Goodbye Brown Wall

Well, most of it. Juan and Gustavo have been working all day cutting down and hauling off all the burned vegetation. I just happened to catch Gustavo as he was dragging a tarp with an enormous load of branches up the hill to the field where they have parked their truck. They also took out every rosemary plant on the property as seeing how they turn into torches if they are hit by embers freaked me out.

Today is Veterans' Day although I had forgotten all about it until Dana came by and told me it was a holiday. She had some wonderful ideas for arranging the furniture on the porch and we moved everything around several times before we found the right spots for everything.. Anybody want an almost new round Trex table with an umbrella hole and a few ember burns? Furniture that was ordered months ago looks nice out there and will be much more weather resistant, but it's difficult to get everything right when half of it has now gone to a new home or the dump. The key to the right positioning was definitely getting rid of the table. I've put a picture of the work in progress in extras.It includes not only the new furniture, but the half demolished brown wall in the background

Gustavo and Juan toiled up and down the hill pruning and cutting and hauling while we moved the same five pieces of furniture around in circles. They must think we're mad. But they are doing so much to make life more livable for us. Pedro, their boss has definitely taken several of us who have had damage but not total losses under his wing. Pedro has worked here since we moved to Wildwood Trail, but he's certainly risen to the challenge of creating a new canvas for a new landscape. I imagine he will have quite a lot to do with that as well.

There is still the fence outside our bedroom, and the white wall to be rebuilt, but that should be started quite soon. It's looking a bit barren and  we I feel quite exposed, but for now, there aren't many people around so I think it's just a matter of getting used to a new landscape..A lot of plants are already starting to come back quite vigorously and will look quite different from mere stumps in a years time.

Spike wore himself out running around 'helping' John in the garden,  and he and I have just had a lesson in calm behavior when he. is sitting on the couch with me. We don't ban him from the couch but he does have to learn proper manners which includes not pinning my arm to my side while he vigorously licks my face! It's quite difficult to be firm and strict when he is cracking me up....