And the fires burn on

When I wrote that last post all was calm in my little spot in Santa Rosa. I stayed up until around 1:00 a.m. to see if the winds were going to ever materialize. At 1:30 they did. They were fierce and unrelenting. From that moment, I was awake with my heart pounding until close to 5:00 a.m., when I gave in to the terror and drove south to Petaluma to Ben and Stacey's, (along with another million people evacuating on Hwy. 101) where Jenn and Dar were staying. Sleepless, I was a bit of a wreck, fell onto their couch in my clothes and slept until 8. Three hours of sleep was enough for the moment.

The fire continued to advance, more evacuation notices were mandated. The winds were historically high all day on Sunday but around noon I drove back to my place, planning on not leaving again. Had a nap, a shower, read a book, heated up some leftovers, blah, blah, blah. But when I received a text from my friend Izzy in Coffey Park that the fire was a lot closer than expected, I drove south again and willingly slept on the Petaluma couch one more time, not as much out of fear of the fire but out of fear of those three women in Petaluma who were all but calling out the National Guard to physically move me out of Santa Rosa.

Thank you to Jenn, Dar and Stacey. And Ben.

It is Monday night. It feels like ten days have gone by since Saturday night. My shoulders hurt and I have a persistent dull headache. The fire is as much of a danger right now than it was two nights ago. But Steve, who has been without power for several days (but in no fire danger) is here tonight, sleeping on the floor. There is a sense of safety having someone else here, someone who can moderate my anxiety if need be. (Well, if you know Steve, you know that's not always the case, but we will move on.)
I made an awesome dinner, we watched some TV and it's now time to turn off this final light and go to bed. If we have to evacuate, the hi/lo sirens will come by and let us know. (And Nixel will do its pinging thing.)

Bottom line, there are fires roaring all over California. Please be safe, be cautious and observant and please be kind. If I believed in a god, I would ask that god to please watch over our firefighters. Instead, I ask that of the universe.

Peace. 

xo

Fire, as in California on fire

Unlike tens of thousands in the north bay, I have power. A little pocket of Santa Rosa has not gone dark, and I knock on wood every minute or so because I am in that little pocket. Not that a power outage would be terrible, but it's certainly a lot better to not be in the dark. Plus getting information is so much easier if you have access to it via electricity.

The Kincade fire in Geyserville is burning. We are waiting to see if the predicted high winds materialize. Having just taken Cooper out for his last walk of the night, I can tell you that the winds have not picked up here in Santa Rosa. It is calm and still and cool.  I remember well two years ago when I did the same walk with Cooper, the winds were already hot and heavy at 10:00. The smell of smoke was intense but the thought of a wildfire didn't occur to me, I just thought someone was having a late barbeque.  A few hours later, I knew better.  The Tubbs fire started near Calistoga a bit before my evening walk but because of the winds, the smoke was already hitting Santa Rosa a little after 10:00.

Today I sat with my friend Izzy at an outdoor Starbucks in Windsor as both of us received "evacuate" notices on our phones.  Starbucks closed down. We sat there and watched people leave the shopping center, watched the businesses shut down. Izzy saw her house in Coffey Park burn two years ago and just about two weeks ago she moved into her family's new house on that same location. Izzy and I decided we would sit there and finish our coffee. If we saw flames, we would leave. Bravado comes in all shapes and sizes.

So far, no flames this far south from the Kincade fire but that could change if the winds pick up and shift. Jenn and Dar in Guerneville were mandatorily evacuated. Steve in Kenwood has no power. Me in Santa Rosa, safe and powered up. The vagaries of the weather, the wind, the fates will continue and no one can stop them. It's not our job to do that, it's just our mission to be prepared, whatever that means. My sister Kate asked me yesterday if I had a bag ready in case I had to leave quickly. I replied No. But today I put a little bag together that has dog food, a dog bowl, dog biscuits, a tee shirt for me, a bottle of good wine, wine opener and a little zip lock bag with my toothbrush, toothpaste, passport and some cash. There is also a paper bag with about 50 photos from years ago.  That's it. Everything else can burn.

That's it for now. I am getting texts from many people asking me if I am in danger. Let's see how this plays out.

xoxo

Chalkboard dog

There is a small preschool in a house one down from my place and when I walk Cooper in the morning, early, we often see parents dropping off their kids. We, me and Cooper, always say hello, many of the parents and kids are familiar with our presence near the gate.

This was a dialogue from one of those mornings last week.  I saw the Dad, he was taking the kid out of the car. They both saw Cooper and thus this:

Dad:  Oh, what kind of a dog is that?  (I get this a lot.)
Me: Well, it's the good kind! Sort of a mix, a mutt, basically.
Kid: But what kind? 
Me:  Well, he's not a regular sort of dog, he's like a dog you draw on paper, or on the chalkboard, sort of in black and white.
Kid: Oh. (there's a pause....)   And then he comes to life!

