Happy to say, the first annual reunion of the Tatro boys (Chris, Kevin and Scott) was a huge success. Much golf was enjoyed by all. Only one club (Chris’ Taylor-Made driver) sustained lasting injuries (accidental) when it fell out of the bag that fell off the golf cart that Scott was driving. We have enthroned the head on our sacred mantle. The image will make a wonderfully appropriate SendOutCard to commemorate this family event. It’s no trouble. The Great Printer in Salt Lake City does all the work. For more information about SendOutCards, just click for Chris. I’d rather go back to blogging about the reunion.

The only thing that was sorely missing was an environmentally friendly atmosphere—or,in other words, clean air to breathe. Who would have thought that Los Angeles or New York would have been a better destination for breathing purposes than our beloved Mount Shasta? But it was and I was mortified.

Yesterday, the air was finally cleaner, relatively speaking. Before the brothers hopped on their respective planes, they got to see some pseudo-clear daytime views.

Sad to say, though, today we woke up with puffy smoke-eyes. Gray crud was hugging the ground, leaving the sky directly overhead an off-blue. Maybe this is one of those Beijing blue sky days.

Forget Beijing! How are those California wildfires doing? I smell burning trees and plants in my own backyard. There are disturbing reports about the contents of this smoke—how it’s carrying toxins from burning poison oak and sumac.

Now here’s something everyone agrees on: Never burn poison oak or sumac. When inhaled, it can cause skin and respiratory problems. Poisonous resins in smoke-form become airborne, traveling long distances to find residence in the lungs of unsuspecting folks. This is one of the problems of the fire near Happy Camp, California.

Speaking of fires near Happy Camp…we got two relatively new incidents: Panther Fire (two firefighters dead) threatening thirty homes west of Mount Shasta (41.3582 Longitude: -122.347); and Telegraph Fire east of Yosemite, threatening four thousand homes. The latter was started Friday by someone who was target-shooting. Holy Burning Crap!!! What was he using? A flame thrower? A rocket launcher? (Fox news released a picture of the suspects. (Sorry, bad joke)