Mono Monday. : : Alone

Full confession...I took this photo almost a year ago to the day, but I was struck by how little some things change even in the midst of total change. This tree in our field is a favorite of mine and I have many pictures of it. The flowers in the foreground are lupins which are in full bloom right now. The main difference is that most of the field has been mowed as required by CalFire for fire prevention reasons. They moved the deadline forward because fire season was starting earlier, but we are now having the rains we should have had in the winter which would probably allow the former July deadline and spare the lupins. Although we lost several trees in this field, this one survived. I put the original in extras.

Our neighbors, the ones with the enormous log jam in the creek behind them, have had their homeowners' insurance cancelled. They weren't given a reason but it is safe to assume that it's because the neighborhood is considered  high fire risk. The fact that everything, including fuel for future wildfires, burned down two years ago doesn't seem to be a consideration. I could certainly understand the premiums going up, but outright cancellation seems unfair. 

The state probably has some sort of program for insuring them at great cost, but knowing what we know about the hassles of getting insurance companies to pay out on covered losses, it's hard to know how a state program would respond. It doesn't have a good track record. When the stimulus payments, designed to go to qualified people who were laid off as a result of pandemic restrictions, were paid to dead people and other poorly vetted, unqualified applicants, the state responded by shutting down the whole program. Many who qualified are still waiting for their payments a year later.

I just looked out the window to see a very well fed looking ground squirrel sitting in a succulent planter eating a large leaf just like an ear of corn. That picture would have fit the challenge.Unfortunately, Spike isn't a very good predator. He's sitting next to me wondering why John is running around like a maniac making a lot of noise....

Better than a neighbor who dispatches ground squirrels by putting propane in their holes and igniting it. Genius.