellite map from space of the smoke.

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/fire_info.aspx#WA-NES-001115
The link above is for the Incident Information -- Northwest Large Fire Information Summary.
General Info Rutter Canyon 
Incident Name Rutter Canyon (WA)
Incident Number WA-NES-001115
Location 2 miles north of Spokane
Acres 155
Start Date 2015-08-11
Cause Under Investigation
Percent Contained 70
Estimated Containment Date 0000-00-00
Residences Threatened
One of the largest fires that has been going since June 29 is the Wenatchee fire:

General Info Wolverine 
Incident Name Wolverine (WA)
Incident Number WA-OWF-000287
Location 3 miles NW of Lucerne, WA
Acres 39,989
Start Date 2015-06-29
Cause Lightning
Percent Contained 30
Estimated Containment Date 0000-00-00
Residences Threatened 150 single residences; 1 destroyed
Other Structure Threatened 80 Mixed Commercial/Residential; 12 non-residential commercial properties; 60 minor structures
Fuel/Terrain Timber, brush
Lead Agency USDA Forest Service

There is a fire very close to us called the Rutter Canyon fire. Although it is not a large fire it is causing the smoke for us locally in Spokane.