HAZE ALL AROUND US: WA State Wildfires~Self-Care; Castle Rock-WA

We woke up to drifting smoke haze & an amber tinged atmosphere - the wildfires may be on the other side of the mountains (Spokane, Walla Walla, Tri-Cities, Dalles in the WA Gorge, Hood River, & the Umatilla area in OR across the Columbia River) … but the drift is reaching us, here in Cowlitz County:

The air smells like ashy campfire smoke & you can taste it.

{{Spokane-WA, is located in Spokane County, which is situated in eastern Washington along the Idaho border

Walla Walla, WA is located in Walla Walla County, which is in southeastern Washington.

Tri-Cities-WA, is a metropolitan area consisting of Benton and Franklin counties in Washington state, anchored by the cities of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland (the Tri-Cities).

The Dalles, on the Washington side of the gorge is in Wenatchee County and Columbia County, but the Dalles proper is in Oregon.

Hood River County is in the far northwestern part of Oregon, bordered by the Columbia River to the north, Wasco County to the east, Clackamas and Multnomah Counties to the west, and Skamania County, Washington, to the north.

The Umatilla area is in Umatilla County, Oregon. This county is located in the northeastern part of the state, where the Blue Mountains meet the Columbia Plateau. It is bordered by Benton County, Walla Walla County, and Columbia County in Washington, as well as Wallowa, Union, and Grant Counties in Oregon.}}

I think we'll probably be here, in Castle Rock-WA, until Spring 2027; medical & dental appointments have eaten into the travel time needed to get to out of WA, this year; and Holland wants to address Betsy's & Independence's maintenance concerns, before we leave WA; all of this takes time … plus, the wildfires have also put a crimp into travel - we would have had to pass through major smokey regions. In this way, the various stonewalling and hesitancies of people we have to deal with to get those goals met, have kept us set down here; and relatively safe - all things, considered.

I had to use the inhaler, a couple times (husband's concern), due to the overhanging smoky haze.

The delays are a reminder that Elohim is ultimately in control, & patience is a virtue - and a necessity needed to react calmly to slower-than-desired progress toward desired goals.

I just did a simple stretching routine, today; RV's aren't very air-tight, & some of the smoky haze was sneaking in - my eyes and lungs were feeling the creeping intrusion … so, I worked my body muscles gently, this afternoon:

5 Minute Daily Stretching Routine For Women Over 50!:  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF965ll2J0c)

I visited my blogger friends before turning into bed early - I've got a get-together planned for tomorrow at noon; and saw that my peacock feather hair clip design has been a hit this past week - as well as my crochet book covers; I'm glad people enjoy my creative yarncraft moments 🧶 as much as I do 😊

MOD Peacock Hair Clip featured on Melynda's Blog @ https://scratchmadefoodforhungrypeople.blogspot.com/2026/07/weekend-traffic-jam-reboot-07312026.html

MOD Peacock Hair Clip featured on Stephanie's Blog @ https://crazylittlelovebirds.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-crazy-little-lovebirds-link-party_01011084549.html

MOD Crochet Sc-Bar St Paperback Cover Pattern, was featured on Natasha's Blog @ https://serenityyou.com/sharing-serenity-link-party-august-2026/

These are just the Blog Hops these ladies host … they post on many topics 👍, so check out their homepages, as well 😃

COURAGEOUS STRENGTH~These Last Days; Castle Rock-WA

Franceska Mann; Before the dark shadow of World War II.

When she stepped through the gates of Auschwitz on October 23, 1943, the Nazis assumed she was just another face in the crowd. They could not have been more mistaken. They were about to encounter a woman whose final moments would blaze into history as a legendary act of defiance.

Her name was Franceska Mann, a celebrated Polish-Jewish dancer living in the vibrant city of Warsaw. Before the dark shadow of World War II fell across Europe, Franceska was a rising star known for her incredible grace, breathtaking beauty, and boundless energy on stage.

Audiences cheered whenever she performed, and critics considered her one of the most promising young artists of her era. She spent her youth training relentlessly, captivated large crowds with her performances, and dreamed of a long, brilliant career in the world of dance.

But when the war erupted, her peaceful life was completely shattered.

Simply because of her Jewish heritage, she became a target of the Nazi regime and lost everything she held dear.

