It's Still Summer

The kids (and Dana) go back to school so early here that it's easy to think that summer is over, especially as the hot weather of last week has moderated a bit and the mornings are overcast and cooler. They don't put the boats away until Labor Day, which has always been the official end of summer.

It has been weeks since I've been to Spring Lake since Ozzie won't get in the car anymore, so I decided this morning that it was high time I took myself there without him. There is much weed whacking and tree trimming going on, and I noticed that the weed whackers were wearing tactical helmets with face guards and respirators. To say that there was an army of them would not be missing the mark by much. those must be nasty weeds....

However, all the mowing and blowing and trimming and felling have paid off so far...the newspaper reports that fires in California are down by 90% this summer due in part to the fact that we had a much wetter winter with a heavy snowpack so things are not so dry. I have also noticed increased vigilance in terms of response times and helicopter surveillance. Not time to let our guard down yet, but at least we can take a deep breath.

Good news from our friends whose house burned down. Their new house will be finished next week, and they have scheduled the movers for September 10th. I'm already planning a celebration!

OilMan has spent the day trying to wrangle his normal prescription out of the pharmacy and the medical system. He forgot his pills on a trip to LA in June and had the prescription transferred to a pharmacy down there. Now he can't get it back for love nor money. The doctor won't give him a new prescription and the pharmacy won't give him the medication without it. I suspect the insurance company is causing problems behind the scenes....