Bye bye kitties

This is what our hills looked like yesterday. You can hardly see any evidence of fire. Just a little smoke if you know where to look. It is so much more dramatic at night, don't you think?

The fires have died down quite a bit. We have our nice blue sky back and we can breathe much easier.

Today I caught the fire fighting bulldozers going home. They could be Caterpillars or Deere, I don't know. I call them kitties just to make Chase go crazy. Their flatbed trailers along with the cabs and little trucks that carry the "wide load" signs had been parked at the end of our street for several days now. They did a good job and now they can go home. Thank you CDF (California Department of Forestry).

You know, I was slightly irritated earlier this summer when the local water company contracted with somebody to clear the dry brush off their land that abuts our back fence. It ruined the view of the wilderness in my and my neighbors' opinion. It no longer looked like one might see a zebra or giraffe strolling around among the grass and trees in the riverbed. They did not just disc the grass, they cleared it completely. They even dug huge holes in which to bury the brush. They kept going over it again and again for days. I thought maybe they were going to build a golf course or houses or something down there. I'm not irritated anymore. Of course. Now I'm glad they built such a good fire break on their land. It makes me feel a lot more secure since the Indians don't seem to be very competent to patrol their land which is just beyond that of the water company.

It seems that all the rabbits that lived in the brush are now in our back yard eating everything. The rabbits drive Chase and Brig wild when they see them out the back door. I will have to reinstall the Nestle's cookie poster over the glass in the door to obscure their view and restore peace in the evening. I've made a point of keeping the bird feeders full for all the displaced birds. I have been able to identify several that I have not seen around here before. Even though it doesn't look as nice as before, the wild life have been driven closer to us and thus are more visible. Even the coyotes sound a lot closer.

They made the firebreak very smooth but hard to walk on. It is dry, powdery, sandy dirt that isn't so smooth when one gets right down to it. It is all huppy-duppy. It gets inside one's sandals and between the toes and is gritty. I don't like to wear hiking shoes when it is so warm. Our old paths to the riverbed were obliterated when they cleared all that brush. The dogs and I will need to tramp them out again but I will wear more substantial shoes. Maybe I'll do that once the rains start.

I wonder if it would be okay to sow some wildflower seeds out there?