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  • #194728
    Janet B
    Participant

    P.s. from the size some of the boars we see..looks like they are dining on trash. Fat as butterballs..people dont seem to understand these are apex predators..saw an idiot on a hike start walking up to a very hefty fellow..said bear was busy teeth popping trying to let the idiot know to back off. He was lucky not to end up like tim treadwell.

    #194725
    Janet B
    Participant

    Youve got the best dogs in the world for keeping bears away..used to have pyrs when i was 40 years younger..best dogs in the world
    To keep most bears in line.

    Bears we have around here seem to get the idea they own the town..nothing to see them walking down one of the streets up in the low hills

    Since we heard thecteeth popping/moaning..ive got nothing that i feel thy’d try for.

    I love bears..have studied and read on them for years..but i love them most when they stay where they and we are safe.

    Jan b

    #194633
    Janet B
    Participant

    Interesting John B….most of the bear biologists I’ve read or listened to, seem to feel that quite often black bears can be more dangerous than griz. Have seen a number of videos online, that show black bears, particularly males, actually stalking humans, with predatory behavior. Have a friend back in South Carolina…built a lovely home out in the hills…day after they moved in…black bear shows up on her front porch, checking the place out. I mentioned to her to make sure NOT to leave anything outside, from bird feeders, dog/cat food, that might attract the bear…she said she wasn’t worried about it, and it was, “so neat”, to watch the bear out the windows. So, she’s sitting by one of her windows one day…bear outside, pacing and looking at her…next thing she knows, the bloody bear is inside the house, and coming for her. Her husband shot the bear, inside
    the house…on necropsy, the bears gut and stomach were full of dog food and bird seed, so the bear wasn’t in hyperphagia, it was early June. She had never taken down her bird feeders, nor stopped feeding some of the local small animals dog food outside on the porch so they could, “watch the wildlife”. THEY had habituated the bear they had to shoot…basically, it WAS their fault. Most bear biologists consider habituated bears, whether black or grizzly to be, “dead bears”, as they are
    the ones that most often get into trouble with people. My friend has since taken down all the attractants…says she’s not so keen on bear watching anymore.

    We have some black bears here in the area…and they DO come down into residential areas. We live about 1/4 mi. away from a heavily forested ridge off of Mary’s Peak.
    Couple of weeks ago, my son heard a black bear outside, “groaning and popping it’s teeth”, thankfully, it kept going…but it’s sure put me on alert. I’ve mentioned it to the manager in the Senior’s park I live in…he tossed it off…worried as
    we have old folks here who like to go out in the evening and walk. Hope nothing bad happens.

    Six of one half a dozen of another…I don’t ever want to meet either at close hand, anytime, anywhere.

    Jan B

    #188331
    Janet B
    Participant

    Prayers for your friend, and for you being such a great friend. You have done so much for her, bless you.

    Jan B

    #175640
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Pam,

    Great news for you…don’t think our air quality is quite as good as yours. Wasn’t that a fantastic thunderstorm last night? We used to live in Wichita then Wellington, Ks…and do we miss those thunderstorms! Last night was a real treat, and we had more thunder today as well…not to mention a downpour, that left 4 inches of water right at the grocery store door! We like to sit out on the porch, and watch, what for Oregon is truly wild weather…like last night…lol

    Oregon, for those who may not know…is a, “one and done”, thunderstorm area…never have seen a thunderstorm like we had last night, and I’ve lived in Oregon for more than 20 years.

    Jan B

    #175585
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Pam! So terrifically glad that you and your clan are safe…been worrying about you all down south.

    We had a magnificent (for Corvallis), thunder/sheet lightning/rain tonight…boy did we need it! Don’t know how much of the ash it will clear, but it’s supposed to keep on raining thru the night, and even more tomorrow. Haze/smoke has been so bad you could not see the ridge that’s about 1/8 mile from us from the front porch. Wow! It’s still thundering…we usually get one roll of thunder and done…this has been some kind of record…going since 8 p.m., and continuing. As a former resident of south-central Kansas, the whole family has really missed the thunderstorms (minus tornados!), that we’d get there. Tho, wouldn’t trade Oregon for anywhere else.

