Still Staying Safe

It always cracks me up when TerraDactyl talks on the "phone".  Not only is it adorable to watch her hold random objects up to her head, but the way she talks...  it's just so sweet.  She gets more melodic, almost like she's singing.  And instead of using her almost words (she can kind of say "sit", "dog", "hi", "ma", "da", etc) she just sort of hoots at different pitches.  

Super comfy just chilling with her back bent in half.  TerraDactyl just hung out here for a few minutes, playing with her remote.  

The wildfires in Oregon are still burning.  Thankfully, there has been some more rain this week, hopefully it will help the firefighters get the blazes under control and/or put out.  The rain has definitely helped the air quality.  However, since so many hills no longer have trees to hold them together, the rain brings its own hazards like landslides and floods.  

Some of the larger fires are getting more contained.  The two big fires that are closest to Portland, Riverside (138,000 acres) and Beachie Creek (193,000 acres) fires are 31% and 46% contained, respectively.  However, the largest, Lionshead fire (204,000 acres) is still only at 15% contained.  The size of the fire combined with the difficult terrain and lack of reception has made fighting the fire even more difficult.  They actually had to install more radio towers so the fire fighters could communicate with each other.  

Even where the fires look like they're out, the roots of trees are burning underground, some of which are at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  Some of these underground blazes are just feet from unburned areas and could end up spreading again.  It's hazards like this that keep people from returning to their evacuated homes.  With over 1 million acres in Oregon burned, we don't want even more fatalities (we're already at 9 dead).  

We're doing what we can to stay safe.  Staying away from the fires, avoiding the worst of the hazardous air, and teaching TerraDactyl that when mommy says "sit on your bum" she means in the seat of the chair, not the arm of the chair.  She's probably going to be a great debater.  She's already got a great grasp on a logical argument and she can't even speak.  

Summary of the 10 largest fires in Oregon as of September 23, 2020, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.