Cody’s blog

I dreamed last night that I was running naked through the woods. I felt strong and free. I was climbing trees and looking out over the land. There were narrow dirt roads running through the woods, and the occasional car drove by, and I watched them from my perches in the trees, unworried that they might see me. I had my young body back—thin and unscarred. Don’t know where that came from, but it was very pleasant.

It was also pleasant to get a full night’s sleep and wake up refreshed. I didn’t sleep well last night or the night before, and yesterday at work was a horrible drag. I could barely stay on my feet, I just wanted to go home and go to bed. But I got through it, and made my planned stop at Kmart afterwards to pick up another carrier for Jerry. So now all the kitties have their own carriers, and if it becomes necessary to evacuate again, no one will have to ride in a cardboard box. I waffled for a while between the small carrier or the medium-sized one. I wish there were one in between: a medium-small one. The small one is a bit cramped for Jerry, but the medium-sized one, like the one I got for Spot, is too big. Oh well, they won’t be spending a lot of time in them, just long enough to get from here to wherever. And the smaller one will fit better in the back of my truck.

Latest news is that the fire is 60% contained. Eight residences have been destroyed, and five outbuildings. The cause of the fire is “human,” but no word on whether it was an accident or deliberately set. Probably an accident, it’s so easy to do in these conditions. The fire report mentions “extreme conditions” of wind and single-digit humidity, but that’s normal for this area at this time of year. The wind has actually been fairly light, which has made things a lot better than they could have been.

They seem to be gaining slowly, adding about 10% more containment each day. If that continues, it should be 100% contained in about four days. Things could always change, of course, but so far, so good for our area. The fire has continued to stay on the other side of the hills.

Today, I told Mom I’d come up to her place and fill the generator with gas so she can pump water. We filled all the gas cans on Monday, but she finds the 5-gallon cans too heavy to lift, and the 2-1/2-gallon cans have those hard-to-handle special shut-0ff spouts. She bought a hand pump to use, but apparently can’t get it to work easily, either. I haven’t been there to watch her use it to see if I can figure out what the problem is, but the easiest thing is just for me to go up there and fill the tank for her. I just need her to remind me when it’s getting low so I can go and do it.

Other than that, I have no particular plans, other than going to work this afternoon. Thursday is generally junk mail burning day, but I feel a bit averse to making fire today. I think I’ll let it go for another week.

I never got around to making an appointment to have my truck window and door fixed, but as things are, I’d rather not go too far from home as long as the fire’s still burning. I want to be able to evacuate quickly if it becomes necessary. So I’ll put off the trip to Bakersfield until next week. The fire should be under control by then.

It seems that Socks has finally learned to use the cat flap to get in and out. Yay! Just in time, because she apparently knocked down the twisted paper clips I was using to prop the flap open, and I can’t find them.

Here is a picture of Miss Socks, sitting on her bed in her room.

And a bit of sad news: Mrs. Beasley died yesterday.  She was a very old doggie, and it wasn’t unexpected. We are glad she spent her final year in comfort with the company of the kitties. RIP, Mrs. Beasley.