400 Burned Trees

It might be more like 4,000. They won't let us up there to get a better count. I took this picture from right outside our living room using a telephoto lens. It's not exactly a celebratory image but it does look interesting in Mono.

Congratulations to MonoMonday which has continued for 400 weeks. It has certainly given me a new appreciation for what looks good in mono and what doesn't. Thanks to Mojoayee for hosting this week.

We're just a week away from the one year anniversary of the Glass fire which was so devastating to our neighborhood. There is a red flag (fire) warning for parts of the North Bay, but so far the power company is not planning on turning off our power. Offshore winds are predicted with gusts up to 50mph in the higher elevations, but there has been practically no wind or even a breeze here. This is all good when it comes to our peace of mind.

We just ordered a new set of four smoke alarms because one of ours keeps chirping and it takes us ages to figure out which one it is. The new ones have a guaranteed ten year sealed battery. With all the fires and smoke we've had here, one would think that at least one smoke alarm would have gone off, but the only thing they have ever done is chirp when the battery dies. I suppose they aren't designed to warn us that a fire is burning over the hill toward our house, but only if there is a flaming fire in the kitchen or a smoldering fire in the bedroom. These batteries have photovoltaic as well as electrostatic sensors to detect either kind.

I think they should have sirens mounted on the telephone poles that go off if a fire is approaching, but the attention seems to be on phone notifications. We have a cell phone and a land line but neither of them works if the power goes out, so what's the point?

We had a visit from David, our contractor, to give us a project report on our bathroom remodels. Basically, the report is that he doesn't have a clue. The supply chain is so screwed up that he can't even begin to predict when anything will get here and he doesn't want to tear apart a bathroom until he has all the requisite pieces to put it back together. makes sense to us.

Speaking of baths, we got the picture in extras this morning from Dana who said, "Our tosoani/valet drew us a bath yesterday". The tub is almost identical to the one that was just installed in their bathroom remodel at home. Neither she not Jim  likes a bath but I guess they thought they had to put something in their huge bathroom. She said she got in because it seemed rude not to. 

A first world problem for sure.