When Franceska was brought to the Auschwitz concentration camp on that chilly autumn afternoon, the SS guards treated her like just another face in the crowd.

They led her along with a large group of terrified women into a cold, dimly lit room right next to the gas chambers. The guards paced around, smirking and barking harsh commands, treating the vulnerable women like cattle.

They told the prisoners a cruel lie that thousands had heard before, claiming that they needed to take off their clothes for a routine disinfection shower.

While panic quickly spread among many in the crowd, Franceska remained remarkably calm and focused. Whether through her own deep instincts or because she had heard rumors about what really happened in the camp, she recognized the dark truth.

She knew that no water would ever flow from those cold metal showerheads. Instead of giving in to terror or collapsing in helplessness, she made a firm decision in her mind: if she was going to die, she would do so on her own terms, fighting back with every ounce of strength she had left.

As she began to undress, Franceska used her lifelong training as a dancer to hold the guards' attention.

She moved with a slow, hypnotic elegance that completely threw the executioners off guard. For a brief second, the SS officers forgot where they were, mesmerized by her strange composure and grace. Seeing her move so deliberately, an impatient guard suddenly shouted at her, 

"Hurry up and take off your clothes, prisoner!"

Franceska did not panic at his loud voice. Instead, she used that exact moment of distraction to strike. In a movement faster and sharper than any leap she had ever executed on stage, she lunged directly at an SS officer named Josef Schillinger.

Before the officer could comprehend what was happening, Franceska snatched the heavy pistol straight from his holster.

She did not hesitate for a single second. Franceska aimed the weapon and pulled the trigger, shooting Schillinger once in the stomach and once in the head. The feared officer crumpled to the ground, mortally wounded. Without missing a beat, she turned the gun toward another SS sergeant named Wilhelm Emmerich and fired again, hitting him before he could draw his weapon.

The quiet room instantly turned into a furious battleground. Franceska raised her voice over the chaos and shouted to the surrounding women, "Do something! Fight for your lives because they are going to kill us anyway!"

Her unbelievable bravery triggered something powerful inside everyone watching. Seeing a cruel officer brought down by a woman they thought was helpless gave the other prisoners a sudden wave of courage.

Stripped of everything, the women attacked the remaining guards with their bare hands, scratching, clawing, and fighting for their dignity. For a few extraordinary minutes, the terror that normally controlled Auschwitz was completely flipped on its head.

The Nazi commanders reacted with immediate and brutal force to put down the uprising. Heavy reinforcements rushed into the room carrying automatic machine guns and opened fire directly into the crowd. Franceska died right there on the floor of that dressing room, surrounded by her fellow prisoners. She never set foot inside the gas chamber. She died fighting fiercely, standing up against evil until her very last breath.

Although Franceska Mann could not change the ultimate outcome of the war, her legendary story shines as a warm, beautiful testament to the indestructible strength of the human spirit.

She proved that even in the darkest, coldest place on earth, love for life and self-respect can never be truly crushed.

*************************

"She died fighting fiercely, standing up against evil until her very last breath."

May I also have the courageous strength 🙏 if & when push comes to shove; in these Last Days.

IRAN - Before & After; Castle Rock-WA

When Iran had a modern culture … looking forward.

This photograph, taken in 1960, shows an Iranian woman at the beach nearly two decades before the Islamic Revolution reshaped the country.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Iran was undergoing rapid modernization under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In major cities, many women pursued higher education, entered professional careers, and chose their own styles of dress. Beachwear, Western fashion, and public recreation were common sights for many Iranians, particularly in urban and coastal areas.

However, it is important to note that Iranian society was diverse. While many women embraced modern fashions, others continued to wear more traditional clothing, with customs varying by region, community, and personal beliefs.

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new government introduced sweeping social and legal changes, including mandatory dress regulations for women in public. As a result, photographs like this offer a glimpse into one aspect of everyday life in Iran before that historic turning point.

Iranian women today, forced to wear the oppressive, & humiliating, burka.

Notice the men & boys (in the background, because males & females must stay separate) are wearing clothing that allows the skin to breathe & feel a cooling breeze - while the women are draped in black = a color known to cause sweltering, as well as inhibit any breeze, whatsoever. It's cruel - and dehumanizing.

