8 am. Ken's Paradise Hitch and Welding. 919 Easy St. Paradise California. That's EZ in the left bay.
i'd made the appointment 3 weeks ago. Waited. Today. Set the alarm for 4 am so i could get in 2 cups of tea and Goat Feed and out of here by 7. Out of here means checking for the long horse lead leash, picking up the trash bags at both B and A, dropping said bags into the bin at the end of Carefree. Setting out. It only takes 28 minutes to Paradise the fast way, but i don't know that way so i go the slow way. I am there at 8:01. From the exchange on the phone with the woman in the office, i had imagined something that turned out not to be true....it was at the entrance to an "industrial park". Not IN the town of Paradise, but at the edge of town. I had to wait the close to 2 hours that it took and spent much of that time falling asleep sitting on gravel leaning against a flatbed trailer tire, Tay leaning into me. the Dodge Caravan has a hitch. A towing hitch. For the Goat Boat. and wiring for brake lights even. even. as SAFE as i can imagine.
Safe.
as i was giving water this eve there were sirens. Ears prick. They begin to last longer than a traffic accident....there is the bleat of a Fire Engine and then a helicopter above....i tune in to the two facebook pages for Fire Info....nothing there, i keep watering.
not long after i had left Paradise and the Trailer Hitch/Welding place....there was an evacuation for lower Paradise. Vegetation fire. Full response. and then....lifted. Contained. The tension. Evac. Mandatory. Lifted. Contained. Repeat, repeat, repeat. there are currently 8 fires burning in Butte County. Watching the FaceBook pages and sometimes these....
"BCFAC Dixie Fire Scanner Report the dozer line from YellowCreek Meadow to Butt Valley Reservoir has been abandoned. All resources have pulled out. The fire is carrying rapidly through the meadow "
the constant of it is changing how we are wired. body/mind. Fear evolves into something different.
the Paradise Fire began Nov. 8, 2018 The drive there today....the canyon on the right of the road in....FULL of Bootleg Fire, Dixie Fire. SMOKE No visibility. The "landscape" still. Scorched. Black skeletons of trees. Little undergrowth.
i thought about driving into Paradise proper...the town... to see how it's going there. They are determined to
rebuild
?
but then, just wanted to come home.
