I find that I’m just not able to focus in any meaningful way now given Mr. wd’s and mine at least part-time new jobs to help our neighbor and off-again, on again friend of forty-five years. Still, when the chips are down, it’s a good thing for us to actively love even those who aren’t are favorites, no? So…we are doing so. Mr. wd has plenty of duties himself, and I’m, making food for him, as well as for those friends of his who mind-bogglingly volunteer to spend all night with him. But I admit that neither of of are coping terribly well with it, and we’d damned well better adapt soon, because it was just decided that rather go to a stoke rehab residential center, all of the therapists: OT, PT, and speech therapists…will come to him. And he has a long, long, trail to to walk to recovery.
Whinge over for now. My contribution is this. The above photo I took in June of 2012 when we returned home from being evacuated for four days when our nearest mountain, Menefee, burned to ashes. You may be able to sense that the ashes are being stirred by a slight breeze, causing the mountain to shimmer, almost in the way a chimera would blink it in…and out…of this world. The remaining ponderosa pines hadn’t burned due to the many slurry bombers and helicopter water-drops. Many of them had their needles burned away, and many bare trunks are still standing…in the way of zombie trees.
More photos are at my flickr account, in no coherent time order. I lost all the rest when my last top crashed and burned. You can toggle a slideshow by clicking the teevee screen in the upper right-hand corner. The one below is from June of this year. The vegetation is coming back slowly, of course, but the topography has changed almost unimaginably with the falling boulders creating new cracks and crevices, and the sole ‘trees’ are the starts of gambel shrub oak, a few berry bushes. I’d blogged about the fire in three essays at My.firedoglake, but they’ve taken down all of the photos. This is the second one, kinda boring with no pics.
But please do talk among yourselves while I try to catch up and sort myself out a bit. Or hopefully, more than a bit. ;-)
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
May the vegetation accord you strength of conveyable infinite returns.
thank you for the aspirational blessing, davidly. it did rain a bit at midnight lat night, and that was a good thing. lightning scarcely matters any longer, as that was the third time menefee has burned over the last decade. although this one is arson, and the fire-starter is known, but is the best kept secret ever in a valley this small…where everyone knows everyone’s bidness, even if…untrue, of course. ;-)
but our garden is finally full of flowers, after several late freezes killing so many, and they do keep me a bit more sane.
you’ll know why i loved finding this early this a.m.
It’s so beautiful in those surroundings, and beautiful too how you are helping your neighbor, though it sounds taxing. My thoughts and prayers are with you as I wait for this hurricane. It’s been raining hard for a day. Now another storm has joined it but it’s looking like a category 1, shouldn’t be too bad.
it’s beautiful, and was once kinda at the edge of nowhere, thus populated by salt-of-the-earth folks. but gentrification came to the valley, unsurprisingly… yeah, taxing is a good way to express it, but my hairs less on fire today a i actually got some zzzleep, partially because i called the man spending the night w/ lazarus and discovered that just after his sister put out a call for ‘foods w/ fats’, a few people on the mega-email list brought food. all pastries, but nonetheless. and one very wealthy woman will shop for things we can no longer afford and deliver them. whooosh; that’ll help. we ive kinda close to the bone, although certainly not as close as most people around the globe.
but yes, on the #tracking irma diary below, i’d mentioned w/ the new track, yu live in north-central florida; bruce, iirc, lives in st. pete? anyhoo, i saw this earlier w/ text info as well. did you ever find my e-address or get my mail?
wendyedavisATmsn.com.
stay safe, hope your water and power don’t blink out.
Hi Wendye, the storm did not affect me at all really. Power went out for a few hours. Small branches fell. But I had all kinds of problems with my phone. Passwords i just changed won’t work. Word Press keeps demanding it so had to change it again to get in. I can’t get on You Tube at all or into any of my e-mail accounts. It keeps saying passwords are wrong when i made sure to write them down. My facebook account (i know) hovers between alternate universes om my original one, the duplicate i created by mistake, and some guy named Jason. It’s an effin mess. I tried to post about the storm but WordPress wouldn’t allow it. Oh well. How are you? I heard there was a volxano in Yellowstone that might blow, is that anywhere near you?
Anyhow. hope this goes through. You have to be exhausted, but you’re doing the right thing. Blessings.
all of those mooked up things seem to belong in bizarro world, seeker. glad things went well there otherwise. still have zero understanding of why you need a word press password, unless it’s to your own account/website?
ah, we’re okay weather-wise, although there have been some loud and strong winds that tried to blow over staked cannabis and tall flowers in the garden.
jellystone’s prolly 900 miles from us, but i hadn’t heard about a volcano. really? aha: we’re in SW co in the 4 corners, if that helps your geo-locator. ;-)
i’ve kinda stopped reading antifa opinions; so many label them as such-and-such, others…differ. latest one came on the popular resistance newsletter, close to: “we must *get* violence”, similar to the ones comparing the current amerika to 1930s europe. really?
