Gangs roaming devastated streets

With all the downed tree branches, you'd expect to see people in front of their houses frantically cleaning up. Well, around here, gangs of young people visited affected areas and brought with them all the shovels, rakes, and brooms to help clean up the debris. When asked what volunteer group they were part of, they gave a surprising answer. They just found each other through social media and met up. The majority of the group were Gen Z, so if anyone complains that young people are lazy and don't know how to work, I will happily punch them in the nose on Gen Z's behalf. They worked tirelessly to rake yards, haul large branches, and do a general cleanup. This particular group is mainly from USC. 

They weren't the only ones thinking of the devastation and how they could help. A tree company from a fairly distant city came to start cleanup of the larger piles. FOR FREE. A huge crew with lots of equipment, working in a city they don't call home -- for FREE. Just there, being giving, decent human beings. Some good things do come out of tragedies. 

The estimate is that a year's worth of damage was done in the two day wind event. Though there are still piles on the street, all the volunteers, private companies, and City/County workers have been working tirelessly. Our completely impassable street is almost back to normal.

Earth, Wind and Fire

As anyone in the US who has a cell phone, TV, or newspaper knows, Los Angeles County is on fire. Fire danger, extreme at any time, was increased ten-fold by winds, that even by Santa Ana standards, were devastating all on their own. Thousands of people have lost their homes. 

The first day of high wind, which terrified me, was nail biting, but we felt we could ride it out. Power went out. We've been through this before. Then the phone call that changed everything. "Look out your window. Do you see flames?" Not only did we see flames, they looked to be across the street. Checking for alerts, we learned  that appearances to the contrary, the fire was huge but not that close. Okay, we've ridden out fires before. Probably smart to pack go-bags just in case, but how bad could it be? To err on the side of caution we made a pact with Elvis's Mom and Nick's Mom, that should it come to it, we would evacuate together. At 4 am, it came to that. Police with bull horns drove down the streets and weren't even polite. They were yelling GET OUT. Phone calls to make sure we were all awake and ready to ride, throwing bags in cars, and off we went toward safety. Nick's Mom bundled Nick off to the Convention Center right away, even though the fear was they weren't allowing pets. We and Elvis's Mom took off to Costco, of all places, because we knew they have a huge parking lot so we could walk the pups and hang until we had more information. One downside to that -- no restrooms until Costco opened, in SIX hours. You can guess where this is heading.

Fortunately, Panera was open early with nice amenities and breakfast too. By then, Nick's Mom texted us that, yes, our fur babies were welcome. Of course, they didn't know that Rascal wasn't too friendly, but we really wanted to be somewhere indoors and safe with friends. Elvis's Mom had the good fortune to be able to go to family in a safe area not too far away. So off to the Convention Center we went.

Shockingly, Rascal and Nellie were very well behaved and seemed to get the seriousness of the situation. We settled in and as we sorted through bags, I realized that in my haste, there were important things missing. We decided to chance it and go back to the house and grab some more stuff. Fortunately the Officer at the road block let us through the thickening smoke and our house was still there. Grabbing things that were important and things we thought were important, stuffed them in the car, and went back to spend the night in safety. Word to the wise:  plan well in advance for emergencies. Have lists. Don't wait until the last minute. Just sayin'.

The Convention Center had numerous volunteers who made people as comfortable as possible. Cots to sleep in, blankets, even pillows. They provided dog and cat food, bottled water, and meals. And yet, we all just wanted to go home. After a sleepless night and downing an incredible cinnamon bun, we all packed up and left. We knew there were houses burned to the ground two blocks north of us and four blocks east. We had no idea if our house was still intact since we were closest to the fire. We knew our area was still under an evacuation warning, which could become mandatory at any moment. We headed slowly up the street of downed branches and debris. Told the officer we lived on the street and wanted to check the house, because, yes, it was still there. All there. Our entire block was spared from fire. The winds were a whole different story.

Huge branches took down part of a power pole (deja vu from 2022). The street was nearly impassable. Some home had to have their gas shut off. But we survived and the community came together so strongly to get things back to normal (more on that later) -- whatever that will be in the future.

Smoke and heat make for lazy days

Though the major SoCal fires near us are reaching acceptable containment levels -- meaning they are not in imminent danger of burning down more towns and destroying acres of wildlife habitats (not to mention wildlife) -- they are continuing to smolder and burn. Plumes of smoke rise above the hills, smoke awakens us from restless slumber, and the heatwave continues to add to the misery. Projects that should take one day outside are put off in hopes of better air and cooler temps. Always lazy, my go to excuse now is heat and unhealthy air quality which is confirmed by TV meteorologists only to happy to be complicit in my goofing off. 

I should be doing indoor projects at the very least, and I have managed to start the very tedious task of backing up photos and actually labeling them (for a change). This was partially inspired by the very fires that are making it impossible to be motivated to go outdoors. With evacuation warnings in place, suddenly saving things seemed to be important. So yes, putting together a bug out kit made me think of all the things that should go in it. Important documents, check. Clothes for a week, check. Dog items/food, check. Electronics, check. But did I REALLY want to lug around a huge desktop in addition to other devices. Probably not. Hence the backing up. Not to mention the desktop is very old and probably going to die soon anyway. 