*************************

Before the Jimmy Carter years, Iran was a modern country - the Jimmy Carter years literally emboldened the iranian terrorist's overthrow that firmly established the iranian sharia revolution: that catapulted iran back to the Middle Ages.

Women were forced to wear the burka.

Women were forced to stay behind harem walls … and couldn't leave their house without a male escort: a woman n the streets alone would literally be murdered for daring to be outside, alone.

Women were no longer allowed to voice an opinion; dogs were treated better than a woman.

Women were treated as breeders = they had no other value.

A woman's wealth immediately became her husband's possession following marriage.

Men were permitted to marry a 6 year old girl.

Sharia religion was the ONLY religion allowed - bully terrorist "encouragement" to follow sharia law, was strictly enforced; to disagree with it, or to refuse to adhere to it, was an immediate death sentence.

Children were the property of the husband = women had no rights; children could be taken from the wife & handed over to in-laws, if that was the husband's "punishment" for a "disobedient" wife.

Americans shouting for sharia "rights" IN America, and in Iran, HAVE NO FRICKING IDEA what they are shouting for: they do not know the History of Iran.

I remember those Days.

I remember the Jimmy Carter spinelessness that jeopardized Americans & destroyed the modern Iranian culture, when he gave in to the anti-American stance and the hostage crisis of 1979 (when 52 Americans were held captive). My brother Mahlon, was deployed to those troubled waters, aboard a naval warship during the 1978–1979 Iranian Revolution.

PLEASEKNOW HISTORY FACTS before engaging in foolishness & playing a fool's game.

How I Would Feel ... Is A Loaded Question~I.C.E.; Castle Rock-WA

I'd feel safe.

I'd feel that the American Government was doing it's job!

I'd feel that our streets would be safe, again.

I'd feel that our neighborhoods would be calm, again.

I'd feel that our kids could be kids, again.

I'd feel that our men would be able to get jobs again - at a decent living wage, without competing with illegals paid under the table for slave labor - forcing our men to work for slave wages if they wanted to work … and were able to - secure a job.

I'd feel that the "salvation of the world" was once again, firmly on the shoulders of God - instead of being foisted on American Citizens, where it was never intended to be by our forefathers.

I'd feel relief.

BLAMING CLIMATE CHANGE~Spokane Wildfires-WA; Castle Rock-WA

Evacuations areas were relaxed on Sunday in the aftermath of three major fires that sparked Saturday and burned hundreds of homes in Spokane. The pink areas are level 3 “go now.” Level 2 “get set” areas are yellow. Yellow areas are level 1 “get ready” evacuations (Spokane Regional Emergency Communications Center)

Democrat talking heads with eyes towards Presidential occupancy, numero uno idiot, ex-governor, jay insleee; and dos clone - current Governor, bob ferguson … as well as the flying monkey brigade, headed by patty murphy - immediately blamed “climate change” for the catastrophic Spokane fires:

{{Climate Crisis Is Not ‘Some Faraway Threat’: Spokane Inferno Forces Mass Evacuations as Oil Profits Surge

~Stephen Prager/Aug 03, 2026

Over 60,000 people were ordered to evacuate the Spokane area over the weekend as it was devastated by what Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell called the “top fire” in a nation currently being scorched by climate-fueled blazes.

Illustrating how the climate crisis is already impacting lives and communities across the country and the globe, three raging fires reportedly consumed over 600 structures as of Sunday, including homes and businesses, and reduced entire streets to their foundations.

At a briefing on Sunday afternoon, officials said more than 250,000 acres were burning across Washington, but reported no deaths or injuries.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called it “the worst natural disaster our region has faced.”

Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson has requested assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is under the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Spokane fires: WA Gov. Ferguson delivers update Monday, Aug. 3 | FOX 13 Seattle: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fpr5KCD1uI)

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media that she had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and that he “made clear the federal government will do everything it can to support response and recovery,” though President Donald Trump has previously intervened to block disaster aid to Democrat-led states.

While the fires moderated over the weekend, on Monday they remained largely uncontained and continued to spread due to dry conditions from recent severe droughts in the region, exacerbated by rising global temperatures.

“This is climate change playing out live in real time,” said meteorologist and Climate Central journalist Shel Winkley in a video about the Spokane fires.

