A Fire Vacation~~~~

Well Darlings,

My brother had decided that it would be best to cut short our vacation at his cabin.

And what an adventure it had been.

For a while we were not worried about fires because most of them were far from us, but a new fire started a bit nearer to us and at first it seemed that things might be fine, but my brother has a bit of a sixth sense and decided to call his other son, Ronnie to rent a large U-Haul truck and get some of his friends up to the cabin quickly; we were going to pack as much out of the cabin as possible.

Lois and I didn’t argue with my brother’s decision, so we started boxing all the small things first while we waited for the truck to get here. My brother checked on his neighbors and they too were considering packing some of their things just in case.

It was a few hours but Ronnie and two of his friends got here, so we started with the boxes first into the overhang, we had already put the important papers into Tom’s car. The boys made quick work of everything thanks to the fact that Tom, Lois and I had already dismantled the beds and took down all the curtains and unplugged and boxed up everything. Amazing what one can do in a hurry.

Tom made reservations at a motel that was safely away from the area, so all of us could stay there overnight to rest before we came home. The last thing that was packed besides my little Princess was Lois’ western town painting, while Tom took pictures of the cabin and property “For the Insurance” he said. Lois put the painting into their car. “I’m not taking my eye off of that painting” and she was right, she even took it into the Motel Room instead of leaving it in the car. It turns out that her $25.00 painting is worth several hundred dollars, it had been painted by a minor western artist in the 1940’s.

So now Princess and I are home, my house sitter is still here and I told her to stay a while as I was planning to go someplace else, it’s just making up my mind what to do next. I called Juanita at her daughter’s house and updated her. She wanted to come back home right away but I told her to stay and have fun with her family as I was going to plan another trip and I would update her on that.

The air has been so poor here from the fires that I need to find a place where it’s as clear as possible and since I was here, I needed to refresh my wardrobe and take care of any bills, while I was gone I had my house sitter delivered any bills to my lawyer so he could take care of them for me, I’m not ready to do bill paying on line yet.

My house sitter has done an excellent job of taking care of the house, neat, clean and the plants are doing well thanks to the drip irrigation. So I think taking another few weeks off would be good but I just need to think of where to go, considering all the smoke haze we’ve been having.

I’ve called my friends and let them know I am back for a little while, Keith came by the other evening to take me out to dinner, he had some suggestions and then dear Kenneth is coming by today to treat me to lunch, so we shall see.

I just feel so bad about my sister-in-law and brother, Lois took one last look at the cabin and then straightening her shoulders she said to me “If it burns it can be re-built, we are in a more fortunate position then some of our neighbors, but we’ve had it for 20 years.” I said to her “Lois you were always saying that except for the fire place there were a lot of things you wanted to change, if it burns think of it as serious home remodeling” and she laughed “That’s right, I really want to do it in all old fashioned knotty pine and river rock, maybe like the Ponderosa” referring to the homestead in the T.V. program “Bonanza”.

We shall see; I just hope everyone else comes out of this disaster well. We had heard on the news the night at the motel that one person had died in the Butte Fire, and we kept looking at each other then we hugged, realizing we are blessed.

I’ve not seen anything like this in 40 years or since the Oakland Fire Storm. We can just hope for the best for everyone, for many they are losing the only home they’ve known. But I’ve realized and this is a lesson for all you Diva’s, material things can be replaced, but family and good friends cannot.

If anything save your pets, your family photos and important papers, all else just have good insurance because it’s transitory.

And I’ve found out just how transitory I just received a telephone call a few days ago from Lois, she and my brother had got their things all packed away in a large storage unit but had decided to go back up to check on the status of their cabin.

She told me they had not been permitted to go to the area, so they went to a shelter for up dates, and she told me a very sad story, which has a happy ending.

They had tried to get to their cabin but had been turned back by the fire department, as they were driving down they noticed a dog slowly limping along the road, he looked like an Australian Cattle Dog and was in pitiful condition.

Lois and Tom managed to persuade the dog to allow them to pick it up and gave it some water, poor thing was thirsty. They had no idea where the poor thing came from; Tom knew none of his near neighbors had a dog of this type, so they took the poor thing to a Veterinarian.

Tom gave all the particulars and said to charge the bill to him, and if possible see if anyone had reported a lost dog answering that description.

Lois told me that the poor thing’s fur was singed, and he was soot covered, and its paw had been burned, the Vet said that it was also hungry and dehydrated, but should be fine. The strange thing is Lois was calling the dog “Smokey”.

She and Tom stayed in a Motel near their cabin area and keep checking on things.

