Conditions here have certainly improved.

1. Ash regularly reminds us of how close the fire got. There is not as much as there was two weeks ago, but it still lingers in sheltered spots and on sticky foliage. At least no new ash is falling.

2. Smog also lingered early in the week. The sun looked like one of the moons of Tatooine. I worked inside for the early part of the week. It was not a good time for working out in the garden.

3. Then, this happened. The entire sky was this color for a while. The air still tastes like smoke, and remains rather toxic. It is a bit hazier now. Regardless, it was easier to resume gardening.

4. The redwoods and firs on the ridge in the background behind the utility pole are just outside of the fire zone. Everything beyond them is within the fire zone. The forest does not look very different from how it looked prior to the fire. Only a few brown spots can be seen from here. The fire must have burned only underbrush in this region. I know it was much worse elsewhere.

5. Horticulture is SERIOUS business here. (Actually, this is just parking for a cabin that happens to be named ‘Acorn’.) Vegetation management is a priority at cabins that are now residences for some who lost their homes to the CZU Lightning Complex Fires. The Conference Center has been closed because of the other ‘situation’ anyway. Firefighters stayed in some of the lodges.

6. White chrysanthemums are in order. After, all this ‘should’ be a gardening blog. These bloomed on old plants that were left behind after a wedding in the chapel here more than a year ago.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate:

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

40 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Revelation II”

    1. It is not so bad for us here, but fires continue to burn elsewhere. The El Dorado Fire that started in Yucaipa is now into the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. So far, damage has been minimal. (Not many people live out there.) Yet, it is a concern as it gets closer to more populous areas.

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  2. It’s good to hear you continue to be safe, Tony. Your photograph of the roadway and surrounding countryside gives such a picture of beauty and wonderful woodland which serves to bring to mind the great damage and loss these fires have brought – not even mentioning the devastation to homes and homeowners. I hope you continue to be safe and sound and that all will be well with you.

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    1. The roadway is actually the Conference Drive Bridge into Mount Hermon, over Zayante Creek and Roaring Camp Railroad. The Bridge is quite high, which is how I was able to get a picture above the trees. The trees to the left and right are quite tall. Our maintenance shops buildings are down below to the left.

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    1. Thank you. These chrysanthemums arrived after all the other recycled chrysanthemums were planted out into the landscapes. These are my favorite because they are white. (The others were probably not from weddings.) I would prefer these to be out where others could see them, but there are not many people around here nowadays anyway.

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    1. The forest looks quite normal in the distance, with only a few brown spots. I have not been any farther than what can be seen in the pictures. I must eventually go see my properties in Brookdale, which were within the fire zone. I am concerned about the homes in the neighborhood there.

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  5. The image of the ash on foliage really spoke to me. If I’m burning any branches or limbs with leaves on them, the ash doesn’t float far, though it might on a windy day – and of course no one would burn on a windy day! But your ash image shows us the reality of airborne debris, and the hazy image shows us the toxicity of the air quality. Still, it’s an improvement for sure. I am glad you are safe, and thanks for keeping us informed about the status of things in your neck of the woods!

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    1. Large fires create large updrafts. Ash can be blown much farther from higher up. I can remember ash falling in Sunnyvale, near the southern extremity of the San Francisco Bay, from a fire near here. I think it was the Lockheed Fire in 2009. Of course, after so many miles, such ash is no longer smoldering.

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    1. We are safe for now. I am concerned about those near the El Dorado Fire now. (I really can not imagine what is burning out in such a desolate part of the Mojave Desert, but the fire is migrating out there presently.)

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      2. It’s SO confusing, with so many fires! The Bobcat Fire began in the mountains behind Monrovia and Azusa — it has burned up the mountains and around Mt. Wilson (behind Pasadena), and now down into the Antelope Valley, threatening the edges of Lancaster and Palmdale and some small communities in that area, and still Mt. Wilson. The El Dorado Fire is the one that began near Yucaipa, and is still burning up the mountains towards Big Bear, having threatened Forest Falls and Mountain Home, and other villages along the way. There’s a new fire, the Snow Fire, that is farther out near Palm Springs, also burning “fast and furious.”

        The air in Orange County, though still hazy, is much cleaner than it was, and the sky is actually blue!

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  8. Our Southern Oregon skies are blue, but it still smells like smoke outside. It don’t want the dog laying on the grass until I get the ash watered in, he has some growth in a lung that doesn’t need aggravating. Too bad the wedding party didn’t think to take the flowers to plant in their first home!

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    1. A few potted plants get left behind annually from weddings in the chapel. They are too fancy for us, but eventually regenerate and go out to the landscapes anyway. White hydrangeas get planted right back at the chapel from which they came. White lilies got planted at the Post Office. Other chrysanthemums got planted at a lounge next door to the chapel.

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    1. The weather is exemplary now. I can not imagine that it was so smoky just a few days ago. I was not worried about this particular location so much. The homes to the West were more important. I am impressed by how many survived within the fire zone.

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      2. Coastal redwoods are naturally less combustible than other trees. I would not say that helped. It is just how they are. Because this area was clear cut harvested a century ago, it regenerated with a mixture of more combustible species. Consequently, redwoods that normally survive fire burned or were killed. Even some in the unharvested Big Basin Park were killed because the fire around them was so voracious. Landscaping within the forests is limited because of the shade. Any fire resistant plants within such landscaper could not have helped much. They only help in larger scale landscapes. However vegetation management, including fire resistant plants that exclude more combustible plants, did help significantly.

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    1. Their smoke likely came from Washington and Oregon. I really do not know. For a while, it all went off the coast and mixed together before coming back and going north and south.

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    1. Fire season will finish once the rain starts late in autumn, but resumes annually. It is part of life here. It seems as if the forest would eventually run out of combustible vegetation, but it is constantly making more.

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  14. Friends of mine near Santa Cruz have had to evacuate, Tony. Fortunately their home was OK but several of their neighbours lost their homes. Very tragic, and shows just how fragile our world is. I hope you get more of the blue sky in the weeks ahead. Beir bua. 🇮🇪

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