Foggy start to

Well, we have been on evac warning for three days now.  The Park Fire, that started in Bidwell Park of Chico, Seems to be climbing the slopes toward Shingletown, thus sparing Manton, Millville, and Oak Run.  Also, the wind has slackened and the fire has kind of stalled south-east of Manton.  Not without having taken out my Father's ranch though.  Or what was at one time Dad's place.  Mr Marion's cabin stood a hundred-twenty or so years.  Looks to be gone now.  I hope the new owners got their livestock all out.  Kinda  makes me a bit sad.  RIP El Rancho Seis Pinos.  All that is left is a painting done by a friend of my Father's.  

I called the roommate and warned him we may be showing up with lock, stock, and barrel in Fawn Lodge any day.  I checked with an acquaintance about keeping the horses, etc, at his place and was given a somewhat disseminating no.  I kind of expected that.  They're good friends as long as one doesn't expect much.  Don't like the idea of keeping the horses at Fawn Lodge, but not much choice at this point. 

Been working on getting the '58 (Jmebear's old truck) ready to go.  It runs fine, but there are some minor things that need doing.  The turn signal box is giving trouble.  Did you know that turn signals were still an option on trucks during the late fifties?  If there is a need to bugger out, we will at least have corrals, their feed and water tubs.  Jmebear's living room is a bit cluttered up.  What with the cat carriers, containers and lock boxes with documents and all the other stuff that has to be collected and taken along.  I am thankful that the wind died down and the fire stalled.  It gives us more time if&when it shows up here. 

Suffice it to say, the past few days have been rather tense!

We would have been up the proverbial creek but for my roommate not lending me gas money to accomplish all of this.  Jmebear and I came up short at the end of June, well rather Jmebear did and I lent her the money to make ends meet which cleaned me out too.  But we were really sweating blood when the warning was issued!  Our expectation was to have been out of here Saturday, but everything paused and we were able to catch our breath, so to speak.  All we can do is hope and pray that the fire has exhausted itself and can now be extinguished.

The tomato plants have finally begun to give us tomatoes.  I was wondering if they would survive this heat, let alone produce.  The Beefsteak tomatoes are small, but still nice.  The Japanese variety I gambled on has proven to be a real champion!  Nice medium sized tomatoes and it hasn't objected overly to the horrible temps we have been enduring.  A real winner all around!  They are pretty too, being blushed with purple over a pink fruit.  Great taste as a bonus!  Everything else is really struggling.

We have also been coping with a white Grasshopper invasion.  They have been devastating my roses and flowers.  The flowers in pots have done well, but anything on the ground has been stripped bare.  The Iris just gave up and went dormant.  My poor roses.  They may have also killed my native Lilac.  

I do hope everyone else has had a better week.  At least it has been a lot cooler the past few days.

praying for you, Stude...I do not think I could live in a place consistently threatened with fire.  

Pastor was really full of the Spirit yesterday.  We are doing a series on the book of James.  for a young man, he has a lot of depth.

You know Connie, this major fire thing every year is new.  We would have a big fire every five or ten years, but nothing like this!  Most of this is due to the stupidity of our State Government.  The logging restrictions I can understand.  For instance we lost seventy-five miles of Redwood groves due to the greed of a foreign owner.  However what they did is to just about kill the industry in the state.  Oregon and Washington followed suit and now we import a great deal of our lumber from Canada at a greatly increased cost.   Then there's the insane environ-mental laws imposed on land owners that have made it impossible to make a profit.  So Canada profits off the stupidity of our State Legislators.  So, the forests aren't thinned and the underbrush isn't maintained on Government land.  Add to it, there is considerable trouble with fires getting out of control because the Federal Bureaucracy won't pull their heads out of their asses quickly enough to get a handle on fires.  Trump chewed out Jerry Brown and New-scum  about the Carr fire here in Redding.  Here we go again with the Park fire!  Proof positive the idiots in Sacramento learned nothing from the past.