Flower Friday. : : Crape Myrtle

OilMan didn't come to class this morning, but he joined us for coffee after Jorge and Kevin arrived and began sanding our porch.* The conversation ranged from solar panels and batteries to gluten free bread and Tobi and Dan's 250 year old heritage tree that fell in their back garden. Not only does it leave an enormous hole in the sky but getting rid of the wood is going to be a big problem, and they too are going to be looking for shade solutions.... 

What to do with all that wood is a big problem. The county has a chipping program, but there is a two month waiting list and they might not take logs the size of theirs. It would cost thousands to take it to the dump, but nobody can have a wood burning fireplace, so they can't even give it away....In the meantime we're being told to clear anything growing within five feet of the house. The city and county are still trying to clear the burned trees from the fire two years ago. They don't seem to have anyplace that can handle all the newly mandated clearing....

By the time we got back from coffee, the porch was sanded and Jorge said he'd paint it. I took a picture in  Fountaingrove,  with a couple of houses nearing completion, as we drove over the hill to get paint at Home Depot. Fountaingrove and Coffey Park were the hardest hit by the fires, losing a total of over 3,000 houses. They've come a long way since those dark days in November 2017 when all the lamposts were melted, not to mention the water pipes under the street, and the few remaining trees reached toward the sky with skinny black fingers. It still has a long way to go. A lot of people chose to move away from Fountaingrove, and even the city, rather than go through the frustrations of rebuilding, but as people begin to move back in, they are moving into brand new homes. And as they begin to move in, they turn their attention to the landscaping. 

Our porch is now all painted and Jorge will be back tomorrow to put the furniture back. He may go AWOL occasionally, but he does the work of legions when he is here.

The crape myrtles planted along our back fence are at their peak right now and I thought they looked nice against our mowed field and the interesting clouds which have hung over  the area for a couple of days. It is definitely cooler and a few large drops of rain splashed down on the car as we drove across town.

*  Kevin chose this shot of him helping his dad.
** The minimal landscaping is new, as are the traffic lights and the street signs.