Glass Fire and Red Flags

A screen grab from the San Francisco Chronicle this morning of the damage to one of the huge wineries destroyed this week by the Glass Fire. 

We had a lovely three weeks or so of our "normal" September weather. Skies in the deep blue that you only see along this part of the globe. The mornings were a little cooler and evenings filled with crickets and frogs in symphony. Days for lounging in temps around 30c. Perfect for sipping rosé and BBQing. 

We'd cleaned the soot from all our outdoor decks and washed all the cushions and hammocks. But as we feared that didn't last. Fire season resumed with a new fire exploding in wine country just an hour North of us. *Just* before that began we had word that our wine order had shipped from Terra Valentine but it's not here so we're a little worried one of our favorite places might be evacuated too. 

Marin is on high alert with a red flag warning this week too. No one is allowed to use power tools outside or use many of the roads through the parks and lots of parks are just closed. Red flags are something we're pretty used to having whenever the humidity and wind gets to the danger point. I hope that they don't need to cut our power but if there's any high wind this week, we fully support them shutting down the grid. We have a generator and are equipped to just carry on. 

Living anywhere on the planet is going to subject you to climate emergencies at some point now. We're gutted that all the most spectacular places we have been are going to be first on the chopping block it seems. 

Then The Sky Turned Orange

 One couldn't really blog 2020 in the Bay Area without marking that day the freaking sky turned orange. But it did and we were socked in along with the entire coast all the way up into Northern BC. 

But that dreadful week passed in a dim post apocalyptic light and then the wind cleared all the air and we are back to beautiful clear Summer again. Joel and I are happy to be back to our trail runs at sunset. 

Back To School-ish

We went through many contingencies for Fall 2020. In the end we decided to just chill and homeschool and see what panned out around us. The crunchy Waldorf independent study charter where the kids were registered served up such a half-baked plan so late in the Summer that we hardly had a choice as all. Other roads were certainly no longer open. Flakey school planning when paired with extreme funding cutbacks from the state resulted in Caelen's class being cut from the school altogether a couple of weeks from his start date and Austen's class, which begins this week, lost its teacher. They combined the grade 2 class with the grade three class, creating a mega class... and are planning to have the kids in person on campus next month for outdoor classes. The details are vague, and the class size is more than double of what the Marin county health officer would like to see. We'll just watch to see what happens first.

Meanwhile, our little homeschooling situation is actually pretty sweet. We put the two TK kids together at one house and the two 2nd graders at the other each day, and each parent is teaching what they excel in. One mom is doing writing and reading and I'm doing art, history, and baking. The dads are in charge of STEM projects that include blowing things up outside (really) and woodworking and robots. The 2nd graders will participate in Zoom lessons with their Waldorf peers for the coming month just to try that out but given how fast they have already covered much of the curriculum planned for this year at the Waldorf school I'm not convinced they will really enjoy this in the long run. Time will tell. 

The fire in Pt Reyes is still burning with so much fuel that it is likely to burn for two more months despite being contained. It's still a little smokey out there some days. Our PM has been under 100 all week and often under 50 which is better than any normal urban city but occasionally we get a wind change and are socked in under a cloud that puts us back into a PM reading of 250 or more. 

I've been able to go for a run every day when it clears and we've enjoyed some days with fog in the mornings so despite the summer heat, the cool mornings and nights have been lovely. It's really got the crickets going in the evenings again which I love. Autumn in California is always a treat weather-wise in a non-fire year. It's still Summer till November and some years, even till December. We're hoping with continued closures of the parks and prudent power shutdowns, we can prevent another surge of fires this season. California could use some quiet nights. 

The Hills, They Are Burning

 

Ok so what we said about the hills, don't take to the hills right now. They are either on fire, about to be on fire or filling with smoke. We woke to the sound of our UPS beeping as it kicked in during a power outage while we were sleeping a week ago. The house was otherwise silent and of course pitch black but I had a bad feeling the outage was due to the storm we'd heard was on the way. Dry lightning is the enemy of anyone who lives on the West coast of Canada or the US. Late summer heat and dryness in the forests makes for a dangerous place for a strike to land. In 2008 we were here for the last dry lightning event in California and it was pretty catastrophic. 

I looked out over the valley saw in in distance some flashes of  lightening and when I stepped outside the dry hot wind kicked up and started to pull on our awning over the deck. The air smelled like sulfur. Joel got up and began manually cranking in the awning which is very difficult without the electric motor. The storm rolled closer and some drops of rain started and I had to run outside to cover the generator with tarps and huge rocks to hold them down dodging flying branches. Our phones lit up with alerts about fires from the storm that had started in Mill Valley, Pt Reyes, Forest Knolls/San Geronimo (very close to us) and I believe there were a few other strikes spots around the Muir Woods side of Mt Tam. Even with the rain starting we knew there was enough build up of dry tinder, these fires were not going to be easy to attack. I sat up with my phone and our wireless hotspot (the only way to get a signal in an outage here because we are just out of regular cell phone company range).  Our local firefighters heroically put out all the fires overnight except for the one in the Pt Reyes National Park which they could not reach. That is the one that is now nearly 3,000 acres and now drawing resources from Montana. 

