Demolition before Reconstruction

This is the house across Los Alamos from our field. I knew there was a house in there because I could hear people's voices occasionally, but it was surrounded by all kinds of shrubbery and trees and was not visible. Today they seem to be clearing all the burned remains of that shrubbery and hauling it away in the dump truck.

One one side of our house our own guys are working to dig out the roots of the old trees and plants so that we can plant new ones. The gate is finished. The fence posts are painted and the soil in one bed is clear of rocks, edged in black metal and ready for trees. The white wall is finished but still has to be painted white. We're getting there...

On the other side of our house they are cutting down burned trees and chipping huge sections of black trunks on one of the two lots next to us. The house in front was also surrounded by shrubs and trees and we never even got to know the people who lived there. They are planning to rebuild so perhaps we'll get to know them better in future. Somebody told us they were going to live in a trailer on the property while they rebuild.

Inside the house things didn't go so smoothly. Poor old Ozzie is having more and trouble getting up on his own and needs help. He is wearing the 'vest of shame' with handles to help us lift him.

 Kathy has decided to follow stay at home procedures and canceled our appointment for today so I decided to work on some I T problems I have been putting off. I can't delete the old outgoing message from our phone and the new one I installed doesn't take messages. The two seem inextricably mixed and mutually exclusive. 

I tried to make an appointment with my doctor (it is almost three months past the time I was supposed to make an appointment), but there was a ten minute wait for someone to answer the phone so I gave up and tried the  patient portal, finally managing to send a message that I was still alive and still her patient.

I wandered around taking pictures of the (very loud ) activities going on all around us,  set up the perfect shot of the guy at the top of a very tall crane slicing a burnt tree trunk down in 5 or 6 foot slices  and the battery died. Back in the house I couldn't find the battery charger! At this point I sat down, ate three Reece's Peanut Butter Cups in a row and read the paper which was full of Covid stories.

I do not understand why governors and mayors don't issue mask mandates. Seems to be catering to the willfully uninformed people who refuse to wear them and prefer to infect others in the name of 'freedom'. 

This afternoon I spent some time catching up with people I have not talked to for a long time and felt better for it. John is now outside giving beers to they guys as the light fades and they get ready to go home. They're drinking their beer and playing with Spike.