Warmer temperatures, he explained, have caused a vicious cycle of “weather whiplash” in which greater winter rainfall facilitates plant growth before harsher summer heat domes suck moisture from these plants, turning them into a tinderbox.

“Northeastern Washington and central Oregon now see at least three more weeks of fire weather days each year than they did just back in the 1970s,” Winkley said. “More fire weather days means more chances for a spark, any spark, to turn into this.”

The blazes are part of a nationwide trend, with wildfires this year more severe on average than in previous years. Over the past decade, the average annual acreage burned in the US was more than double the average of the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center.

Last week, an Oxfam analysis of data published in the journal Nature found that emissions from just five oil companies—BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies—were sufficient to cause around 1 in 4 heatwaves reported globally between 2000 and 2023—“heatwaves that would have been virtually impossible without human-made climate change.”

Using S&P Capital Trucost data, the group estimated that Big Oil was responsible for more than $60 billion in environmental damage last year.

But as costs fall on the public, oil companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil have reported record profits of $12.1 billion and $14.5 billion over the past quarter, in part due to global oil price spikes driven by Trump’s war with Iran.

“The fossil fuel industry may not have struck the match, but the climate crisis they drove has loaded our landscapes with tinder,” said Clémence Dubois, the campaigns director for the environmental group 350.org. “Chevron and Exxon are profiteering from a model of distraction, leaving ordinary people to pay the price with higher bills and devastating impacts such as these fires. These profits feel almost criminal.”

Jay Inslee, Washington’s former Democratic governor and a longtime advocate for policies to combat the climate crisis, said on Sunday that his friend, a legislator from Spokane, had been forced to flee his home due to the fires.

“Climate change isn’t some faraway threat,” Inslee said. “It’s happening right now, to our neighbors and friends. We have to fight for them.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/spokane-wildfires-climate }}

So, right off the bat - as usual - the obamanite devotees, and the clintonite bootlickers, start screaming "climate change!"

THIS WILDFIRE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WEATHER: IT HAD EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ASININE keyen prince obamanite LAWLESSNESS. Widespread zombie junkies roaming our streets, rampant homelessness, and bold criminal activity, WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF loggers were allowed to do their job of thinning the forests; if drug use was cracked down on - instead of encouraged and prodded on with free drugs, needles, and "a safe place to use" was not blatantly in practice in every blue state city & getting a firm foothold in rural communities; homelessness would not now be a seriously major concern, if the demonrat weasel-faced-science demigod fauci, were not given full rein under the obiden (obama's brainless puppet, joe biden) rein, to mishandled dangerous lab experiments by which to wickedly endanger American lives, close down an entire continent (America), and shutter businesses … thereby causing job loss, income hemorrhage, and loss of homes; murderous gangs & violent-minded-black heart hardened criminals … would not be planted in American neighborhoods, to walk American streets to freely & sly kill whomever they took a fancy to, or to insanely spur-of-the-moment-torch the landscape, destroying lives and laying communities in ruin.

Puppet master, barak hussein obama & his brainless straw man joe biden, have done more to devastate America and bully American citizens than any perceived off-shore threat ever could.

A man named Aaron Farinacci has been fingered as the arsonist responsible for the Spokane wildfire. Apparently, not only is he a deranged firebug … but, according to reports that have since come to light - court records reveal he previously murdered his own father, in AZ.

Read that again. A convicted killer who took his father's life was given a demonrat pass to walk free on our streets, and set fires to destroy people's homes.

The radical left wants you to blame "climate change" for every single disaster so they can push their green agenda and regulate your life. Meanwhile, their soft-on-crime policies are letting violent criminals out of prison to terrorize our communities and burn our forests to the ground.

WHEN are American Citizens going to rise up, make Constitutional demands, & hold these far-left politicians accountable for putting dangerous criminals ahead of law-abiding Americans?

It's not only criminal what is taking place across America due to obamanite lawless [laws], set in place by that devil barak hussein obama - and carried forward by his evil-minded devotees … it is wicked in concept, & evil in play.

It needs to come to an end.

Washington state fires destroy hundreds of buildings and force Spokane-area residents to evacuate: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzjx0r4Hb8)

*SPOKANE ON FIRE~2026; Castle Rock-WA: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2026/08/spokane-on-fire2026-castle-rock-wa.html

SPOKANE ON FIRE~2026; Castle Rock-WA

Wildfire drift all around, is strong: ash residue smelled & tasted - eyes burning & tearing. 

