Mono Monday : : Penstamon Barbatus

It shouldn't be a scramble to get to class in the morning when it is in the next room, but it was decidedly chaotic this morning because an army pf cars and pick up trucks pulled up across the street disgorging men and women who proceeded to climb into high viz vests, and white hazmat suits. They combed the rubble at the house  property next door, putting the occasional object into red buckets they carried with them.

They told us we were on their list (what list?) so just as my class was beginning, the whole lot of them filed past the window, red buckets in hand.I assume they were picking up hazardous materials for proper disposal but I don't know what they found. We had no outbuildings full of paint or insecticide that burned, although there was probably plenty of that around in outbuildings that didn't burn.

A pleasant hour at cafe Frida, a stop at the gas station to fill the tank and a stop at UPS to drop off used Nespresso pods for recycling completed the agenda for the morning. Not exactly earth shaking but we're easily satisfied these days as our definition of what constitutes excitement has certainly been downgraded . 

I picked a massive amount of basil which survived the fire and continued to thrive in the herb bed and made lots of pesto. I  washed the basil, but added extra garlic to compensate for a possible touch of ash which continues to rain down out of the trees. I wound up with so much pesto that I put some of it into tonight's lasagne. Lacing those activities with occasional trips outside to throw the ball for Spike completed a rather pleasant if not particularly productive day.

Gustavo and Juan were back to dig postholes for the fence outside our bedroom and Pedro showed up with large 8'x8' sections of hogwire which will be clamped to the black metal posts. Pedro has done a brilliant job of interpreting what we wanted, sourcing the right parts and figuring how to assemble them. Gustavo and Pedro continue to do an astonishing amount of work in a single day.  They don't come every day, but when they do, they accomplish more than we could do in a month. Now that's exciting....