We've been living with second-hand smoke for a week now and were amazed to wake up this morning with clear blue skies and a clear horizon. The Barry Point fire is about 20 miles away and is mostly contained. There's another fire at Drews Reservoir about 10 miles away that just flared up a few days ago. Both  have been blowing smoke like crazy but the winds kicked up yesterday and scoured out the valley.

Lakeview has a huge firecamp set up at the fairgrounds and there are signs on many of the roads indicating access roads to the fires as well as signs all over towns thanking all the fire fighters.

We've been camped at Junipers Reservoir RV Park 10 miles west of Lakeview, Oregon in the middle of an 8,000 acre cattle ranch for a week. I would have cropped the picture but don't know how to do that and feel fortunate to have found the gizmo which transfers pix to my laptop. I thought I'd left it at home. Just like the picture shows, we saw a bald eagle flying over yesterday when we went on a drive around the reservoir.

We left home last Wednesday and drove from Canby, over the Santiam thru Sisters and Bend. When we turned east just south of LaPine to head for Summer Lake Hot Springs we found ourselves following a couple of motorhomes and picked up another one behind us along the way. Ninety-two miles later when the milepost marker which marked the hot springs turnoff came up, we were amazed to see the blinkers on the two motorhomes ahead of us go on and sure enough the one behind us turned in too. We'd been in a convoy and didn't even realize it. Not only that, they too were headed to Junipers RV for a club campout!

We enjoyed soaking in the hot springs http://www.summerlakehotsprings.com and then moved to Lakeview and Junipers RV on Thursday. We made some new friends who included us in some of the activities of the Rim Rock Rovers MHC. We weren't able to join as members because we had a 5th wheel instead of a motorhome.but we sure enjoyed their friendship and hospitality.

 There's a pasture full of steers just beside our campsite.

 My husband is sure enjoying this view!

 The smoke on the hills is from the Drews Reservoir fire. We've been loving this big cattle country.

 This is the patriarch of the antelope herd - a huge buck who just was resting for my photo-op under a juniper tree.

When we first arrived a pair of doves was sitting on a picnic table. This one was posed on the campsite hookups next to us when we pulled up after a drive today.

This is a picture of the RV park. It's a mile off the highway. Check out the website: www.junipersrv.com/

I will write more when I have a better signal. We're heading towards Likely RV and Golf Resort in CA tomorrow and then on to Reno to visit with Michael on Saturday.

Timing is everything. A friend sent us this information and our conclusion is that Dick retired just in time!

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International airport as she attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator.

Attorney General Eric Holder said he believes she is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.

... He did not identify the woman, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

“Al-Gebra is a problem for us.” the Attorney General said. “They go off on tangents, use code names like "X" and "Y", and refer to themselves as "unknowns"; but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.”

As the Greek philosopher Isosceles used to say, “There are 3 sides to every triangle.”

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.”

Reporters could not recall a more profound statement by the President.
It is believed that another Nobel Prize will follow.