Standoff

The air seemed much clearer this morning, and it felt like days, wait,  it has been days, since I've  been outside for anything but a dash to take the trash out or to the garden for a tomato. The neighbor's gardener had finally turned off his obnoxiously noisy leaf blower, so I went out to sweep the porch of an accumulation of ashes and soot, and wipe off the furniture, the railings, the umbrella and even the inside of the storage cabinet. We're wondering if we have some evacuee birds, since there seem to be even more of them than usual. There was an interesting standoff going on between a particularly agressive blue jay and a hoard of little finches.

Now that the incredible tension has let up a bit we are left with all the underlying frustrations. We have reached our own standoff with Ali over the battery installation. John has devised a plan for testing the wiring to the well pump but he needs someone to help him. In the meantime the back porch is torn up, the hot tub is turned off, and the battery still isn't working. Ali seems to have scarpered off to another project, though I think he had reached the limit of his ability to figure out what is going on. 

The smoke came back in the afternoon, and I still get palpitations every time the wind picks up, but mostly, though the fires are still burning, they have been moved away from the cities of Healdsburg and Windsor evacuees are returning to their homes and firefighters are working to enlarge the containment lines. In the Armstrong Woods, a magnificent stand of very ancient old growth redwoods, firefighters were defending individual trees, particularly the Colonel Armstrong tree, a 1,400 year old giant. A crew of 10 firefighters equipped with four engines and a water tanker sprayed down nearby burn areas and raked embers away. 

My only comment about the fantasy that is Donald Trump's revisionist version of his life that is the RNC would actually be funny if it weren't so serious. There just can't be many people left who claim to believe any of it. And if they do, they have to know it is all lies but they're so attached to the idea that they aren't going to let reality distract them. It think its the dirty tricks and not the fairy tales that we need to pay attention to.

I've gotten very behind, but I greatly appreciate all the encouragement in your comments, and will try to catch up soon.