Best to you, Mr. WD and your neighbor.
We are now wondering whether we will get any rain at all out of Irma. Our daughter in Huntsville AL might get much more rain and wind than we will.
Our NC Forest Service rangers are currently in Oregon helping fight the wildfires there. That is as big a catastrophe as the hurricanes, especially where there are populated areas. And in and around “America’s scenic areas”.
Where there are plants that depend on fire or deposits of rich new mud for their lifecycle, the wilder places will rapidly restore themselves. The urban and industrial areas are the mess. And the areas where those rich enough have hardened their hearts and their buildings against catastrophe–and have the luxury of affording to evacuate those hardened buildings for safety during the worst.
Stay safe and keep on keeping on.
I hope your mountain has recovered its vegetation after five years, wd. That is a grand view to have.
thanks for the good wishes, thd. wish it were all getting easier instead of harder. too many generals giving orders, not enough ‘grunts’, i guess. but lazarus is slowly improving, and i’m trying to provide tips and a wall diagram of a lazy 8 ∞ for mr. wd to introduce him to educational kinesiology, whole brain re-education in both fine and gross motor cross-hemispheric communication. first lesson was yesterday; second was today.
i guess i can’t agree altogether abut wildfire being worse than hurricanes, esp. depending where. in houston, the toxic and bacterial danger is immense, and there will never be anything like a meaningful clean up. whole islands were wiped of dwellings and infrastructure, and even in FL 13 million are w/o power, and the main dude says it will be months and months before full power is restored. those needing power for medical equipment, and locales needing power to run water treatment plants will be hard hit. and who knows yet how the surges may have backed up sewers, etc.
but yeah, looks like oregon suppressed fires for decade because: politics, so there’s a hella lot of biomass available to keep burnin’. in the mountain west, gentrification has meant that the wealthy wanna live almost in the forests, w/ all those related problems. and if this place is an indicator, it’s the upscale developments in the path of fires that get the most…shall i say: attention?
i swapped out the last photo of menefee w/ one from june. velvety, and yes the beginnings of small shrubs that used to be understory, but trees? dunno about the conifers, but there were junipers (locals will call them ‘cedars’) up there that likely took at least 150 years to grow to those sizes. one almost wanted to kneel and pray in front of some of them. ;-) some yucca, maybe rabbit brush and so on, a few doughty flowers.
and yes, there are seeds that require a burn to sprout, but again, growth/regeneration depends on location. for interest, our annual rainfall is 12 bleeping inches, or used to be; in the northwest, on the leeward side of the cascades it would be far drier, but i dunno where the fires are burning so far.
i did email bruce to let us know whassup in st. pete when he can, i would have asked c seeker, but i don’t think he gets my mail.
and i really am tryin’ to get my head together over all these extra jobs, but not yet, so far. guess i could try some of those EK exercises, yes? ;-)
” even in FL 13 million are w/o power, and the main dude says it will be months and months before full power is restored. those needing power for medical equipment, and locales needing power to run water treatment plants will be hard hit. and who knows yet how the surges may have backed up sewers, etc.”
Ya think we soon might have a discussion about public infrastructure and how it gets financed and built. Even da big city mayors and governors (cough, Rahm, de Blasio, and Cuomo) are full of cute ideas for not paying for mission-critical infrastructure in those important cities.
I doubt that it all can be done quickly by mutual aid and GoFundMe appeals (or whatever the current reasonable app is).
Sounds like you two are doing good healing. Good vibes to you out there. (There’s quaint expression fer ye.)
i reckon i should ask what those govs’ ‘n mayors’ cute obfuscations are, eh? but hell’s bells can we stir this into the mix? it gets worse after these bits, and i simply had to back out…for now.
“As Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey bore down on and flooded the northern Gulf Coast last month with an estimated 20 trillion gallons of rain, some 60 plants belonging to the world’s petrochemical giants on the Texas coast began shutdown procedures. During this time they vented and dumped almost a million pounds of some of the most deadly chemical compounds on earth.
“Total air pollutants from all oil and gas facilities added up to 5.6 million pounds,” according to an analysis released September 1 by the Center for Biological Diversity. The deadly cocktail that included benzene, hexane, sulfur dioxide, 1,3-butadiene, and xylene were dumped or spilled during the storm by ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron Phillips and other petrochemical giants over a period of eight days beginning August 23.
Significantly, Houston, Texas has never met national air quality standards since the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970.
When TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow was queried about the findings, she was quoted as saying, “All measured concentrations were well below levels of health concern,” and that “local residents should not be concerned about air quality issues related to the effects of the storm.” The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated it was observing the situation with “air quality buses,” though how this was done in the midst of a flood was not explained.”
but dayum, i love good vibes; i’m still a card-carryin’ hippie; only social club i’ve ever been in.
