The above picture was taken at our local hardware store. Andy was looking at the merchandise, here some bolts, to find some of the items to put on our insurance list. When Andy found something Kaitlin put the information into a spreadsheet program on her iPhone and Torben took a picture with his. Needless to say their help was invaluable. Bless them both!
The visit was very short (Wednesday afternoon to Saturday afternoon), but we had a good time and got a lot done. We even made it up to the land for about 15 minutes before we had to leave to get them to their plane. It’s a long story. We had to drive over an hour to get to the place where we could sign our waivers and get our keys, so we all got up between 5 and 5:30 to make it all happen. But it was a gorgeous day and an adventure. Our scorched, treeless land is still a downer, but no sense dwelling on that. I personally find I tend to tune out the scorched trees and focus on the new bits of green popping up.
What was your week like?
What was my week like? High of 114° in the valley, 108.3° up here on the ridge on our shaded porch… in other words, hot. Office temperature control on the fritz, controlling at a humid 80° with minimal air flow in my office. In other words — extended heat wave.
Quite a challenging week. Settling down now.
Wet. Since I am grounded, I was able to be totally lazy. I can get used to that state of mind.
Yes, the regreening will take place and in time, a new rejuvenated place will come up.
What was my week like? I don’t know, Jean. Probably fine. My short term memory currently beyond par.
Of far more interest are you, your house and your trees. I hate loss, I dread loss, I know loss and I am bloody marvellous living with it when I have to. My heart goes out to you. There are losses and there are losses. Trees, any vegetation, you are attached to – not easy. And I do wholeheartedly agree with you: As heartbreaking as it may be to see demolished which has taken ages to grow, as much balm is it to see new life emerge. Probably the most accurate definition of hope. And why it’s so important to nurture hope – in whatever matter.
Other than that I am positively green with envy at how organised your family is. Have currently misplaced perfectionism. It must have gone into exhausted hibernation.
All the best,
Ursula
I stepped off the narrow trail (2 ft wide) behind a wide but not high rock to let 3 teens on horses by. The shoulder of the 1st horse brushed me. She said “I’m sorry.” I said That’s OK I love horses. The rump of the horse, much wider than the shoulder, knocked me off the trail down a slope. My head sounded CRACK. Then I said “I don’t like horses.”
I turned out OK. Anyway as OK as I was before– I think.
I will start pondering the question after I get all the salt water cleared out of my brain and the sand out of everything.
Looks like y’all have enough standing to do some maintenance. Are you going to rebuild up there? There are some semi-underground houses with nice thermal characteristics that might be just about fire proof.
oh my gosh bhb!!!! you’ve not had any sudden headaches have you? remember liam neesom’s wife, she thought she was ok. should you be checked, just to make sure? a smack on the head is rather serious.
jean,
i don’t know where mike is… i’m like him… it’s been in the 100’s here for weeks and weeks on end. no end in sight!
actually if it dropped into the 90’s it would be a cold front!!! lol
do they still say lol? after all, i want to look compooter savy.
and dearest rammusser (rummy) … i have permission from the kind gentleman…
haven’t been commenting on your site but i do enjoy it! shame on me for commenting on it here! stay cool. and as for pleasing your dad with your cooking… i think that’s very sweet!
love to all, (bhb… go get your head checked!)
tammy j
when i said, “i’m ok- i think”, that was a joke. and “get your head checked” is thought of as a joke too.
love to all,
cynthia j (middle initial)
I’m in west-central Arkansas and the forecast — finally — has us returning to more seasonable temperatures… in the 90s, but that’s going to seem cooler.
Mike,
I sympathize. We do not do well in the heat.
Evan,
Good luck!
Rummuser,
Unfortunately on steep slopes erosion complicates things. As does the drought. It will be interesting, though.
Ursula,
We’re certainly not perfectionists. Instead one statement Kaitlin heard a lot as a kid was, “Smart people are a dime a dozen. You have to be effective!” That she is. 🙂
bikehikebabe,
What a great way of describing it. It made me smile even though I am concerned about you. Glad you’re all right.
Looney,
We don’t know yet if we will rebuild. We will definitely pay to get the debris removed, and to have our road fixed up. It’s a real and expensive mess because the government wouldn’t let us get in to clean out our culverts before it rained.
We’ll have to see what the insurance will pay and what we can reasonably fix up and rebuild with that amount.
We were surprised that our water treatment system, 7 ft down in the buried well house, was completely destroyed. As I’ve said, it was one hot fire for those of us in the direct line of it. Kaitlin said it now looks as if someone stuck black sticks into a lunar landscape.
tammy,
Yes, some people do still write LOL. Thanks for coming by.
have visited our little bunch again… as i sometimes do, before you do another post.. and i re-read what ursula wrote.
touched my heart. for you. for the land. the trees (my always beloved trees) and for the ever unkown before us. but autumn and its blessed coolness is just around the corner.
and i smile at rummy and his wisdom
and i laugh out loud at bhb (cynthia j) non non… bhb is YOU!
and i do love this blog little cheerful monk!
here’s a cool one to you each one!
tammy j (last name)
tammy,
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Jean!
I am reminded of our fires here in SD county.
All my friends who lost there homes and went through what you are going through right now. The devastation was really hard on everyone. Yet out of the ashes, new birth arrived! it took time and preservence; family, friends and strangers pitched in and helped in the rebuilding. Its like a new different life that we all were a part of enduring. Humour helps more as time passes. I know when I went to our National Forest it was very sad. The age and beauty of the forests would never be the same. But the first blooms in the spring were amazing like never before. And slowly things grew back. I still see more wild flowers, now.
I hope you both will have smooth and appropriate insurance pay offs,for paving your way for rebuiding costs. The emotional toll is hard enough to cope with and all financial to get done. I like what you said about keeping it positive in this post. Just peace, patience and preserverence and alot of gratitude for each moment!!
There’s never any “emotional toll” in Jean. I know. She’s my friend in our little town. That’s why she’s cheerfulmonk.
Diane,
We’ll have to see how it turns out. At our age we don’t have that much time left. And a positive attitude isn’t always sufficient. The people at Dixon’s apple orchard miles downstream of us were determined to rebuild after the fire (their apple trees were relatively undamaged), then there was a flash flood Sunday which wiped out a lot of their buildings. They were still determined to hang in there and were working on cleanup when an even bigger flash flood, three times the force of the previous one, stranded them for a while and destroyed most of their trees. They don’t know now if there’s any chance of recovery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TqOjRJ5wCQ&feature=relmfu
bikehikebabe,
Thank you!
HI…Bikehike Babe!
How’s the family?
Yes I wondered if I should say a thing about emotional but believe even the strongest viewing a fires devastations ….melt!
I know Jean is something else! Very “UNCOMMON!” 🙂
You sound vital and vigorous! Hope your head is better! Ouch!
Yes I know time will tell your story. That is so terrible. I was wondering how the area would fare as the flash flooding on such dramatic slopes are there. And it snows there too! That is just awful.
I am reminiscing about when I first became one of you’re followers and how you shared the stories of your place. Makes me sad….ya know big lipped again. Life takes us on many new courses!
I have been parusing moving more Northward myself.
Though its always hard to give up the beautiful weather here.
The green calls me though, I visited Oregon and Washington for my first time! I loved it! I checked out real estate in Oregon. Taxes are higher in Washington so a few residents explained to me. Such beautiful country! I still am fondest of Northern Calif. though but have spent lots of time up there.
I still love it here in SD lots so …just parusing it!
Diane,
Yes, we love the weather here too. And the sunshine. It would be hard to go back to mostly overcast days.