Hi! It’s been a rough week, what with all the smoke and ashes in the air. We are about a mile east of the mountains that 2 fires are on the other side of – one spot is 3 miles to our south and east, and the other is I’m not sure how far, but to the north and east. Z hasn’t seen red at the top of the hills since Sunday night/Monday morning. I saw flames through the trees at midnight on Sunday night and looked on Calfire to find out what fire it was – I figured that it was in Lake County. At least one family from T’s preschool lost their home.

Garden update: I’ve still been picking some stuff out there- kale, strawberries, corn the other day, and some of the tomatoes. Oh, and melons that we haven’t gotten around to trying. Last weekend there was one that was delicious in one half and bitter in the other!

There’s a bit of ash on everything. I’m worried about my soil. The raccoons are digging up what little I planted (greens). I bought garlic seed on Sunday (maybe 8 hours before the 1st fire Santa Rosa fire started. Haven’t planted it yet! The zinnias and celosia are still lovely. Some of my newer marigolds blew over and/or got eaten by gophers. The wind on Sunday night was so strong. (I actually predicted the fires right around the time they started). The wind tossed my little greenhouse and scattered my seedlings all over the place. Some of the supports were broken. We’ll have to examine that situation in a few months – it’s the end of the season, pretty much. I’m so frustrated that I didn’t get my cover crops to germinate. I can plant again, but the way the soil is and the sprinklers are, it’s hard to germinate anything.

It’s not really safe to be out there, and I’ve been extra busy with a preschooler at home, errands to run, and twitter and facebook updates to share (I have a separate twitter account that I use for more personal and political stuff).

The wind isn’t as bad tonight as it was on Sunday night, and at least for the northern fire (Tubbs) it may be blowing in such a way that the fire will stop spreading. Please wish us luck!