How much yarn could I stuff in the car
Sunday October 27th 2019, 10:50 pm
Filed under: Life

(And don’t forget the ostomy supplies.) We’ve never had to do an evacuation here–we could only guess where to begin. The people from Paradise say grab your dirty clothes first, because they’re the ones you’ll need the most, but for us it doesn’t look like it’ll be something we’ll need to worry about.

Rainy season is supposed to have started.

This morning there was a bit of brown to the sky and that was it.

Come the afternoon, though, the wind was blowing so hard that even I heard the trees creak and looking out the window was not sure that taller one was going to hold, but it did. Yay.

Sonoma, not so much. People have been evacuated clear to the ocean, which is not close. I’ve never heard of such a thing before. The coastal mountain range is supposed to be perennially damp from the fog and the redwood needles that capture it.

I stepped outside and the fire smell was now as if our own town was the one burning. You didn’t want to be out in that for long. We were at AQI 194, although that’s thankfully down to the 60s as I type. Just like two years ago, there were Van Gogh Starry Night impressions on the visible wind–you’re just not supposed to be able to see air move.

I get to joke that I seem to have briefly smoked pot for the first time in my life, but as the famous quote goes, I only inhaled. And then that was snatched southward and the next blew in from the homes and the wineries and the everything up north and one could only wonder at what the mixtures held and whose dreams were in that smoke.

So far, as far as I know, no one has died in this, and I am highly grateful for that.

Someone reported doing a U-turn in the middle of a bridge, presumably the newly built Carquinez over the bay–the landing at its northern edge was roaring.

With nearly a million people out of power and who knows how many out of their homes, we are within an oasis of safety and comfort here and know how fortunate we are.

But my friend I.M. finally got his hat that had been knit just for him, his friend got one too, and I know that right now there are two very happy people out there and that helps. A lot.


8 Comments so far
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We were wondering if our power would go out – not because of a planned outage, but because of branches falling in the neighborhood. Fortunately, we don’t have anything tall in our yard or the neighbors’.

These past three years have been crazy – with all the large fires and destruction. Got my N95s handy.

Comment by Anne 10.27.19 @ 11:23 pm

Yes, it iS crazy out there! We had winds so strong last night that it sounded like a war zone outside the house. The wind gusts hit with such ferocity that I feel certain you would have heard it hit the house. We never really lost power (underground lines here) but about 1/2 the town did. Glad you are safe also….for now.

Comment by Ruth 10.28.19 @ 12:04 am

I’m so glad you are safe! What I’m seeing on the news looks so frightening – but then, it always does, so it’s hard to judge. Thank heavens you didn’t have to evacuate. That would have been quite a process.

Comment by Pegi F 10.28.19 @ 2:31 am

You keep yourself safe out there, ok?

Comment by Afton 10.28.19 @ 4:16 am

Frightening! You’re smart to think ahead of time about what you’d take and so on; I was doing the same thing earlier this year for hurricane prep (making lists, looking up motels that allow cats). The California situation worries me for my brother in Oakland, too; I hope that he and you stay safe.

Comment by ccr in MA 10.28.19 @ 5:11 am

So sad and scary…please be safe!

Comment by Jayleen Hatmaker 10.28.19 @ 8:34 am

Tis is truly hell on earth. My thoughts are with all those people and wondering what we can do to help

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 10.28.19 @ 10:13 am

and it continues today. Our power came back on about 1500. There are/were a lot more grow areas in the tri-county area that burned last year than there are in Sonoma. So, you actually had the opportunity last year….
Sonoma has been better organized, but they have had a slower fire spread (and more open land).
What would I grab? The computer, the hard drives with all the photos (and scanned documents), the photo albums, the document binder, meds, some clothing
oh – and the notes for those papers I am working on!

Comment by Holly 10.28.19 @ 8:47 pm



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