Command Post Tent City

It’s a strange, surreal existence here yet all too familiar. Blessedly the wind died yesterday afternoon giving us a semi-peaceful night. I bedded down with Ozzie in the family room and fell asleep as if I had been poleaxed, only to be awakened a couple of hours later by another PG&E alert, or rather half of one. Since it was also in Spanish and probably useless anyway, I deleted it but couldn’t go back to sleep for a long time. I finished the book on my Kindle but couldn’t download another one without WiFi, so I laid there and listened to dogs snoring and fire engines, sirens on racing down the highway a few a few blocks away.

Efforts to make coffee this morning by deconstructing Nespresso pods and pouring water over the grounds were only nominally successful, so we went out in search of coffee. The power is out in all but a small strip around the command center near the fairgrounds where I took this picture of a part of. A tent city that has poring up there.

We found a Starbucks open near Costco, heaving with first responders, students, and ordinary people looking for a place to charge their devices and plug in their computers. The girls behind the counter were doing a heroic job of getting coffee and pastries for a line out the door. We left a big tip.

We are all exhausted and restless. Trying to keep busy when there is nothing to do. OilMan has gone back to our house to rake leaves. I’ll stay put, staring at my phone, trying to read the fire maps which aren’t really designed for phones and worry about people who have been evacuated from homes they are still building or have only just moved into.

For those of you who pray, pray the wind predicted for tomorrow night doesn’t materialize. For those of you sending hugs and thoughts, a heartfelt thank you!