Parallel Universes

This is a picture taken by the Santa Rosa Police of a DC10 dropping flame retardant on the hills behind our house. These huge planes are making round trips between McClelland Air Force Base in Sacramento and our neighborhood from dawn until dusk. I can only imagine the hellish situations on the ground where hand crews and bulldozers are battling flame, heat and wind to establish fire lines to save our homes and put this fire out. It is supposed to rain on Thursday but that doesn't seem nearly soon enough. There was a round of applause for the firefighters in our local market who weren't allowed to pay for a thing....

We can only sit in Sebastopol, try to keep the dogs happy, worry about the cats who are living in Dana's car and attempt to read the fire maps and interpret wind directions. The population of Sebastopol must have doubled as more and more people come here to stay with friends. One of my friends is staying with her ex-husband, another was here at a friends with her ten chickens and a border collie. Another neighbor has stayed in several hotels, moving as one reservation expires and they manage to find another. They have two big dogs, a Newfoundland and a Basset hound. 

Kelly and Maureen, who built this house as a second home and rented us a second one on the property for four years (now rented to another tenant), came today bringing lunch for all of us. There is a small vineyard in front of each house and Kelly, a man of many talents and infinite energy, invited us into his 'cold room' for a barrel tasting of his current batch of red wine. Even Peter joined us in the small room for a few sips. I couldn't help thinking of the miles of destroyed wineries and blackened vineyards in our neighborhood, but it was a pleasant diversion nonetheless.

We sat on the porch catching up, saying thank you even though we had been ordered not to utter those words again, and admiring the beautiful garden. OilMan and Dana have already found several garden projects to keep them occupied and we have made a trip to the garden center for irrigation system supplies....

The firefighters seem to be holding their own although it is difficult to tell whether there is any containment yet in the part of the Nuns' fire threatening out neighborhood. Night time is difficult because the planes cannot see their targets and don't fly again until daybreak.

We are uplifted by all the hugs, love, messages of support and prayers of whatever denomination that  are being sent our way. We are very grateful....