Category: Community

Lake County Fires / How Are We Doing?

 Smoke creates

a beautiful sunset. It also makes the moon glow red in the night, and Mars shine like a crimson space jewel. But there is nothing lovely about fires in California. I for one, am pretty much fed up with them. But it’s become the new norm.

What I’ve noticed for sure is our preparedness in Lake County has become quite perfected. From all emergency service departments, to volunteers, stores, and even everyday citizens, we all seem to know the drill now. We know how to get information, we utilize the Nixel alerts on our phones, we listen to local radio stations, and log into fire.ca.gov for the most up to date reports on conditions. Our social media accounts are always helping out with posts on shelters, where it’s safe to drive, or whether or not a friend has room for more at their home to take in evacuees. It’s a sad state of affairs when we’ve got the whole, how to evacuate with the most efficiency, down pat.

The Mendocino Complex is two fires that are being referenced as one. They are the River Fire and the Ranch Fire. The information line to call is (707)574-8261, but that information is also found on the fire.ca.gov website. At the time of this post, the River Fire has burned more than 41,000 acres and is at 50% contained. It’s destroyed 41 residents and 47 other structures, with still 9,200 being threatened.  The Ranch Fire has burned more than 112,000 acres and gives the same stats on residents and other structures burned, because it’s all under the totals for the Mendocino Complex. We are all praying no other homes are lost.

A few days ago, I was looking to find a family to help. This is what I do when I get anxious and feel helpless during these fires. I started to lose my mind, called my husband crying and yelling about how sick and tired I am that every freaking year our fire season has something devastating happen, and how it’s earlier in the season every year. My nerves were toast, so to speak. When I collected myself and apologized to my man for becoming momentarily hysterical, I decided to channel my emotions into being productive.

My wonderful hairdresser, and often psychotherapist, Angie, had said a friend that has a family of four had lost everything. They have two beautiful children and they were in need of help to start over. I started to focus on them. These wonderful people who certainly didn’t ever expect this to happen, needed help. I asked for their sizes and ages of the children and put that into motion for what I could do to make a difference.

It’s hard, at least for me when I’m scared, to get out of my head with the crazy hamster wheel that’s going and going, to see what’s right in front of me. When I’m stressed I have trouble focusing unless I have a specific task. I made this family a priority and got my focus back. Although I don’t know them, I hope these special people know how very sorry I am for their loss and I pray they find the strength and fortitude to push forward and know that an entire community is behind them.

For those of you

who are fed up and so over it, with these fires, I hear you. What I’m here to tell you is you are STILL not alone in this. We are a good community with fantastic people who are here to support you. Hang in there. We feel your pain.

One last word on the book. I’m still waiting to hear from my editor about her final notes. She is extremely busy, as we’ve all been, but she said the beginning of the month so, I’d imagine I will hear any day now. Don’t worry, I will post about it as soon as I hear.

Take care my friends. Stay safe, be alert, and don’t be a hero. Leave that stuff to the professionals. Even when the danger is over, stay prepared. We’ve all learned that fire season in California can last a long time.

Peace and love to you all.

A Scar Heals Stronger

Loss changes a person. Loss of any kind. It changes the very fabric of our being. But like a scar, sometimes it can grow stronger where it left it’s mark. For others, it simply never fully heals.

These past few months have brought to mind the truth that we are all here for a finite amount of time. What we choose to do with that time we are given is usually up to us. However, sometimes life changes direction and blows our sails in the opposite way from where we wished to be. The struggle to get back on course can be daunting.

Community is something I have found to be a constant. Sometimes we shut it out, sometimes we long for it. I have found myself at both ends of this rope. When times become difficult it can be very easy to slip into that pool of darkness, slowly drift away to a place of solitude. But it’s dangerous to stay there for long! Reaching out when we are at our lowest can be the biggest struggle of all! Living in a small town, I have come to realize more and more, that community is the greatest blessing of all.

The light that touches us when we are brave enough to reach out, can save us. In moments of great loss, of any kind, we often are unable to find our way to move forward. But lately, I’ve seen how compassionate this world can be in the midst of great tragedy. You will be able to move forward again only when you open yourself up to those who wish to give to you.

When we are most vulnerable, we often also are feeling unworthy of anyone’s help. Pride can block healing. But the people of our community in Lake County, have banned together on so many occasions these past few years to bring help, hope, honor, and grace back to us, that if those who need it would just let go of that pride, they would find something even stronger. It’s love.

Breathing again, after loss, comes one conscious breath at a time. But eventually the fog will lift. It does blow away, and if you can look up from grief, you may find that there have been people from our community there all along, helping you to breathe once more on your own.

