Hi Dee and Jewel,
Things have been pretty sucky for the last 22 days. All the fires are still burning around me. Nine hundred active fires is a lot of heat. I evacuated and went to stay in a tent down in the valley till yesterday. I have been driving up every other day to keep all the gardens watered. They seam to like the extra carbon in the air. It is smoky in Chico the air hazard is only about 150, where as in my yard up in the fire zone it is extreme hazard of 365+++ depending on the time of day and drift of the winds.
The temperatures have all been in the three digits starting at 104-111. That silly tent has no AC..lol. My smoke mask is the heavy duty three barrow type and when I lift it to my head to smoke me other smoke, I look like Hell Girl. Very funny.
My mutt was getting spayed in the middle of all this and was not allowed to go in the house, you know the place with the AC, where we were staying so she<La Mutt, and I stayed outside and used the water hose to keep refreshed. I could not leave her for a moment because she would just panic and cause trouble. Sure can't blame her for that. The last time I told her stay, she woke up with a slit and very sore belly. So she is staying real close right now.
I kept myself busy with yard work and did a few little sketches. The tent was under a very old apple tree and in the early morning all the birds come to sit in that tree. It really is kind of magic looking. There was a hawk that started screaming none stop as evening came on. First, I was very annoyed with the racket, until I realized it was a baby calling to it's mom so she would know which tree to go to. That realization made it all better and I was very happy to here it stop so I knew she made it home with dinner.
On the 4th I was house sitting while my hosts went to the coast. There were 9000 people heading to Fort Bragg hoping for smoke relief and peace of mind, but what the heck, it is burning there too. I busied myself by picking plums from an old abandoned tree and canning about three cases of jam. That was good mind space and Logan loves the jam.
Sometimes when we came home we would go up to the logging flat which has a 180 view of the mountains and valley as well as up and down the feather river canyon, and watch all the fires . Every mountain top has a plume of towering smoke as far as we can see in all directions. Even along the coast. It is far from over and the fires will keep burning till the rains come...hopefully in Sept or Oct.
Someone said I should do a rain god, so I did. I only wanted a little one because too much rain is not good either.
If I am not careful I may just get a flood. I suppose a good long rain would be nice considering the lake and river are very near dry. We have been in this drought for some time now. We had only the smallest amount of rain and snow last winter and it was all gone two months ago.
There is nothing to say that it won't flare up and come back for me. I hope not, but I am not stupid either, if they keep burning for the next three months, I am just more food and they must follow the fuel this way. I still have big trees.
I am tired and want to sleep but, that fire came back a ate a man that was just too tired to leave again. His road group was told they could go home, then the firemen started a backfire that went very wrong and shifted back. The folks that managed to escape the first wave lost their homes in the backfire. It was every few hours, precaution and then mandatory and then precaution, and where I am there is only one way in and one way out, so even precaution is mandatory for me. Also when the sheriff and fire marshal come to my yard and say get out now, that is mandatory as far as I am concerned. They only left us as precaution so some folks could make fast trips to collect valuable things or get their animals out. Even if the flames were a somewhat safe distance, no one could really breath the air for very long. And all the sparks flying over the dry grasses can cause new feedings far from the mother flame. I don't think this smoke is as bad as in the Islands, because we don't have that melted glass stuff.
I get too lost at the forum. I can't see the fonts..too small and there are a Ka Zillions threads so I never know where I am or what is happening. Plus my attempts to post never work out like I plan. Right now I don't need another headache. I might be able to look in, but then it's just too frustrating.
Because I am such a farout hermit, I really have no one to talk to,so what I really need just now is easy going kind, loving, understanding and therapeutic conversation. See this long chatty message?.
This is one heck of an ordeal to keep all in my head. All I have is Logan and he doesn't chat or listen; he reads books or watches TV. And if I weaken or get soft and mention my fears, well that doesn't work well for me. Then I get mad or should I say, " I have issues", which I must keep to myself. I feel emotionally engorged.
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