Fire and Rain

My eyes are burning and ashes are falling on the deck outside my office window. The patio fountain has a thin layer of ash that looks like gray mold. My bedroom smells like a campfire. Welcome to Santa Ana wind season in Southern California. The wildfires are blazing everywhere. My cats are hiding under the bed, Vanna-dog is cowering in a corner somewhere because she's afraid of wind, my eyes are watering and Gary is coughing up a storm in the bathtub (we're talking whitecaps). We're happy that we are not in any immediate fire danger, but it ain't pretty here right now.

Last week we dealt with the rain on our estate sale. We were amazed that when we finally decided to get all the stuff out of storage, the universe dumped a bunch of water on us. This weekend, the driveway and RV slab are clear and it's "ashes, ashes, all fall down." Double yuck. Anybody have a marshmallow? I'd gladly settle for a heavy fog or mist.

If we need a red devil to fight this nasty fire for us, I volunteer Citizen Oreo, our kids' dog. Her photo is attached for your enjoyment. She's part lab and part beagle and we call her the "Blabrador Retreigal." Recently, she tore her ACL - just like humans do - and it cost the kids close to $3K in surgery. Gotta love those inexpensive rescue dogs. They're our babies. I'm going outside to sing a campfire song in her honor.