Cleaning up the Mess

We have been monitoring the wildfires most of this week.  It has been a bad one in that regard.  Although the fires have been far enough away from our own home so far, it puts everyone a little on edge. They seem to be covering a large portion of the state and moving fast.  The flames have traveled to areas where normally such fires would be unexpected.  It is just simply so dry that it is hard to contain them.  Our grand-daughter's half brother, Malachi,  and his family have had to evacuate, but just last night we heard that it appears that their home has been spared although others in their very neighborhood have not been so fortunate.  That was not the news received by one of my sewing acquaintances though.  They lost everything.  They were able to drive my what is left a couple of days ago.  I can't imagine the emotions that must overwhelm a person at that point.  It's not the stuff.  It's the memories, and in their case, the loss of their cat who in fear would not come to the safety of their arms.  These people were given 5 minutes to gather what they could and leave.

 Several years ago my brother strongly suggested to us to pack emergency boxes.  Even though we hope we never have to use them, after this experience I am thankful that we have them at the ready.  I usually visit them a couple times of year to keep them up to date.  I have thought of some things I need to add this week.  I suggest to everyone to do the same.  Life changes so fast.

Temperatures dropped this week to the 80s. Although is has been a wonderful break, it looks like we are headed back to close to 100 again next week.   It was sooooo good to be able to get outside, at least for awhile.  I was able to get out and hose down some vacated bird's nests from the porch, and also some mud-dauber wasps nests.  Wasps are pretty hardy folks.  It seems that they have taken over the world while the rest of nature has been more inclined to doze though the extreme conditions. I managed to clean out our garage this week too.  We really needed to find a way to get to our cars without having to stop and pick up ten things we knocked over on the trip.  After spending much more time than we should have looking for a $2.00 dustpan, I broke down and bought a new one.  Precisely 10 minutes after it entered the house, I found the old one.  I think I'll keep it anyway.  The old one may go on vacation again....and seriously....it cost $2.00.  I figured that if I couldn't find something that we use frequently, what else might be lurking in the piles - maybe some diamonds or a basket of money we raked up from the money tree last fall??  Nope.  Nothing exciting.  The garage is now clean though, and a good part of our "stuff" either went on permanent holiday with the garbage men or to a local church who is having a garage sale soon.  It feels good!!

Gratitude for:

- Low winds so the fires are more easily contained.

-  Cooler temperatures

- a clean garage!!