Gratitude comes when you can see miracles in the smallest, everyday things. The sound of birds when you awaken, the smell of fresh coffee brewing, the smell of fresh cut grass, or the sight of an evening sunset. These things are there but when you really become aware of them, they can awaken you.

This blog started after the Valley Fire, and was primarily to help me gather thoughts for the book I’m writing. Oddly enough, it’s turning out to be mostly a book about the love of a community! The loss that so many had from the fires over the last few years is what prompted me. But after these past few months, the human loss of friends, relatives, community leaders, and icons, has brought me to this blog post. I simply want to say, I am so proud that however damaged our community has been, it still rises up to help each other through the storms.

A safe port for those searching, is usually right in front of you. Don’t be afraid to reach out. I believe I have experienced divine intervention many times in my life. Today I was driving home from our ranch, thinking about writing this post, and Marc Broussard’s song DON’T BE AFRAID TO CALL ME, came on and I found myself crying. I knew then what I had to do.

I believe it was intended for me to write this today, if even just one of you out there reads this. Maybe my words were meant for you. Remember, wherever you live, and especially in small town communities, there are always lots of people willing to help. People that want you to feel loved. People willing to help change the winds in your favor. It might not be the place you first set sail to, but it will hopefully be a place, (physically or spiritually), you can feel safe and call home.

It’s Still Fire Season Folks!

Bob Minenna, took this picture of the fire crew from Konocti Conservation Camp fighting yet another fire here in Lower Lake, California this week, out on Bryant Road. With the Lake County Fire Protection District, and all other emergency resources that helped extinguish the flames, our community is safe once again!

BUT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY…….. is that while this fire was headed out Bryant Road, my good friends that live out on that very road, were out of town and driving home with the hopes that the fire would not reach their house! This has become quite common here in Lake County now. Much more so then I remember as a kid growing up here. People are worried that if they leave, they won’t have a house when they return!

I suspect it’s just being gun shy after these past few years of fire seasons. It is also due to the growing population in our county. More people equals more opportunity for fires to start. But we cannot live in fear and worry about what might happen! That’s not living at all. Still, those of us that are still shell-shocked have a hard time letting go.

When I was 3, and my dad moved my mother and me to Lake County, it was 1971. Back then, the population in the county was approximately 19,825 residents. Flash forward to the most resent census I could find, and in 2015 the population shows 64,591 residents. Quite a jump!

Back in the 70’s

I didn’t worry as much about things like this. I was much too busy walking barefoot in the creek and catching pollywogs and tree frogs, or picking blackberries. I loved the freedom of no technology, playing outside until dark and running around from neighbor to neighbor, with us kids on our bikes. It was the best childhood!

Not that we didn’t have fires! Hell yes we did! But they seemed fewer and farther in between, at least the big ones were. Still, nothing compares to The Valley Fire or even The Clayton Fire, in my lifetime. And we are still healing.

Today, in the residential neighborhood behind our own IGA Store, Foods Etc. there was a fire. It looks and sounds, (listening to the scanner), like it took two residents and some wild land. The neighboring medical clinic had to be evacuated, but I’m not sure how complete that procedure went before the firefighters contained and extinguished the flames. Thank God for the brave fire personnel we have and skilled dispatchers! However, someone out there still lost their home. I pray for them tonight.

As for my friends that live out Bryant Road, it was their property that the fire ran right up to. The creek in their yard had been the stopping point and they told me it burned right up to the back of their boat! However, they had a good defensible space in their yard and lost nothing. Thank God! Sometimes things work out, and they made it home safe and sound.

To my fellow Lake County residents, be safe! Make good choices on when and where you run your equipment. Don’t use weed-eaters or mow your yard past 10:00am and ALWAYS keep a fire extinguisher or charged hose near by. And if you have neighbors that are being not so smart, you can either remind them, or report them.

And yes………. take that vacation, and don’t be afraid to leave your house! Enjoy your life without fear. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. But if you are truly worried, pack a “get out bag,” and leave it by your door, and give a key to your house to a friend that can grab it for you. That might alleviate some of the stress. In the meanwhile, enjoy your summer!

Small Town USA!

This weekend

in our small town USA, Fire Department Association Hall, better known as The Brick Hall in Lower Lake, California, something very special happened. But I need to back up to let you know what was happening with my family first.

My father brought me to Lake County when I was only 3 years old. I have lived here, (minus a short stint in Livermore) ever since. I watched most of my family move away over the years and the saddest was when my brother Mason, and his wonderful family moved to Arizona. We all have visited quite a lot and my mother Ruth, lives with Mason. Dad and his wife of more than 25 years, Carol, fell in love with Arizona during our many visits and they bought a house there. So the big move after my father has been in Lake County nearly 46 years, was THIS WEEKEND!