During that time Moi had been in touch with her brother Roger in Santa Barbara and said that the air quality was good and to come down and spend a few weeks with them; Tom’s other son Richard and his wife and children had changed their plans because of the fires and will be visiting Roger instead in August, so it’s good to know they are safe.

So for now I’ll be staying at home for a few weeks and then off to Santa Barbara, my house sitter can accommodate the arrangements so she is going to visit relatives and then come back to house sit. Juanita will be with me for a few weeks make sure to her satisfaction that everything is just right.

I’d been in touch with my friend “Mean Kitty” and she told me and I quote “I think your brother and his wife are going to have themselves a dog, when you start giving some critter a name it starts becoming a part of you” and I think she’s right.

I’ve asked her if she and her husband wanted to join me at my brothers but she had to say no, “Work has got me tied up here and I’ve got some plans to do a yard sale or two, so I’m going to have to beg off.”

She showed me some of the vintage stuff she was planning to sell and I offered to buy this Victorian plant stand, I think Tom and Lois will like it for the cabin or new cabin which ever happens, it needs some restoration, but I think Lois will like the challenge.

“Mean Kitty” has been telling me how much the terrible economy has affected her and her husband, but she thinks some things may improve, “I have a plan and I just need to keep to my goals” she says. She is trying to stay positive about it “My house is in no way in danger ‘cause I’ve got a fix loan, through a good bank, so just have to stay with the budget.” I’m glad for her.

In the mean time I treated her to our favorite restaurant, after all one has to have a bit of fun in all this doom and gloom

I’ve been in touch with my brother Roger and he told me he has been looking around at things in his home, knowing about all the fires that have happened in his area and he has come to a conclusion. All the things that have extreme monetary value he is going to have auctioned off and simply put the money into some good long term investments.

He’s renting several safe deposit boxes to hold the originals plus negatives of family photos, what he has put up are copies.

I asked him about what he would do with his bare walls after he’s sold his art work and he told me that there are some painting galleries for people that just want a pretty picture on the wall that are inexpensive, so he’s going to do that.

Most of the antique furniture he’s going to sell, and just put in reproductions that are far more comfortable.

It’s this ‘Wildfire’s/Firestorm” attitude or feeling, just getting down to basics. And I can understand that. My brother said that since he has a guest house in the back I could always move in there if I wanted to. I thought that was very dear of him to suggest that, but I said that right now I just simply could not leave my current home, but to not be surprised if one day I show up with a U-haul and all my Samsonite retro collection luggage.

Now just an hour ago I got word from Tom and Lois, their cabin had burned down, the shed that held the ski’s and bikes was spared and most of their neighbors came through it fine, with only a couple of exceptions. Tom said that it looked like the fire just rolled through the trees but left the upper half of the trees alone; he said he’ll know better how much he may have to clean up after the first rains.

Lois said she gets to do her house remodeling, and about “Smokey” the dog they rescued a few days ago? Well they found Smokey’s owner, a very elderly man who had been pulled from his home by his neighbors, but they couldn’t find the dog at that time, the old gentleman thought that Smokey was dead. Lois told me the tears that were in that man’s eyes to know that Smokey was just fine and healing made her cry.

Lois said that they are now Smokey’s new owners, it seems that his former owner’s heart is in a bad way and he has to go to a care facility, he had a minor stroke and now he has no home to go to since it burned, but the old gentleman said that as long as he knew Smokey was fine and with good people he could go to the “old people’s home” with a clear heart and soul.

And, here is the surprise, Smokey is his real name, Lois said she had no idea that was the dog’s real name but it felt right and he responded to it.

So all’s well that end’s well---well as well that can be expected.

Tom is going to see what he can do to help his neighbors that lost their homes, put them in contact with some agencies that can help them. And Tom and Lois are going to see that Smokey’s former owner gets to see Smokey from time to time and make sure that the old man is doing o.k. it turns out that he has no family, so Tom is going to make sure a trust is in place for the old man’s care, the doctors’ said he really doesn’t have much time left and seems contented to go, so Tom has been talking with him about final arrangements.

It really doesn’t surprise me that Tom and Lois are doing this, they always wanted to do more for our father and mother, but sometimes things simply got bollixed up and it was left to Roger, not that Roger ever resented that, he’d always simply shrugged his shoulders and said “Man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.” And Tom and I always supported Roger’s decisions.

So in about a week or so I’ll be heading off to Santa Barbara, I do hope things will be better, but just knowing that some things have turned out well is enough for me.

Until Anon Darlings, Kisses.