How Do You Explain...

...to two dogs that we just can’t provide them with the leftover foam from our lattes at this time?

Dana’s three legged cat was pretty happy to be let out of the bathroom where she had been incarcerated with her quadruped sibling, Delilah since Sunday morning in case we were evacuated again. She went back to her usual nest in the garden where I got the picture I put in extras.

This situation is hard on the animals too...
They are caring for large animals at the county fairgrounds where there is a racetrack with stables. When we drove by yesterday we saw volunteers exercising horses while many others looked on from their stalls.

My friend Tobi hosted evacuees from Sebastopol and their two dogs and 23chickens. Tobi has the nicest chicken coop around, but I imagine it’s a little crowded with 40 chickens.

Dana sent me a text this morning minutes after she left on a walk with Blake. Two little dogs, one in a very fetching sweater, were barking furiously first at Dana and Blake passing by, then at the gardeners who had driven up. Dana texted me for backup. No one answered the door of the home they were so fiercely protecting. One of the gardeners had investigated and found that part of the backyard fence had blown down in the windstorm. The gardener and I both tried to corral them to no avail. Neither appeared to have a collar. I had to assume that they would probably go back to the territory they were so furiously defending once the gardeners left.

The fire burned around the Safari West animal park which was saved in the last fire through the efforts of the owner who fought the fire with hoses and a few of his staff members. This time he had a team in place and fought the fire successfully until the winds came up. A CalFire crew showed up to help and all the giraffes and zebras, wildebeest and cheetahs and lots of other four legged residents of the beautiful reserve were saved.

We had a peaceful night and awoke with a feeling of cautious optimism. But the winds, not as high, are supposed to return today.
I drove around, with prudent caution, since the traffic signals are all out, so that I could recharge my phone and listen to the local radio station which does a heroic job of keeping people informed. The firefighters have three areas of concentration in this lull between windstorms, one of which is the Larkfield/Wickiup/Mark West area of Northeast Santa Rosa. The latter is closest to us and the big cargo tanker planes and helicopters have been flying around all morning. The firefighters (4,000 of the, I’m told) and other first responders are putting up a heroic fight and we have all gotten out of our way so they can get in with it.

The PG&E helicopters are up there too but I don’t know what they’re doing besides getting in the way. They’ve turned the power off and they won’t be turning it back on until the wind is over.

We’ll deal with PG&E later.

I want to thank all you wonderful blippers who have done a lot to buoy our spirits...your prayers, hugs thoughts and even the prayers from one of you who doesn’t usually pray but did anyway. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.