Gratitude

Signs like this are popping up all over town. All are hand made, many painted with spray paint on the back of pieces of plywood warning looters to stay away from empty neighborhoods, some clearly painted by a child's hand. 

AlthoughI think they are in what is known as the 'mopping up' phase of this enormous conflagration, now that we are back there are reminders everywhere. There is a police checkpoint at the corner of our street, manned by two policemen from San Francisco. (see extras) There have been firetrucks coming down the hill from the regional park district, the North Tahoe strike force, and several loads of prison inmates. Helicopters fly overhead. Sirens can be heard in the distance as well as the sound of bulldozers or beeping trucks. We're used to the regional park trucks because Hood Mountain Regional Park is at the top of Los Alamos road,.We're used to the beeping trucks and bulldozers because they are still building the subdivision nearby, but I never thought I would be so grateful to see a truckload of prison inmates passing our house. 

There are large arrows painted on the roads labeled POOL or DRAFT, presumably for the helicopters which scooped buckets of water from backyard pools. There are bulldozer tracks in the road and a firebreak behind the red barn, but the fire must not have crested the ridge behind us for there is no sign of burned terrain, as there is in so many other parts of town.

There will be a lot of clean-up. This whole nightmare started 11 days ago with a fierce windstorm with gusts of wind up to 80mph. That blew the leaves and many small branches, off all the trees which now have become covered with a layer of ash and soot. We donned masks and gloves and swept the porch and washed down and put back the furniture because it is beginning to rain and the cushions, which the firefighters moved away from the house, were getting wet. We await further instructions as the ash might be toxic. But I will never complain. Our house may be dirty but unlike so many, it is intact.

It will be a few more days before I regroup enough to catch up on everybody's journals and comments, but once again, thank you all for checking in on us, for your hearts and stars and most of all, for your concern. I am touched beyond words....