First House Finished

Driving home from Dana’s house I realized that this house had a car in the driveway and plants on the porch. It is the first of the 500 or so houses that burned in the Glass fire to be rebuilt and occupied. I believe it has cement siding. I like it.

I saw our neighbor Paul working on the little strip between our driveways. It had a row of thriving pineapple guavas which all burned to sticks. He was taking them out and mowing the weeds. His contractor is looking for somebody who wants the huge mound of dirt outside our bedroom door so they don’t have to pay to have it hauled away. He thinks it will be another year before the house will be finished and they can move in. (The cost of the lumber has gone up to $30,000 since the original insurance estimate).

Now that I have called it quits in my closet, Dana and I went shopping. I bought a pair of boots like Danielle’s in yesterday’s blip, a pair of cropped pants and a couple of shirts.

I think I have almost exhausted my budget and myself, but we had fun, and I think I have satisfied the need for something new for awhile….After all, I just carried eight grocery sized bags out of the closet. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to buy a bunch more to put in….

It seems wrong on some level to be out shopping when so many are in such dire situations in Ukraine. The pictures of old men waiting to be given a weapon with which to defend  their homes and their cities, and women carrying children trying to walk across the border to Poland are just so sad….What can we do for them? It is a question that has been going through my mind for three days but I am no closer to a satisfactory answer.

Change is coming, but we have no idea what form it will take….