...California...*Sighs*
...I was born in the East Bay Area, and lived there until I went to the Central Valley for schooling, and when I got married, we lived in the Central Valley. Several times a year, we would visit and stay with my parents, who lived in the East Bay. I am now living back in the Family Home in the East Bay, watching over my Mother.
...None of us EVER saw the skies as they have been for a few weeks, now. Today, they were clouded up, very high, with ash and those special clouds that can form when there is a large fire. At 9:30 am, it seemed like it was close to sunrise. The sky was a dark red in color, and there was fine ash all over the bushes in the yard. You couldn't see the sun! My Mother said that she had never seen anything like this, and her longtime friends said the same. I recall, when I was a child, of seeing smoke in the air when there was a brush fire, but it was NEVER this thick, and would be gone in a day or two. There are many places on the Net where you can see pictures, 'Drudge' has some articles that have accurate pictures, if you want to see what it looks like out here.
...I've been staying in the house, most of the time, but it is challenging to breathe at times. I have asthma, and am using my 'chronic' inhaler as prescribed, and do have to use my 'rescue' inhaler several times a day. The news is reporting that the three HUGE fires in the Bay Area are each 85% to 92% controlled, so the air should improve over the next week. These are the WORST fires in CA history!!!
...And, it is also being reported that this could happen again, very easily. During the past few decades, the 'Do-Gooders' didn't practice proper forestry management, so all of the forests got very heavily overgrown. So, there is still plenty of fuel for more lightning caused fires...or fires caused by idiots. A very large one was started by a couple who threw a 'gender reveal' party in the foothills...and the firework, that was supposed to just emit pink smoke, started a grass fire, that spread into the nearby forest. California is VERY dry, right now, rainfall was below average the past few years. That is VERY common. Living in CA during my life, (Except for the recent year and a half in Kansas), I experienced that CA will have 2-4 years of low rainfall, and then 1-2 years of heavy rainfall, and back again. There are a few CA politicians who are calling for increased forest thinning, and just cutting clear sections in the forests, so that a fire in one section won't spread to other sections.
...But, I suspect that the 'Namby Pamby' Liberals in the Legislature and the Forest Dept, will just replant the burned areas with too many trees, placed too close to each other, and this will just go on.
...I am reading that many Californians are moving out, some because they lost their homes, others for other reasons. My advice is, having lived here for so long...is watch out for the ones who are moving from the S.F. Bay Area, and Los Angeles. Both of those populations are generally very liberal, and can be very activist. They will bring their ideas of 'what is right' with them, and try to impose it wherever they are. Although, there are Conservatives living in those areas...my Family is very Conservative...we have never voted for a Democrat...and I know of other similar Families. People from the Central Valley and the Mountains tend to be Conservative, and just want to live in a safe place, and don't try to impose their viewpoint on others. Of course...there are exceptions.
...As the air clears, I should be able to r/p more, and better. I really miss everyone, and there are some 'tasks' that I need to get going while we are still on Scagnar. *S* I will do my best, tomorrow.
