Life Goes On....

If all one has seen is the media coverage, one might believe that the entire county is in ruins. We thought that ourselves as the drama was unfolding, the only news we had was on television and emergency text warnings and fires were burning all around. It is still hard to comprehend the vast reach of these fires, the unpredictability of the flames, the whole subdivisions and the widely scattered communities that were destroyed, but the towns were largely spared, and the famous wineries along the Valley of the Moon are still open.  

We drove along the valley, otherwise known as Highway 12, today to meet some Berkeley friends for lunch in Napa. The current concern is the rain which began this morning and is scheduled to be heavy at times. Many storm drains melted and crews are racing to replace  them before giant sinkholes are created, The storm drains are being blocked with 'wattle' long straw filled rolls to keep the water out of them, and burned telephone poles are being replaced.* The burned hillsides are also in danger of erosion and slipping, although knowing how rocky our soil is I might be more concerned about flash flooding which is also predicted.

I chose this picture of Knude Vineyards to illustrate the mercurial behavior of the flames.  Some trees are bright green, some are brown or yellow, some are burned black and being cut down. Areas of scorched earth* can be seen next to untouched vineyards. This is the scenario that stretches along the hills for fifteen miles. Some of it is shocking, most of it will recover quickly. The grass is already starting to appear along the side of the road....

*extra