“I doubt that it all can be done quickly by mutual aid and GoFundMe appeals (or whatever the current reasonable app is).
Sounds like you two are doing good healing. Good vibes to you out there. (There’s quaint expression fer ye.)” second THD’s sentiments. time to break out the oprah & dr. phil video from that old FOX show?
don’t let him handle me & drive me mad…
the language of “mental illness” as we use it is really designed to preclude sympathy & compassion for people expressing delusional, deviant, etc., ideation & behavior. Pathologize people’s psychic responses to trauma. “oh, that’s schizophrenia for you.” well, that settles it then, doesn’t it? that Gershwin song really got me, about drug abuse, addiction and violence against women. but there will be lots of opportunities to experiment medically upon all kinds of victims of anarchic capitalism as people’s responses to the loss of everything & the toxicity of their environment leads to depression, suicide, drinking, drugs, etc. Will they get a rebuilt home? some social planning? nope. they’ll get drugs. and it’ll be a ripe opportunity for cheap, used car salesman sloganeering, often of the Joel Osteen variety, like my shiny new baseball cap, which states unironically: “I STAND UP TO CANCER”. me too, baseball cap, me too. one of my few lib idiot retarded kitten friends on FB posted a “now this is *presidential*” thing on the 5 living prezzies joining forces like a rock & roll super group to “aid in the recovery.” I wonder what the Katrina & Rita & & & folks think of that? can they vote W off the Reconstruction via Plunder Council? what do the people of Haiti think of the proconsular rule of Team Clinton (& W., a bit.) over their island? ah, but Carter knows how to build houses…& well, Poppy Shrub is ceremonial really, so Obama balances out, magically, this gaggle of robber barons & war criminals.
okay, later gang. wendy, i’m planning on having my next stroke in your neighborhood ;)
“the drug” is the anti-depressant gleemonix.
yesterday it was the pointer sisters, today it’s billy ocean. you know, the music they pipe in to the McDonald’s men’s room. but this little gem is in honor of the Jetson clan space cadet I hung out w/last night.
that kids in the hall movie is not bad. cautionary tale from now twenty years ago about prescribing drugs for emotional probs.
sorry if I’ve posted this before. more copilot please.
oh darn, 9/11 slipped by unnoticed by me.
knock knock.
who’s there?
9/11.
9/11 who?
YOU SAID YOU’D NEVAR FURGIT!!!!!
off to register at the FEMA camp. later
jezum crow; that rubber room dirge was porter wagoner? but oy, i listened to billy ocean’s caribbean queen, almost like the pointer sisters one, ack.
how in hades do you know all these shows, anyway, caribbbbean queen? i guess livin’ in the sticks, no cable ‘n such…i missed popular culture altogether. ‘moar copilot’, ha. but everyone who’s anyone weighed in on 9/11™, didn’t they?
we just finished ‘to the ends of the earth’ a three part film by wm. golding. a sea voyage to australia self-discovery saga w/ benedict cumberbatch. no sharks, but i swear i never would have remembered that clip was from Jaws; thanks, but oh, my my, how he delivered the grisly story.
great rant, jump in! thank you for it, most esp. the glorious take-down of the 5 prezzies’ new ‘we are the world’ dance troupe. but this, oh, my, is quintessential j son of j: “wendy, i’m planning on having my next stroke in your neighborhood ;)” ‘next stroke’ makes it art. just give us some time to rest up, okay?
and yeppers, as the calculations of the damage from the hurrYcanes begins to come in, lots of the effects for the poor and people of color will mirror katrina. what right of return? get over it!
was it pronounced ‘gleeOmix’?
Let’s see if this comment will work. I’ve seen a lot of articles on counterpunch praising antifa uncritically, and some of those articles have been promoting the work of the antifa professor that was featured in the WaPo. This concerns me, for the reasons you brought up in ypur antifa thread. As long as they remain defensive and hypervigilant for prvocateurs, I’m behind them but I’m afraid of manipulation and escalation.
It’s like overnight the tone went from overall praise with a note as to how each group was autonomous, and some were engaged in dubious activities like beating up Nazis just for being Nazis, for example, I think this is wrong and counterproductive.
Maybe I’m just imagining things. I hope. This total frustration of internet access has me on edge too. Hopefully some technical problem.
can’t but wonder if the japs hadn’t sunk that ship 1 or 2 days earlier…
if ye gobern de shark in ye, ye be angel-melville
i know that i don’t really need to apologize, but iirc, i’ve only put the café on hiatus once…mebbe twice before. and yet, in trying to advocate for ourselves (mr. wd and i), we’ve run into so many stooopid obstacles from other ‘helpers’ it’s surreal. but fook me, we don’t wanna spin our wheels, waste our time, etc. i did a group email asking for not doubling up meals and why, haven’t heard a blessed word from anyone. yeah, yeah, wd: life is hard, then ya die; irony abounds.
catch as catch-can for me here, i reckon.
morning edit: i did hear from one of the overnight care-givers, and he offered to help with expenses, bless his ♥.
