Good Morning!!!! 35F @ 6:00AM. Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 73F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
The above info is for Chico, CA, my hopefully temporary home until I can get back up to Yankee Hill.
Hope those of you dealing with fresh snow manage to safely cope. The images are... chilling!
Thanks for all the moral support, folks. It's a real roller coaster ride right now, and believe me, every little bit helps. The photos and videos of the destruction continue to pour in, especially on social media, and it's not a pretty sight. Death tolls in Paradise alone will soon skyrocket if some of the rumors I've heard turn out to be true. Near as I can tell, power is still off at the homestead, and any way in is roadblocked to keep people safe and looters out until utility workers can get power lines off the roads and fire the state can get the debris cleared. There's a ton of misinformation going around as well, all of which has to be verified with official sources. Never the less, my host and I will make a try at getting home today, just as we did yesterday morning to get back here. As long as we see no active fire and hit no roadblocks, we'll keep going.
Yesterday I missed the satellite tracker checkin message from the van that's still parked on the property, and I was starting to lose hope that the house made it. Earlier this morning I was digging through email on the laptop and found the tracker message! Last night it really started to hit home what it would be like to loose everything but a couple of motorcycles, my truck, a laundry basket full of clothes, and two suit cases. All that time spent earlier this year finding a homeowners insurance company will certainly pay off, but what I find most depressing are the countless hours working through the insurance process, getting the debris cleared, drawing up plans for new construction, then watching like a hawk while the work is done. I'm not sure I'm up to it. In fact, I'm tempted to wash my hands of the whole thing, take the loss, and start again in a hopefully safer place. My heart goes out to Larro, who seems to be in very much the same shoes. Hang in there, buddy, we're all pullin' for ya!
Preying on my mind now is just not knowing if there's anything to go home to. I gave up trying to sleep at about 3 this morning, and that unanswered question prompted me to email both my state and federal representatives, and even the President, to ask them why there's nowhere I can go to view current high resolution satellite imagery of the burned areas to help prepare me for what awaits when the evacuation orders are lifted. I seriously doubt anything can be done soon enough to help in this disaster, but since mega fires are part of the new normal, something should be done. Toward that end, I've started a campaign on Facebook to get people to write their Congress Critters and encourage them to get the images up on line, with appropriate privacy protections of course. But that last qualifier will probably be enough to ensure it never happens...
Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!
