Smokey Skies

It seems like a good share of eastern and central Washington is on fire. There are HUGE fires burning near Brewster and Pateros -- I understand that more than 100 houses have burned. The Washington Mennonite Churches have a camp located between Plain and Leavenworth. The last we heard they were on "prepare to evacuate" notice, but haven't heard anything further. The last time there was a big fire in that area, the Department of Natural Resources used the camp as a place for firemen to shower and eat...

The skies here between Spokane and Cheney have been overcast all day. When the wind is right, we get some whiffs of smoke, but it's not nearly as bad as it is in other parts of the state. It sure has made for some red skies and colorful sunsets.

Today I emptied and cleaned the first bank of drawers in the kitchen. These are the ones that have silverware and cooking utensils in the first two top ones and canned goods storage in the two bottom ones. They all have rubber mesh on the bottoms. I took the mesh out and washed it, then complained that it took too long to dry and was slowing me down. Forry suggested I hang each piece over the fan. Amazing how fast it dried then!

Above the drawers I was working on is the counter where our Kuerig coffee maker and the Foreman grill sit. Since I was cleaning in that area, Forry decided it was a good day to de-scale the coffee maker. Since you have to let the hot vinegar sit in the coffee maker for four hours, it's an all day process. I'm not sure it really needed it as our water is all filtered -- and the "de-scale" light has never come on...

This idea of just doing a chunk of thorough cleaning each day seems to be working. I don't have the energy to do it all at once, so it wasn't getting done. Giving myself permission to do it slowly may be the way for my perfectionist and procrastination personalities to get along...