 A week went by with over 650 fires raging across the state from the lightning event and then we had advance warning of ANOTHER lightning complex coming our way and were advised to be ready to evacuate if a strike were to land near us. So, along with all our friends in the area, we began to organize the plan for evacuation and pack up essentials in the car. A massive Red Flag warning covering most of Northern California was declared. Extra resources started to pour into the state. Luckily when the storm hit it has mostly dispersed at sea and there were just a couple of strikes near existing fires. Our Red Flag was lifted and life returned to our strange normal.  

Fairfax with unhealthy smoke levels still had a concert in the parking lot and diners sitting on patios

It's hazy out there but the sun makes it through. We usually have clear air in the afternoon & evening.

We're so fortunate to have central air conditioning (powered by our solar array) which pulls in fresh air from outside, cools it and then filters it before sending it around the house. Very little smoke gets inside. We had the system updated just a couple of years ago and are very glad we did. It has saved our lungs and sanity the last few years. 

Love, Smoke and Community

October 2017 will go down in my memory as a tangle of highs and lows. I find it's always best to talk about the highs first so I'll share our happy 10th wedding anniversary/Canadian Thanksgiving celebration. Every year we gather our family and some close friends together and do a sit-down dinner for around 30 guests. This year we decided to get a little more romantic and tie in our 10th anniversary which was back in August but we hadn't really celebrated it yet. We always go "all out" for our Thanksgiving but this time I added a rack of crystal champagne glasses to the usual party rental order and got a little more involved with flowers. And then I needed these linens and well... it turned out really beautifully. Here's a peek:

It was a perfect clear warm evening and we toasted the event reading aloud our wedding vows we'd kept in our album all these years. Such wonderful food and company. We felt like a bride and groom again. 

My parents as well as some very dear friends came to town for the occasion and stayed for a few days after. At about 2am on Monday morning Joel awoke - we think the cat, Kopi-o, woke him - to our house filling with wood smoke. He leaped into action and closed every window and checked Next Door to see where the fire was. Sonoma. We were safe but the smoke was thick and luckily with his fast movements hardly any of us even woke till the morning. At breakfast, amid the hum of air cleaners, we looked out on ash that almost seemed like snow falling. The 50mph winds had also dumped a shower of burnt 1-2" black twigs all over the ground in the night. 

It's been hard to read the news each day. Fires breaking out all across Northern California and very seriously across the North Bay. People caught unaware in bed as freak high winds caused the fire to leap from one hilltop to the next. So many were never warned. Some evacuated and some never made it out. And the flames have marched on, continuing to destroy homes and take lives over the past six days. The most deadly forest fire in California's history and it's not over yet. 

It's barely an hour away which in itself is a bit scary. But lets be real, there are a lot of things between us and the fires so those particular blazes aren't the reason I packed a "go bag" for each of us just in case. Marin and most of the East Bay have been issued a red flag warning. It happens quite a lot to us at this time of year. It means if anything sparks it will burn fast and threaten nearby communities and make evacuations extremely fast. So they issue these warnings to keep us on our toes. We have never really taken much notice in the past but this week each red flag has been sobering. 

Air quality is a huge concern for us. Caelen has had eye irritation to the point of hives and blisters, Austen has a sore under his nose and we've all had a dry cough. We have those trusty n95 masks like the Singapore smog days of the past. The kids actually like their cute masks and we wear them whenever we have to go out. It does help. 

Fairfax has been like a ghost town. Everyone heeding the health advisory and staying indoors. Schools have been closed due not only to air quality but also so many teachers were evacuated they can't run the schools safely. 

We've taken some day trips out of the smoke and enjoyed some sunshine on Stinson Beach and around San Francisco. No matter where we go, no one's mind is really at peace. Every interaction with others begins with "is your family safe?" and exchanges of "good luck" replace "goodbye" in nearly every setting. We've talked to a lot of evacuees and have decided to open our own home to a family in need. Amazingly enough, I checked online and saw that there were hundreds of available homes willing to take in evacuees. It's heartwarming. As quickly as shelters post their needs online, I see follow-up messages saying "we're ok! No need for more stuff" as they are flooded with donations. There are still lots of needs to be filled but it's really important, with so many helping, to check the most up to date lists first!

Today is our first day of clear air. Some of the fires are contained - which is to say they aren't spreading but still burning. The death toll this morning was updated and will continue to climb. I hope the worst is over now. To all my friends around the Bay, I hope you are safe and good luck.