The picture on the left is of the redwood tree I talked about last week. Andy had nurtured it from a seedling for the past 20 years. The picture on the right was taken last Monday, when we were escorted in to see what our land looked like. What a difference a day can make.
Have you ever had a day that had a big effect on your life?
(For more photos of the devastation click here.)
WOW – some startling differences – i.e. the apple on the tree, some of the hardy adventurous plants determined to spring forth again – the loss of items and objects that have such strong memories –
“Have you had a day that had a big effect on your life?”
This so “right” today…ok it’s not life threatening, not really devastating but this morning just before noon – I innocently went to inquire about my future since I have finished my University Degree
I was expecting to beg them to let me have a few more months to recover and then would it be ok to work part-time until I felt I could be full time…
To have them basically say that I wasn’t required to go out to work because of two reasons:
age
&
health status
that my current gov’t benefit would continue forever!! Even the extra help I need to keep afloat…
Still feeling stunned, feeling I’m destined for a scrap heap as well…one of my friends said tonight on the blower “well why don’t you just go back to studying…”
Will have to think alot about the situation and my best friend is away overseas for another 4 weeks so I can’t discuss it with her…maybe that will be good for me to collect data, info on this new found situation
Fortunately, we’ve never had a major loss beyond a couple of vehicles totaled in traffic accidents.
I do have a bit of wildfire experience, though, in the role of volunteer fire fighter. On one fire twenty five years ago, I learned just how rugged some of the area near here is away from the paved road. It was a hot summer very much like this one and we got a call for a fire near the fire station. I was at work and my normal 20 minute drive home took a little less time, but I could see the smoke from the fire long before I got to it.
The first part of the fire fighting that I remember was in a hay field where the fire was creeping to the east, with little or no wind to drive it. We successfully kept the fire from the home of an old couple, but they lost a couple of small out buildings.
Not long after that, the wind came up and the flames increased in size dramatically. We had to retreat from the flame front with flame as high as a large house rolling through the brush, grasses and trees towards us. The wind didn’t last long, but it was enough to move the fire into the woods and over the rim of a plateau-like hill into a valley.
Though most of the fires in the rural areas around here are fought by volunteers, the state forest service will respond to brush and forest fires with a fire plow — a bulldozer with a plow blade on the back that is used to “plow” a fire break. With that help we were able to contain the fire. The rest of my participation on that fire was walk that fire break down into the valley and up the next “mountain,” following the fire plow, making sure nothing jumped the line.
Cathy,
All the better that the effect isn’t devastating but good. Enjoy! 🙂
Mike,
Yes, wind makes all the difference. Around here embers would fly a half mile in the wind, starting new fires. It burned 4500 acres in the first six to eight hours. Not surprisingly. Again we were a tinderbox waiting for a match. I’m glad your fire wasn’t that bad.
Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s what I love about blogging.
I will pass. There have been too many.
lunch with out with friend, again to celebrate from Uni success and we got around to the Scrap Head situation – which lead to her telling me about the Free4You computer classes; no time like the present she is taking me to sign up today! They are a few suburbs away but simply easy to get there by train (only 1 stage) and you can learn quite a few microsoft programmes at your own pace…it will be good refresher as I do know how to do a few – some long ago etc…
Rummuser,
Hopefully some of those changes were pleasant ones.
Cathy,
So you have an independent income now and can choose what you want to learn next. That’s the kind of situation I love. 🙂
🙂 well yes the income is independent as such…as long as I abide by the gov’t rules – which I now have no idea what they are!
Today I took the 3 page ’employment plan’ and wrote on it “creative accounting for government – farce situation” and then filed it away…
I start my free computer courses late next week – it has no deadline, I can come almost anytime, any day. So as much or as little as I want…all I had to provide was my full name and date of birth!
I’ve looked over the flickr pics several times. Very sad. I see one positive sign. That brave little green plant that came up through all the ash.
bhb: it is certainly sad – but isn’t nature so wonderful to send up a signal to life that all is going to be ok…but it will just take time.
jean: it won’t be the same at your property, but it could be said to be ‘same but different’ – i hope you can plant nearby to some of your memory trees, new memories that will grow into the future generation memories…
rummuser: I have oddles of situations as well, but I plumped for the very current one as it is still in the middle of before/after
mike: that sounds real scary battling fire
Cathy,
Yes, as I’ve written before, we’re already starting new memories. Not up on the land yet, because they still won’t let us in. Hopefully this coming week. The fire team did escort us and the insurance adjusters in last Monday, but the responsibility has now been given to the Forest Service, starting 6 am today (Saturday).
Jean, you then have to wait, leave it to the Forest Service who will no doubt work what needs to be done and when…a waiting game. Although, I guess you can start planning what you will do i.e. buildings and landscape.
Cathy,
Yes, in the fullness of time. We can’t make plans until we can get the architect and contractor up there to give us some estimates, and until we hear from the insurance company to see what they will cover. We’re relaxed about the whole thing. There’s a lot more to life than just that.
last sentence…indeed there is 🙂
in some ways you problems are helping me with my problem i.e. the employment situation that will not happen as I had thought it would…so now this truly is a transitional period for me…
Cathy,
That would be great if my problems could be useful to you. To me that’s the joy of sharing our experiences.
It is so sad to see and hear such devastation…but there’s always a little glimpse of hope somewhere among the rubble,which like the fire embers,could spark a whole world of hope.
We don’t get tornados, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes here. Wildfire must be nature’s way of clearing land that can’t sustain big trees because of our drought condition.
Jean, what’s your take on this?
Thea,
Yes. That’s why I went out of my way to find a bit of new growth.
Bikehikebabe,
The forests were overgrown in addition to the drought. Periodic low intensity fires clear out the undergrowth and fuel load, but we’ve been suppressing fires for years. Now the parts that suffered the intense fire are paying the consequences.
We had cleared out all trees and vegetation for 25 feet around the house and helped pay to thin out the trees for a large area around that, but the fire was just too hot and the wind too high. Even our metal roof and deck didn’t help. The surprising thing was the contents of our well house, 7 feet in the ground, were destroyed too. That was one hot fire!