    Our wildlife is taking a beating like yours. Think the birds are convinced by the darker days that it’s almost winter, and they are frantically trying to store food.

    Our air quality sucks here…can’t go out without a mask…and it’s hard to breathe. We’ve been at the, “hazardous”, level for several days now. When we started to get the lightning, it was frightening as you start to fear a strike in the forests around here. Thankfully, it’s been all sheet lightning, except for one or two streaks. Just had another big roll of thunder…feels like Wellington, Ks, all over again…lol

    Hope you continue to stay safe, and can stay home. First the fires, and now we’re hearing that if we get too much rain, we’ll have floods and mudslides…be nice if we could catch a break, no?

    Be well kiddo,

    Jan B

    #175319
    Janet B
    Participant

    Thanks Jo, it will be much appreciated by so many. Sure still hoping Pam and crew are all OK.

    Jan B

    #175283
    Janet B
    Participant

    Thanks Steven,

    I am so worried about Pam and her crew…hope she’s safe, and that their home will remain unaffected.

    It really is horrible…over a million acres thus far, and that’s from the totals of yesterday…so undoubtedly it’s higher yet.

    All we can do is pray for rain, and no wind…a nice, gentle, slow rain…I’ve got every crossable crossed…

    Jan B

    #175282
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Jo and Debbie,

    Thank you so much for thinking of us….I’ve donated to Red Cross, and figure it’s
    probably the best place, altho if possible, make sure you indicate it’s for the fires…whether that be California or Oregon…sometimes you can indicate a preference and other times not.

    If you wanted to be really dedicated about making a donation to a specific area, or for a specific fire, you might try going to KATU news and checking out their donations page…or perhaps if you really want to do some work, look up a few counties here in Oregon…Clackamas, Linn, Lane, etc., I believe all of the affected counties have donation recommendations on their county government websites.

    Thanks again for your intended kindness…it’s so awful right now…and this isn’t/hasn’t been the worst of it…right now, looking out from my front deck, I can’t even see a ridge, that’s almost across the street from me for all the smoke. Usually I can see the Cascades from my kitchen window…now I can’t even see a mile that way.

    I am praying every day for Pam and her crew, and all those who’ve had to evac…thus far, we’ve been very, very fortunate…no fires anywhere near…and no even precautionary evac orders being considered for here. I’m going to start tomorrow off by making a video on my phone of damned near anything I own…just in case.

    We are supposed to get rain Monday and Tuesday…please God, that rain won’t be accompanied by any kind of winds, nor lightning. Of course, as usual, after the fires, will come winter rains, which will create mudslides, etc. Double and triple whammies.

    Thanks again,

    Jan B

    #175170
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Pam,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond. Hope you are all safe, and don’t have to up and head to the desert. Amazing how much has burned. We are still safe here…no fires nearer than about Sweet Home area. Husband had a hell of a time getting back to the DIB yard…up one highway, only to get turned around…no way to cross over…an unholy mess.

    I am keeping abreast of things…changing from Weather Channel over to KATU news out of Portland…tho their coverage is more spotty down this way.

    I sure hope the state gets alot of gentle rain and no lightning this coming week, which they are forecasting…and heard tonight that they’ve withdrawn a group of firefighters from the one they were working, as there are fears that that one and another will link up.

    Praying that we don’t get anything close, as there’s not really anywhere to run, at this point. My eldest daughter called from Spokane to check on us, and offer her home for her two sisters, one brother and Ev and I. Had to bring my youngest daughters cat back from her apartment in Dallas…air quality was in the dangerous stage, and going to worse overnight…had to work at it, but finally persuaded her to come and stay with us. She works in Salem and says they’ve got ash all over the interior of the 7 store building she works in…top floor. She’s gotten some horrific pics of the sky around the area.

