It’s been a wild, hot, and anxious month. On this last day of June, we walked north to the headland and then south to the creek. As we approached our southern goal, Gary pointed ahead. “There’s Tammy,” he said. “She’s waving.” He waved back.

“Where?” I said.

It turned out to be a whirligig he was waving at, and we both laughed. “Don’t tell Tammy,” Gary said. But you know I can’t keep a secret.

We saw a great many pelicans, the sky is again cloudy—all day? We hope so! For about half a minute mist fell on our faces during our walk, but there is no end to drought in our near future. June is not a particular rainy month here, with only a bit over three inches of nearly ninety in a year, but since March the monthly totals have been very low. May had the lowest rainfall in May since Cannon Beach began posting monthly totals in 1987.

The climate is changing. We did not see the record high temperatures that made much of the Pacific NW miserable over the past weekend, but then we chose to live in a place this cool because neither of us enjoy the heat. Even here, we put down our blinds and opened skylights and windows to catch a breeze.

It is officially fire season. We’ve been worried about the coming weekend because of the dangerous fireworks blown up in our area. It’s been a dry month and in the past we’ve had incendiary devices land on our (then cedar) roof. We’ve watched floating lanterns drop into coast pines. We’ve experienced so much noise and smoke that we retreated indoors. Some neighbors customarily leave the country to avoid the explosions over the 4th of July. That hasn’t been possible with the US/Canadian border still closed to visitors.

“Use small pieces of wood only. Firewood is usually available at local gas stations and grocery stores. Build your fire away from the beach grass and piles of driftwood, and west of the vegetation line, and make sure your fire doesn’t get bigger than a lawn chair. When you’re all done, extinguish the fire with water instead of just covering it with sand so passersby won’t accidentally step on the hot sand.”

“Oregon State Parks oversees this state’s beaches and these rules, but they often differ from access to access. These are posted on most trails or accesses. While most allow fires – some don’t. Be sure to check.”

“Your bonfire must be small and contained. A small fire should be around 2’ by 2’ and never bigger than your beach chair. Build your fire on dry sand, away from incoming tides and sneaker wave danger, but never close to beach grass. Be mindful of wind direction and always light your fire downwind of dune grass. 

“Bring your own wood and refrain from burning driftwood or other beach logs.”

—nonprofit, “Oregon Coast”

“The rules are strict, but they’re also basic common sense. 

“Don’t use large logs – only small pieces of wood. Obviously, build them AWAY from the vegetation line, quite a ways away [at least 30 feet]. The same with piles of driftwood: stay from them as you could start another, larger fire.

“When you’re done with your beach fire – do NOT bury it. Put it out with water, but leave the remnants visible so any still-hot embers that may be left aren’t lurking beneath the surface, waiting to burn someone walking barefoot over what looks like regular sand. These fires can smolder for hours.”

I’ve seen children scuff through sand and discover the hard way that someone had a fire the previous night (or several nights before) and failed to put it out properly.

The lacquer-orange Lucifer is already in bloom, and the naturalized montbrecia (shorter and with spectrum orange flowers) is also just about to pop open and that is at least two weeks early. This morning I made our first batch of salal muffins.

We went out an hour after high tide, but the ocean seemed not have gotten the memo, and often drove us east.

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