Today I opened up the envelope containing my insurance premium that arrived in the mail last week and is due in a few days. I was going to write a check and mail it in the envelope provided along with the payment stub. Well, there was no return envelope or payment stub, just a statement with instructions on how to pay online or by phone. I tried both with no success. Online it would not accept my credit card and by phone the automated voice wanted me to repeat everything until I got frustrated and hung up. In the end I wrote a check and mailed to my insurance agent with a note expressing my frustrations and asking them to figure it out.
A collection of stories from the life of Michael Burke. He worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, California, and Oregon. He lives in Oakland, OR. His wonderful wife, Celia, passed in May of 2021
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Thursday, June 29, 2023
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
FIRE SEASON 2023
The grass is starting to turn brown and my rainfall for May was only 0.84 of an inch when the average for May is 2.58 inches. The NWS reports a little over an inch of rain in Roseburg for May. That has to be a record low, while last May of 2022, I received 4.58 inches which must have been a record high. This all leads up to the beginning of fire season starting June 9th. Already there has been the smell of smoke at times either from the Canadian fires or a fire west of Eugene. There is even a small fire in the Layng Creek drainage on the Cottage Grove Ranger District, which was considered the asbestos forest when I worked there from 1988 to 1995. The last measurable rainfall I recorded was for May 11th and there is nothing in the seven day forecast. What will this fire season be like and can we survive until the Fall rains?