Meanwhile, the Lake County Fire Protection District’s Annual Firemen’s Dinner was also this weekend. Being with my husband for nearly 31 years, and he having been a fireman more than 36 years, I’ve attended just a few of these dinners. HA!

That being said, I had a dilemma. Because of my father’s move my nephew Shane was driving down from Montana to help with hauling all their belongings, and my brother Mason was going to be here as well to help pack my father and Carol’s entire life into trailers to move. This also meant Dad and Carol would have no BED TO SLEEP IN because,……. well, it was packed! They were all going to be staying with me. All the friends that helped pack them up also were going to be here at my place to wish them all well and Bon Voyage! I thought it would be ok if I missed this ONE Firemen’s Dinner. Charlie completely understood.

But once word got out to some of his crew that he was going without me, a wife of one of the guys and a good friend called up to say, “You GOTTA COME! Charlie is getting Fireman of the Year!” (Thanks Wendy!) Well you can imagine that I was in quite a pickle! If I had that Mulitplicity Machine to carbon copy myself then I could be in two places at once. I told her I’d work it out and thanked her for giving me the heads up!

As it turned out, things went perfectly. Friday night was when I had everyone at my house until late. Saturday night my folks needed to get to bed early because the 16 hour drive of Easter Sunday to Arizona was ahead of them. My nephew went to bed directly after dinner and the only ones left hanging around were my brother and me. I asked if he wanted to crash the awards dinner with me and he said sure, since he was flying home. He’d been in California several days for business and his flight didn’t leave until 12:45pm the next day. We were golden!

  My brother and I are pretty tight!

We are ridiculous when we get together and it’s a blast. So when we got to the Brick Hall early, we didn’t want to walk in. If Charlie saw me he’d wonder why I was there instead of at home with the fam and then he’d know he must be receiving something, and I didn’t want to give it away. So Mason and I stood outside the doors, up against the wall like Spiderman, laughing and telling each other to SUSH! Zack from Charlie’s shift, and his lovely wife, came outside just then and brought us beer while we waited.

Finally we got a text from our youngest daughter Emma, (who was sick and waiting to go home as soon as the awards were handed out), that we could come in. We snuck inside and stood in the back of the room, trying to be quiet. Just as we thought we’d made it in all stealth like, Mason’s foot kicked the metal door and made a loud echo throughout the building! We froze and hoped nobody would turn. Luckily, few did.

  I wish

I’d taken my camera, but I was in such a hurry to go I forgot. Anyway, as we stood in the back of the packed dining tables of people, Chief Willie Sapeta was talking about the fires of the last season and specifically the Clayton Fire. He handed out several recognitions to firemen that went above and beyond during that fire. The list was long and people were beginning to get emotional.

Our demeanor changed, my brother and I, from goof-balls to humble people. It was special to be a part of the grateful community honoring these firemen. Then Charlie came up to the microphone and pretty much brought down the house.

I could never remember everything he said, but one thing he brought up was how before the district consolidation between Lower Lake and Clearlake departments, there was always a razing and playful competition between them. But he said, “On that day of the Clayton Fire, we were all Lower Lake Firemen!” He was clearly choked up. Then he said how he was so honored to do battle with each of them during the Clayton Fire. He spoke of certain guys that laid it all on the line, and before he was done, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Looking over at my brother Mason, we were both crying and he said, “I’m ex-military Dude! I don’t cry! Why am I crying?” and we laughed at each other. I later talked with him after hours of dancing, partying, and basically having a town reunion. We stood in the kitchen at my house at around 12:30am talking about the difference of Lake County and Arizona city living.

“There is nothing like what I saw tonight going on in Arizona,” Mason said. “That small town USA stuff is really special here. Everyone having each other’s back, it’s pretty damn cool! I didn’t realize how much I miss that.”

It was then that I realized, I have been taking our community for granted again. I loved everything I heard, saw, and experienced, but didn’t think about how unique it is to have these type of connections. The camaraderie of our community is very special. Like I told my brother that night, we might not all socialize with each other much, but if anything ever happened and any of us needed something, we have an endless amount of folks that would come a running! That’s a pretty great thing and something I hold dear in my heart.

And the book is still progressing, slow but sure! It’s because of folks like we spent time with this last Saturday night at the Brick Hall, that make my book easier to write. It’s their story and the people who lift me up with hope! For that I am grateful. See y’all soon!