I want to honor the guy whose superpower is keeping paparazzi away from Taylor Swift. I asked him, so if I turn on TMZ or E! or Entertainment Tonight [is that still on?], no Taylor Swift? your anti-reporter shield really works? he said, “well…it’s not 100%. you might see something. it works about 90-95%.” it’s like Peter Parker doesn’t become full blown spidey sensitive overnight. one isn’t born a jedi. takes practice. got to develop the chi & all that. lot to keep in the old duder’s head. but he said he adheres to a strict drug & alcohol regimen…to keep his mental, you know…limber. for taylor. I did forget to ask him why he didn’t protect taylor from sexual harassing gropenfuhrers (Lord, wasted brain cells knowing this crap, but yeah I guess some a-hole assaulted her. the looks I got when I said, “Taylor Swift did country music??” fuckin’ maroon. just what species of idjit are you Jason?)
this is apropos of nothing except the mass manipulation that never ends in the gigantic consumer Pavlovian experimental bubble that is this country, but pop music really sucks. and has for 30 years. I can really only harp on the pop music of my high school years cuz kids today can get off my lawn already cuz I already know, like everything, movies, books, ice cream, water, dogs, everything, pop music is only worse today than when I was 15. recycle Madonna the way they recycle Star Wars & Star Trek. it’s all shopping music. it’s like the McDonald’s food: massive overkill on superficial taste, intentionally malnourishing so that one is left continually dissatisfied.
on a brighter note
lol,i needed the guffaws tonight, down with, etc. i reckon you won’t mind my not rememberin’ who eggzackly taylor swift is. not russell brandt’s wife, former wife,what.ev.er.totally. of the pussy-grabbin’ big show + backup gurl homies, eh?
but srsly; she plays that axe like a balalaika. what in the multi-verse sort of guitar is that? kripes on a kanoe, how luscious ana’s music is! but egads, do let us know what’s goin’ on for you inside your local fema camp, okay?
Sorry to be so belated – just remember kiwis don’t fly. Can t blame my avatar though, they actually dash about at night like frightened rabbits.
My contribution here is that Trump may have done a Good Thing down under – that is, if my distant cousin Winston can keep his credibility and not do what he has done in the past, which is add his 7 percent to National’s forty plus. Oh, sorry, I am talking about The Election of NZ’s Prime Minister of course. An event under the radar except for the truly savvy like yours truly.
Well, Labour (The other party) is not exactly star-studded, but has the very young Jacinda Ardem currently at the helm, so that’s a plus. And they would need the Greens as well as Winston, so everyone who is everyone – except National.
Which could be a good thing.
There are a few more votes to count as well, so it’s not over yada yada yada.
I’m not seeing my logo sign in link, but this is me the kiwi /()>
not late; open menus are for…any time. no offense, but winston’s nationals sound pretty sucky altogether according to da wiki. i did send you a coupla kiwi pieces, including this one from wsws.org. now they are tough marxists fer certain, but oy, do they not give ardem and labour any quarter at all. fwiw territory.
“The so-called “Jacindamania” reflects the definite desire for far-reaching change among workers and young people. Ardern, however, did not create this sentiment and she is only its temporary beneficiary. Like British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and US Democrat Bernie Sanders, she is being promoted to keep the working class trapped behind a pro-imperialist, establishment party which, if elected, will only deepen the assault on living standards and preparations for war.
Labour fully backs New Zealand’s alliance with the US and its alignment with Washington’s preparations for a military confrontation with China. As war approaches, more and more funds will be diverted from social programs to fund the military. Last year, the Greens endorsed National’s plan to spend $20 billion over 15 years on upgrading the military, to ensure that ships and aircraft were “interoperable” with the US and other allied forces. Both Labour and NZ First responded by attacking the government from the right, insisting that this figure was not high enough.
Labour and the Greens, together with the Trump-like NZ First and the Maori nationalist Mana Party, are at the forefront of whipping up racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia. The opposition parties have criticised the National Party’s links with Chinese businesses and sought to blame Chinese migrants and investors for the lack of affordable housing, low wages, the drugs epidemic, and over-stretched hospitals, schools and public transport. Crowning Labour’s reactionary nationalist agenda, Ardern has vowed to slash immigrant numbers by up to 30,000 per year, or more than 40 percent.”, etc.
the other dissident news essay i’d sent demonstrated (iirc) that as per maori teevee, maoris do indeed have an elite comprador class; how disappointing, but i should have known better, of course. power corrupts. ;-)