‘Augusty’ Weather Ahead

Yes it is the first day of August a month that typically starts off warm or hot and gradually fades into warm with crisp and slightly cooler nights at the close. This is really the last month of summer round these parts. oh sure September can bring the heat from time to time, but generally this is the finales of the best summer weather on the planet… well close to it anyway 😉

There is lots to do in the month of August in and around Esther Short Park, on the Waterfront, or take an away trip to mountains or coast when the thermometer gets too high. Don’t squander the month of August because September brings about a certain nippy-ness to the evenings as the herald of a cool Autumn to come.

On another topic. I had to have my old fir tree taken down last month. That tree was a good 4 feet wide at the base and rose about a 100 feet in the air. It had been taller early in its life but had been topped by wind or lightning or something in its distant past. The tree was a bit dangerous and every time a big snow or ice storm came along the tree would drop a monster branch of 200-300 lbs to the ground. During the epic heat wave in June, the tree took a different kind of damage and some large branches snapped and fell to the ground. This tree had become, a killer tree, and I wasn’t going to wait for it to take its first victim either me, my wife, guests, or the house itself. So down it came.

Tree ‘climber’ up about a hundred feet or so sectioning the tree down

The tree service company needed almost three days to remove it, a long a tedious process when in a neighborhood. It was rather interesting to watch the process. In the aftermath we feel safer in the house, but we miss the old girl standing tall and proud over my yard. Now we have to transplant some of our shade plants that no longer have their shade, and the yard is a bit of a mess.

I write about this because many homes in Vancouver and around this area may feature a large Fir tree. It is a good idea to have the tree checked every few years to make certain it is healthy.I have lived in this house for 19 years and had the tree checked regularly. If one of these monster trees falls on your house, the house will lose the battle and anyone inside may lose their life. Be mindful of our towering forest friends. Sometimes they have to come down on purpose to avoid coming down on accident.

Ah the ‘Couv’ life; it is good.

The Joy of Mid-Summer

These are the days we live for. A seemingly endless string of mid 70s to mid 80’s with and occasional hot day in the 90s. It just goes on. The streets, parks, and river are teaming with activity and nearly everyone is having a a great time.

Although the weather guys think some hotter weather is going to arrive by this weekend, it will still be sunny and bearable with low 90s the current prediction for America’s Vancouver. It’s important to get out and soak up all the great things in Vancouver like the Farmer’s Market, Waterfront, Most activities are back after the long hiatus of COVID-19 although Concerts in the Park and Noon-Rythyms will not return until 2022.

There are several new restaurants opening this summer and some already have begun serving. Be sure to check them out and help the beleaguered industry out. We all love having great restaurants and the robust development and high demand for Vancouver USA are brining in some heavy hitters on the food scene.

Cape Disappointment State Park
North Lighthouse

For those that like a cooler summer experience one can always make a 90 to 120 minute drive to the coast and bask in temperatures typically 10-20 degrees cooler. I did just such a thing over the weekend when I visited my sister that lives on the Long Beach Peninsula.

If living in the best city in the metro area isn’t enough, if you need something of a mini road trip, OK, we got you covered. Go west to coast or go east to the Gorge or mountains!

Ah the ‘Couv’ life; it is good.

It’s Time the Feds Stop Paying Workers to Not Work!

It seems that every Taco Bell Restaurant in Vancouver has a sign out front offering $15.25-$17.25 to work there. Minimum wage in Washington State is currently $13.69. Fast food restaurants have long been minimum wage jobs, yet here is Taco Bell offering 15-20% MORE just to lure workers into working. But Taco Bell apparently can’t find people to work for $30,000 a year. This is happening all over the local economy not just the fast food chains. Local coffee houses, breweries, restaurants, and shops can’t get enough people to fill the jobs to provide their services.

The program the headline above references is the bonus federal subsidy to unemployment insurance that was a fair thing to do when the pandemic broke out and businesses were forced to close. But that was 16 months ago and most of the USA is fully open or nearly fully open. It is time to cut the cord, and get the couch riders back to work.

Even with our local high rents, these fast food wages allow one to rent the median priced one bedroom apartment and maybe even a small house with a room-mate or two. Small businesses in Clark County are trying to crawl out from under the mess created by the pandemic and now they can’t get people to return to work. This has been a massive failure on the part of the Federal and State level government. They have been awful.

But until unemployment benefits return to normal people making surplus cash to sit on the couch will continue to do so further exasperating the local and regional economy perhaps even slowing the national economy. This is not just limited to low income jobs, there is a massive shortage of middle income workers. Electricians, Plumbers, Framers, Ironworkers, and more are all in HUGE demand. These are $50-$80k annual income jobs with no college required. They will often pay you to learn in these fields.

Locally our economy is strong and the future will be bright if we can get people back to work. The IDIOTS in Washington DC need to stop giving away money when 9.3 MILLION jobs are available and unfilled. That is an all time record by the way.

Ah the ‘Couv’ life; it is good; there are plenty of good jobs.