Now backing up and labeling photos isn't all bad. Going through the pictures of my month long trip to Japan was a real treat. Reminded me of all the fun I had getting hopelessly lost going down intriguing alleys or the wonder I felt at the magnificent art and architecture. A sample:

 

Then there are the photos of the garden that prove how much work has gone into it after every disaster (wind storm damage/tree removals) or change of heart about the direction of the plan. It's rather fun and encouraging to realize that, though the work will never be done, so much has gone into the look of it so far. 

The devastation of 2011:

The replacements:

 

And if you're wondering, most of my non-garden photos are of cute dogs and (now) a chicken.

When not pretending to being faithfully backing up photos, fortunately my library cards allow me to enjoy digital copies of books and I'm back on the mystery books kick. I prefer English type mysteries with a wry tone, though I'm also partial to almost any mystery where helpful dogs or cats are involved. 

Reading has made me even more conscious of words and how they affect thinking. For instance, authors who are true animal lovers often refer to a dog or cat as "it." People are referred to as "owners" even though "guardian" would be more apropos. And before you go there, I am aware that animals are property under the law. It makes me wonder, though, how much of our language shapes our thinking about how things work in our society and how they should work. 

See what being trapped indoors and reading too much does to one? It hurts your brain!

Stuffy house, stuffy brain. AND a dog in need.

The last few days have been torture. Now I know what everyone was complaining about during the actual lockdown portions of our current pandemic. 

When we first got stay at home orders, I wasn't upset by that at all. I hate shopping and having to dress in something other than sweats to go anywhere seems like more trouble than it's worth. Who doesn't love puttering around the house doing projects, reading good books, perusing Pinterest, or getting out in the garden to get all dirty? Talking to passersby on their daily dog/fitness walks is enough socializing for anyone. Or it was until the big stink.

The big stink is the result of all the fires that are raging mostly out of control nearby and up north in California, Oregon and Washington. The smoke has been so thick and noxious, it's all I can do to step outside and quickly feed my critters -- and that's with two masks on. It's painful to watch Ninja in the yard acting like she's so stoned she can hardly move. And without her consent to being caught and brought into the cooler, less smokey house, there's nothing to be done about it. Kuma, he of minimal brains, doesn't seem to notice the air being toxic and has to be reined in from his normal long walks to protect him mostly from himself. At least when he gets home there are two air purifiers going non-stop and an air-conditioned room when it gets too hot and stuffy.

After only one week of this self-imposed lockdown, dealing with a stuffy house that no fan can adequately air out, I'm feeling an ennui that discourages me from doing much of anything other than reading. Projects that involve lifting, sanding, painting or anything else remotely outdoorsy and physical are off the table. So I've turned my attention to trying to find the perfect home for Princess. She's a little Miniature Pinscher who is cuddly, only barks when people are at the door, chill with cats (at least those in her backyard) and other dogs, and is 7 years old -- no health issues. And without further ado, Princess:

The sky is falling!

The smoke from multiple fires is so thick the sun is either a rusty orange or almost invisible. Evacuation warnings are in place for multiple towns. Even with two air purifiers working overtime, the air is stuffy and hard to breathe. So what am I worried about? Why Ninja, of course. 

Unlike my beautiful bear who stays with us in the house and is protected from the fetid air except for those times when he must go out for important business, Ninja is on her own outside. Two nights ago the worry was the potential for very fierce Santa Ana winds. For those who are not Californians, think hurricanes. I was fearful that she might be blown off her perch in her favorite nighttime roost. I needn't have worried -- but for a very odd reason. 

Yup. She's broody again and hiding out all day except for about a 20 minute break to gulp down some food and run back to her nest. And the other good news -- the winds never reached us. So double good fortune.

But back to the broody bit. I'm now an old hand at figuring out where she hunkers down, and sure enough, by patiently waiting out of sight, I watched as she dove into the Bromeliads (again). So for the fifth time, I have to disappoint her motherly instincts and raid her nest. Easy peasy. Today I would simply watch for her mealtime excursion, quickly/stealthily raid her eggs and wait for her meltdown. Nope. Somehow missed mealtime. Dang! Frankly, in all this smoke, I'm not that anxious to roust her out because it means she'd spend more active time in the yard. At least her nest is somewhat protected. With the sky falling at the moment, there are no easy choices. We'll have to wait for tomorrow's set of catastrophes to pick out options.

And now for GOOD NEWS...

One satisfying moment out of all this though -- Ninja finally deigned to take her dust bath in the very ritzy tire bath I made for her. You may recall the two days of sifting dirt and two types of sand along with diatomaceous earth carefully placed near her hangout. She utterly ignored that spa treatment until yesterday. Actually, that was the tip off that something had changed. And sure enough, apparently it was the precursor to her nesting for the long haul. It's good to know that hens have high hygiene standards. Not to mention all that work was worth it. Small victories are victories nonetheless.