Smoke Tree : : Cotinus Royal Purple

Aptly named, this smoke tree was a gift from thoughtful friends who were visiting and overheard me saying I liked them.  It survived the fire which burned the fence less than a foot away and is thriving. It's deciduous, so when the weather turns cold it will lose its royal purple leaves. It is another reminder of survival and renewal but also of good friendships. They were scheduled for another visit in August, but Covid put paid to that for now.

It's been another quiet day around here. The weather is warming up again and we survived another fire weather watch due to high winds. They tend to occur in higher elevations than ours and the power company is learning to pinpoint those areas better so we haven't had any Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) triggered by high winds and temperatures and low humidity. But now they have a new one: Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings Plan to curb wildfires by turning off power lines if they are touched by a  tree branch or a small animal. PG&E says this plan has been 'wildly successful'. Those who have had their power turned off with no notice sometimes for as long as 24 hours are not so sure. People are paying for a service. They're not paying for not getting service. 

In some ways PG&E couldn't have anticipated the conditions brought on by climate change but if they had maintained their equipment better small animals and tree branches shouldn't be touching their lines. The best thing would be to put them underground . And then, just so we wouldn't let down our guard,  there was  a 3.2 earthquake on the Rodgers Creek Fault which runs through Santa Rosa. Not really cause for alarm...we didn't even feel  it, although the epicenter was quite near here.

The perfect end to a crazy week was a notice from the bank that somebody, not us, was trying to use our credit card. A new one is on the way...the last time this happened they might as well have sent it by Pony Express. It's a full time job just trying to stay ahead of the bad guys...

Have a nice weekend....

NOTE: fixed the obvious error involving very tall wildflowers. Thanks to Annejohn and others for noticing!