Smoke in the valley

Smoke across the valley

It seems like every summer I remember the heat, but somehow forget the smoke. We had a break from it last summer. In fact, 2019 was a mild summer, and we had relatively few fires or smoke from other states' fires. In hindsight, maybe it was setting us up for 2020. The lull before the storm. 

Smoky sunrise in Denver

As usual, I walked Jasper early this morning. Not quite as early as usual, since the morning was cool-ish and the morning was not as bright as usual, so we slept later. Of course when we opened up, we saw that the darkness was not clouds but smoke. A lot of it. I was sorry I didn't take my camera with me when on our walk. The sun was a distinct orange-red ball in the sky. This image taken in Denver gives a close approximation of what we saw. .  .

Even now, a couple of hours later, my eyes are burning, and my throat feels scratchy.  We are lucky in Idaho, so far, in that we haven't had a lot of fires. The smoke is blowing in from Oregon and California. California is once again dealing with an incredible number of fires. What a mess we are making of this planet.

But! Good things can happen indoors today. We close the house against the smoke, and pay attention to work: clay in this case. I realized this morning that I had forgotten a crucial practical element on the birdhouse. While I put plenty of ventilation holes under the eaves, I forgot to put them in the floor, so there will be a flow of air up the lower holes and through the nest. . carrying not only heat, but any of their aromas up and out to keep the air fresh for babies! 

My patient slow drying of this piece is paying off, because I could still remove the house from the base and cut some holes! Yay. A maker-error avoided. Not that there won't be more!

Base of small-bird house

 Here's the base after the holes were cut. I stated with a couple of heart shaped holes (with tiny cookie cutters), but was afraid they might be too big. I don't want any baby birds falling through. Probably not a real worry, since the piece will still shrink 13% before all is said and done. I went with a fairly large straw instead to cut the holes, and put in four around the base as well. These will be used to screw the whole thing to a painted plywood base that I can securely attach to the 4x4 post in the yard.

 

House reset on base (sorry for the bad image)

Honestly, I'm pretty excited about this little project. There is always the possibility for disappointment, but I'm feeling oddly hopeful today. It may have been the Democratic convention. Some cause for hopeful change, though also cause for more disappointment if things don't go well. I will suspend worry on that one for now. . .