What's happening with the Spokane wildfire devastation is eerily similar to the Cali Palisades "wildfire". Suspicious.

Evacuation Order in place.

BREAKING: Spokane Is Burning: 640 Homes Destroyed, 60,000 Evacuated, and Still 0% Contained: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQsibmooL_k)

{{Convicted felon arrested for arson in connection with massive Spokane wildfire

~Melissa Luck Aug 3, 2026 Updated 3 hrs ago

SPOKANE, Wash - A convicted felon has been arrested on an arson charge, suspected of starting the fire that has now burned thousands of acres and hundreds of homes.

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels made the announcement in a news conference Monday night.

A person reported seeing the man in the trees looking nervous, then 10 minutes later saw smoke rising from the area.

A man matching the description was questioned the day of the fire, but then released. He was in possession of waterproof matches and a butane lighter.

Piecing together evidence later, they positively identified the man and developed probable cause that the man was kneeling in the grass at the spot where the fire started.

The suspect, 37-year-old Aaron Farinacci, was arrested Monday night in the City of Spokane and is now being held on a $1 million bond.

The man arrested has a previous conviction for manslaughter in Arizona.

The Old Trails fire started Saturday afternoon near Airway Heights, then quickly pushed through Riverside State Park and into neighborhoods in north Spokane.

Hundreds of structures, including entire neighborhoods, have burned.

Thousands of people remain out of their homes due to widespread evacuation orders.

The fire is one of three burning in the Spokane area, considered to be the top fire priority in the nation.

The fires have burned more than 10,000 acres as of Monday evening.

Sheriff Nowels said there's no indication Farinacci had anything to do with the other fires burning in Spokane.

https://www.kxly.com/news/convicted-felon-arrested-for-arson-in-connection-with-massive-spokane-wildfire/article_4cced871-0dc3-409b-b488-801f80a03fb3.html }}

WHY are these criminals walking free???

What the Hell 🤬 this arsonist had been arrested for manslaughter in AZ … and he's walking the streets of WA State, free as a bird - now, having "firebug" tagged to his prison jacket? 

Something isn't right in this scenario.

Like I said earlier - the Spokane wildfire that destroyed entire neighborhoods is very eerily similar to the Palisades wildfire that destroyed entire neighborhoods in CA, 18 months ago: we were in Fortuna-AZ, at the time.

These man caused wildfires are escalating.

Homeowners are not being compensated.

Governors & Mayors are refusing building permits to homeowners that lost their homes - siting "safety concerns" … YET, Governors & Mayors are slyly allowing big donor foreign companies to buy the land cheap & build high-rise housing apartment complexes - similar to Japan cities.

Private home owner ship is being decimated: both by fire and by rampant land-grabbing, political, bullshit.

ATHEIST HAILS CHRISTIANITY AS HUMANITY'S DOORKEEPER

What if one of Christianity’s strongest defenders wasn’t a Christian?

Historian Tom Holland spent years immersed in the ancient Greek and Roman world expecting to admire it. Instead, he found something deeply unsettling. The ancient world was breathtaking in its achievements; but also astonishingly brutal. Infanticide was common. Slavery was taken for granted. The weak existed for the benefit of the strong. Human dignity, as we understand it today, simply wasn’t a universal value.

That realization led Holland to an unexpected conclusion: many of the moral assumptions we now consider “obvious” are anything but ancient. They are the product of Christianity’s profound influence on Western civilization: equality, compassion, human rights, care for the poor, and the value of every human life is the hallmark of Christianity.

Tom Holland is one of Britain’s best-known historians of the ancient world and the author of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. Although he has described himself as an agnostic, his historical research led him to conclude that Christianity transformed Western moral thought in ways many people no longer recognize.

Holland argues that ideas such as the inherent worth of every person, compassion for the weak, care for the poor, the dignity of women, opposition to infanticide, and the belief that power should serve rather than exploit are not self-evident truths inherited from Greece or Rome. They became deeply rooted in the West through the influence of Christianity.

That doesn’t mean Christians have always lived up to these ideals.

History records many failures.

But it does mean the ideals themselves became culturally influential because of the Christian worldview.