In which the sky is fixed and then broken and now it's been fixed again

It's been such a long summer of air pollution, thanks to the 

smokey fires in British Columbia, but the rain fell last week 

and fixed it.  Then, out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

Then...

Ready and waiting for 92% coverage of the sun during the eclipse

The eclipse was super-cool, but of course the Dragon paid no attention.  Jim reported that the only animals who seemed to notice the change were the roosters who were (briefly) quiet.

Blue skies.  We're almost done with the season for these.

I'm just glad to have our sky back again.

The ferns are showing some stress from the dry weather

 We could definitely use more rain.

ferns that were cleared from the trail two weeks ago are disintegrating in the dry weather

The light drizzle last week cleared the air, but it barely reached the ground.

Shade, but no moisture.  Last year at this time we were already finding chanterelle mushrooms here.

There's still some moisture in the woods, and the loggers are charging ahead full-speed while they can.

Not the first time loggers have been here:
the upright cedar stump is easily 4 times the size of the fir trees on the ground.

If the woods are too dry, the timber companies shut down because of fire danger.  If the woods are too wet, machines get bogged down in mud and can't work.

It's a very small window, and the loggers work long hours while they can.

In theory, we're training for the LD at the Crazy Daze ride...

Elsewhere in the woods the trees are still upright.  I've been seeing lots of bear and deer sign, and a lot of very fat birds.  The berry harvest is full steam right now, and we all munch our ways forward.

...but really, the Dragon and I are happy to be out and trotting.

Winter is coming.  But today, the sky is blue.

And that's good.