    All this and tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11…may God rest all those souls lost. We’re hearing up here that there’s no more room most places for folks, and most of the livestock in the area will have to be left behind, as there is no room for them, it seems, anywhere.

    Go backs packed, now all I can do is hope and pray we don’t have to use them.

    Stay safe kiddo!

    Jan B

    #175128
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hi Knobby,

    We got ash all over everything…suppose I’ll lose my heavy producing tomato plants
    to it…dang!

    Smoke is now right down at ground level…ugly yellow-orange in color. Looks lots worse up in Salem, where it’s a icky orange/brown.

    Thankfully the humidity stayed a little higher than predicted…which had been 5%, but
    it’s gotten up to 15 or 16% this afternoon.

    What this state wouldn’t give for a long, gentle rain…sans lightning of course.

    Nearest fire now seems to be about 30 miles east of us here…so many evac orders and you have to wonder where the folks will go to stay as safe as possible. Not
    a whole lot of choices.

    As Pam mentioned on another thread about the fires, Eugene may be next…sure
    hope not as the hubby has to drive I-5 tonight, after figuring out how to get around the closures just north or the Oregon border.

    Prayers coming for all those forced to flee, that they can return home soon and find that all is well.

    Jan B

    #175126
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Pam,

    May I ask where they’ve told you to evac to? Sitting here in Corvallis and watching it seem to move closer and closer, I figure we don’t have much choice except to evac west if it comes to it. Nearest fire I believe is above Sweet Home. Smoke/ashes everywhere, still doing their best imitation of a Martian afternoon sky.

    Hwy 5, at least north bound around Ashland I think it wash, is closed because of
    the fires.

    Be safe, and take care…sounds like you’ve got good plans made. Keep in touch and let us know, if you can, how and where you folks wind up.

    Hugs,

    Jan

    #175103
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey all,

    Our local group seems to have hied it…tho couldn’t guess where they’d go to…as many have pointed out, perhaps caves? I’d think the heavy smoke here in Oregon would give them some difficulties. I suppose they’d have to head west and over the Coast Range…but that’s as likely to catch fire as any other way. Hope we don’t get an evac order, as I can only see one way they’d tell us to go…over the Coast Range to Newport, and the choices are two very windey roads running right thru the heavily forested Coast range. The sunrises yesterday and today looked for all the world like some si-fi movie…”Morning on Mars”….sky as orange as could be…very freaky and frightening.

    Jan B

    #175101
    Janet B
    Participant

    Hey Pam,

    Glad you are staying safe and ready to book it. In Corvallis, yesterday morning, it looked like a Hollywood version of, “Morning on Mars”, and it’s no better today.
    We have 1/4″ of ash on everything.

    My daughter works in Salem, and sent me some absolutely lurid photos from the 7th floor of her downtown office building. Thus far, we’ve no evac orders…but with today’s heat and ultra low humidity, the fires are only going to get worse, I think.

    Hubby is a trucker, and I-5 north and south are/were closed just north of the California state line. They had to take a huge detour off of 101 in Cali yesterday, when 37 miles of it were closed due to fires.

    I’m beginning to wonder who we pissed off? Our local bunch of big people may have upped and migrated elsewhere as all has been very, very quiet the last few days…which isn’t such a bad thing, as they were getting rather rumbustious over the course of the last couple of weeks.

    Hope you don’t have to do a full on evac, but glad you are prepared. Stay safe!

    Jan B

    #173652
    Janet B
    Participant

    Denise,

    p.s. Interesting that you mention a high school in an active area. This ridge where they seem to hang, is about 1/4 mile away from a high school…and while this year nothing is going on there…maybe they’re waiting around hoping for the cheerleaders to turn up again…and they’re going to have to wait.

    When we lived about 20 miles east of here, there was a speedway in town as well, kinda on the outskirts…and you’d hear people talking about seeing strange things out there…it was located on the edge of town, with farms all around…hmmmmm?

    Jan

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 352 total)