Me: (there's a pause)  YES! And he came to life!
Me and Dad: chuckling.

Seriously, I almost cried. Cooper is now my Chalkboard Dog.
It sounds silly and the entire interaction took maybe 10 seconds but it was profound in its small way and it made my week.

xo

Paul Simon and Joan Baez, hello?

For reasons that are obvious, one needs to acknowledge the power of the internet and especially the immediate joy of sites like Youtube. Archival footage of Johnny Cash singing on Ed Sullivan's show with Bob Dylan, way before we even knew who they were. Diagrams and instructions of how to rewire your car sound system or make a new fob for that key you just lost. How to make bread. Ways to train your kid to sleep through the night or how to train  your dog not to bark at the mail delivery person, aka mailman.

But my favorite is watching music stuff (see above, Cash and Dylan). Tonight I watched Joan Baez and Paul Simon sing "The Boxer" on a stage in New York, just about a year ago. Two of my favorite singers and writers, both born in 1941 (who knew?), incredible on stage and amazing together. This is why Youtube is important.  Well, at least to me.  

Skip the ads but check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fB-8Wr6a-8


Check out so much more, all those old singers, you can relive your love of them in concert or just singing. I wish we had videos from the late 1960's when I first saw performers like Gordon Lightfoot (with his halo of blond hair) and Joan Baez and John Stewart (with his sexy bravado) and Stevie Nicks (!) and so many more. Now we can find them and see them on the TV screen.... makes me want to stay up all night and sing along and dance!

OK, back to getting my nostalgic grove on, which basically means listening to old songs and getting weepy.

sniff.  xoxo

Power outages predicted, but who knows where or when?

If it wasn't serious it would certainly be amusing: PGE is going to turn off power to hundreds of thousands of North Bay residents tonight at midnight but the PGE website isn't working so finding out if you are one of those lucky participants in the "How Long Will My Fridge Stay Cold" sweepstakes is pretty much impossible right now.  I'm sure it's because the traffic to the site is congested and overloaded with clicks, but one would have thought they might have anticipated that situation and upgraded their server (or whatever it takes) to handle the traffic. But no. 

Two years ago on this exact date was the Tubbs Fire. Extremely high winds and very low humidity, dry conditions, etc... and tonight it is a repeat of those conditions. High winds are predicted early Wednesday morning and PGE is shutting off power to prevent downed power lines, sparking, etc.  We all get it, at least those of us who were here two years ago and could see the fire from our front porches. I am fine with cutting the power  but not fine with PGE's website failing, thus making it impossible to get any news updates about their plans. 

For most of us it is simply an inconvenience. (Perhaps more than inconvenient.... right now there is no gas station within 3 miles of me that has gas, such was the rush to fill one's tank this afternoon. My tank is not full. I will see how that plays out.)  If the power is out for 24 hours, nothing drastic will happen. Longer than that some food might be lost. If one had medical needs that demanded electricity, that would be a different story and additional plans would need to be in place. For most of us it means dark at sundown, not doing a lot of cooking unless you have a gas stove you can light with a match.  No TV, no computer. Reading by candlelight. Whatever. 

We'll see how this plays out,  but if it means avoiding another catastrophic fire, more loss of life, then it is 100% worth the "inconvenience" and the frustration of not having electricity for a few days.

As long as we can flush the toilet and the poop goes away, all is well. Seriously. Priorities, folks. Priorities.

.

October and scrambling for time

October is typically my favorite month of the year and I am not alone in that. Who doesn't love this time of the year? It's cold at night, warm (hot) during the day (could be less hot and I would be happy, just saying) and the leaves are starting to turn colors. I drive through the Russian River Valley to work and those grapevines are just beginning to bleed orange and yellow and bronze. The sun still lights them up on my way home and they are seriously dazzling. In a week or two, even better. 

This year has seemingly disappeared in a rush of time. Three more months left and it's 2020. Remember when we were all nervous about Y2K and the End of the World as We Know It, the crashing of all computers, the end of the banking ATM world?  HA!  That all seems so old fashioned now. Twenty years ago. A generation.  Now all we have to worry about is a maniac in power, the UK disassembling, Russian spies and trolls, climatic chaos, abuse, detention, deception and destruction of the planet.  Makes one long for the fears of Y2K. 

It's time to plan Thanksgiving dinners. It's time to think about Christmas Eve crab feasts. It's time to realize that there aren't many more years in one's life and it's time to figure out how to cut the crap and stop wasting whatever days, weeks, months, years one has left. 

"Time makes you bolder, even children get older and I'm getting older too." 

That's all for now. Been up since 5:00 this morning, time for bed. But there is so much more to say on this subject, and I will.

LTBT