Rubus Leucodermis

Hard to get more into projecting weakness than to control the House and have your speaker get threatened with removal for standing up to an international bully.

Because just sitting around and letting a dictator gobble up various European countries worked just SO well to prevent war in the 1940’s. Let’s try that again!

The bog-laurel is just starting to bloom in Camosun Bog today.

I’m in the dark burgundy area! Bring it on! Was hiking today and some of the lowland forests are way drier than they ought to be this time of year.

Pacific dogwood, BC’s provincial flower! Nice to see one that is so large and healthy (there is an introduced disease attacking them).

Well, that sure didn’t take long. https://www.quesnelobserver.com/local-sports/wildfire-between-williams-lake-quesnel-prompts-full-response-7347822

Rain is wrapping up with an impressive double rainbow.

0.14" here so far. Will probably eke out a few more hundredths before it ends. Sky to the west is already looking brighter. 48.4˚F.

48.6˚F.

Go give your Putin doll another hug and have a nice cry about it.

Moderate rain. 50.0˚F.

Normally not into stickering my vehicle, but think I just found one I’m going to have to affix to the rear window. https://sierrahotel.net/collections/chemtrail-dept/products/chemtrail-operations-flight-crew

Did make it up to 71.4˚F before the clouds thickened and the wind started shifting, so there’s that. Now down to 65.3˚F and the sprinkles are just beginning.

I would be checking the barometer. Just too many experiences as a kid in the Rockies of a warm spring day followed by plummeting temperatures not to get suspicious of a warm day this early in the season. Especially warmth with increasing clouds like I am seeing today.

I dunno about having no idea absent the modern forecast models. Barometric pressure has been falling all day. Usually a pretty good hint something is coming.

69.6˚F with some bands of altocumulus.

Pretty obvious who decoupled last night and who didn’t!

Temperature really spiking this morning. Already up to 61˚F after a morning low of 38.

It has been astoundingly dry the last few days.

The PNW has fall color, and is not a total dud in this respect (see for example coastal California). But it also definitely falls short of the best regions for fall color. In my book, New England is No. 2 on the fall color list. NE Utah (and SE Idaho) is No. 1. I went to college there, and even exchange students from New England had to admit the fall colors were phenomenal there. The mountains are dominated by a mix of maples, aspens, and firs, so you have the reds and oranges New England is famous for, the clear yellows the Colorado is famous for, all contrasting with the sombre dark green of the firs. The pity is that it’s a strongly continental climate, and the first winter storms come early and hard. The beauty typically lasts for perhaps a week or two before an arctic blast strips everything bare. That may cause some to rate New England higher, just because their color season is longer, but for the time it is at its peak, it is hard to beat the mountains of NE Utah and SE Idaho.

I am sure that China, being a highly authoritarian state, does not respect its citizens’ freedom of travel. But I am not sure it is super-duper hard for a Chinese to leave China (just that there are more restrictions on doing so than in a free country). Go to a world-famous national park like Yellowstone and you will see plenty of Chinese tourists.

September used to be my favorite month, prior to about 15 years ago. Now it is one of my least favorite.

Patchy frost and 33.9˚F.

No surprise. Mt. Si is 4,167 feet high. Permanent snow and ice does not generally start in the Washington Cascades until a peak is well over the 6,000 foot mark.