Well there we were, all settled down in Carmel, when I saw another fire yesterday, as I came out of Safeway, with a six-pack of wine and the fixings for a chicken dinner.  It was at Ford Ord, 26 miles away, and its progress was stopped by suppertime, when it had burned only 31.5 acres. Never thought I’d be using “only” in that sentence, but when upwards of 200,000 acres went up in Napa and Sonoma…

We had a lovely last dinner with Candy and Ernie, who left for Hawaii this morning.  I did not sleep too well, for worrying, but otherwise, we are very comfortable at Candy and Ernie’s house, where there was a huge fire close by last year, so it doesn’t have much to feed on.

Here’s a bit of news from the Lodge:  Bill Allen was part of the layman group of two, early Monday morning, and able to identify our chicken coop to be saved.  They thought it was for storage.  Not sure about the bees. Advised firemen of our rear building vegetation and tree make up when noting hot spots.  They immediately sent four guys to rake and water to save our precious FGL.  We even used buckets filled with swimming pool water in this effort. Can’t say enough referencing our firemen, who worked so hard in saving FGL, OUTSTANDING.

We are, indeed, eternally grateful to our first responders, a finer group of guys cannot be found.

Over in Napa, Pati Simon reports:

I just got a call from Carol Kieschnick.  She shared a tale of heroism:  Deborah Robertson’s son and friends saved her home, as well as the Robertsons’ during the fire.  Carol wants everyone to know how incredibly grateful she is for their bravery and generosity of spirit.

And Carol wants everyone to know how badly she feels for those who did lose their homes.  Carol’s home is in escrow and has not fallen out as of today.

Yesterday’s fire in Monterey, the York Fire, is officially out as per CalFire’s map, and there’s not another within 100 miles.  We’ll sleep tonight.  Not that it has ever bothered Elvon.  That man can sleep through anything.