Summer is an exciting time to live in the Okanagan Valley. It's hot. Very hot. And fire season is upon us.
With daytime highs reaching 39C last week, our daily routine has changed. No more walks with Coco after work as the roads are too hot to walk on. Once the sun sets, it cools off quite nicely.
On our new evening walks with Princess Coco, it had cooled down to about 27C, and it felt cooler. With the evening winds that we get in the foothills, the cooler temperature was such a change that my wife wore a hoodie out for the walk! How we quickly acclimate.
The heat has also brought wildfires. With all of the mountains nearby, this is a yearly challenge, but it takes some getting used to when you live close to the affected areas. A large 2800 hectare wildfire is burning southwest of us at Keremeos Creek. Currently, 300 properties have been forced to evacuate. We can see the smoke in the air, making last night's sunset seem very ominous. The fire's proximity has led to some challenging questions about bug-out bags and decisions on what we would take should we need to evacuate in a hurry. Things that one generally doesn't have to think about in the city!
On a positive note, one of our neighbours organized a big party on the weekend. A Hawaiian theme, with good people, good drinks, and great munchies. It was the first big party I've been to in years and was a fantastic way to get to know some of my neighbours a little better.
Besides the industrial-strength margaritas, the night's highlight was the hired fire-dancers. It was almost surreal to have a troop of talented artists dancing and swinging their various fire-breathing apparatuses around against the backdrop of my house. It was totally cool, though, and it got through before the rest of the local fire restrictions were enacted later this week.
No more sitting around our fire pit this summer, but given the smoke in the air, I'm not sure I'd want to. I'm still working on my bug-out kit!