The Last of the Old White Wall

For purposes of discussion we have taken to calling the rapidly disappearing fence in today’s picture the ‘white wall’, and the big oak trees outside the living room windows on the other end of the house the ‘brown wall’ because all the foliage was fried a uniform brown by the intense heat of the fire.

Pedro came by today and we went over our list of all the things which need to be cut back, removed, rebuilt or hauled away. We wanted to give him a chance to tell us which things on our list he thought he and his crew could handle.

Turns out they can do it all, and we have a lot of confidence in his opinions. We won’t be planting anything new until spring when we have a better idea how well things come back and how they look. It will also give us some time to get used to the idea of having disaster zones and/or construction sites on either side of us. We have a growing pile of empty pots and planters.

By the time Pedro left, he already had Juan at work taking down the white wall, and Gustavo hauling away the rest of the burned fencing. They are amazing.

John is outside in the fading light trying to clear the fountain of burned leaves and debris so he can clean the filter and get it running again for the birds.

I’m looking forward to being able to use my ‘real’ camera and my computer to write these entries. Maybe on Wednesday.