Well, if you’ve been around these parts for a while you’ve seen previous Dog Days posts. We’ve now made it through those hot days of July and August when the constellation Sirius rises alongside the sun and happens to coincide with what has come to be my least favorite time of year. The extended days in the triple digits, the thick wildfire smoke, lack of water in streams and lakes and general drying up of the countryside might have something to do with that disdain. This year has been all time worsts for a lot of those things in my experience. We can’t plan a trip without checking to see if the destination is on fire, if we can possibly breathe the air, or if there is going to be any water to float the boat on.
But through it all we’ve been getting out and about, enjoying a lake here and there, a backpack trip and a road trip. Getting out is better than feeling like a climate hostage stuck at home looking out the front window. We even tried out a couple new locations. One of those was Lake of the Woods. Sure the water was so hot and full of wake boarders that the fish were sluggish, but we still came away with dinner and a view.
We also made it over to the coast for our annual tuna run and escape from the heat. The bass weren’t really biting there either…but it was fun to try out a new lake, and whip up some seafood paella in camp.
Then it was a weekend of backpacking in the smoke. By mid August there really wasn’t anywhere to go to get out of it. But at least we seemed to beat the crowds up in the Sky Lakes.
To wrap up those dog days we headed on a road trip for some music. Oh, and a bit of food. Driving across eastern Oregon really exposed just how dry it is out there. Creeks are running, then hit the agriculture and are sucked dry. I’m not even sure perennial grasses even greened up this year. And reservoirs, forget about it. But the cows are still mucking around in flood irrigated meadows while the forests burn. September is less than a week away.
