Surviving The Summer

We're still hanging in there, it's been strange being in our house with power, internet, cell service and water but still being unable to use said water. The water district finally lifted the Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil late last night. So that's a huge change for us, what a relief it is! 

Let's just say, sponge baths just don't cut it when it is this hot. Seriously, the temperatures were insane, so many days in a row. It actually got up to 121 out on our deck, and that's with the detector not in the direct sun, and inside the top temp hit 88, which is pretty darn good all things considered. It was hard not to be hyper-focused on these numbers. Our one-room A/C unit was going the whole time. But we survived and at least the power stayed on, California almost had to have rolling blackouts during this historic heat wave.

I'm still finding ash all over the place outside, this bit was cupped inside a rhubarb leaf. Little reminders of the absolute devastation of homes and the forest less than a mile away from us are everywhere. There was a spot fire on Sunday that had helicopters flying right over our house with buckets of water scooped up from the reservoir. It was happening at one of the fire lines near the elementary school so it was contained fairly easily. It was a scary reminder that we are still in an active fire zone. Yes, our bags are still packed just in case.

In addition to ash and burned leaves, I also found this beautiful Peace rose blooming. Even after the weeks of extreme heat and not having been watered for a long time when we evacuated, still it bloomed. Just like it has for the entire time we've lived here, twenty-six years. A good reminder as my emotions ping pong back and forth between elation/gratefulness and sadness/concern.

Also, the work on the Refrigerator of Doom is still proceeding. Many rounds of various cleaners were done by my industrious DH. And it's almost almost okay. Now we've got it in the garage, plugged in and running with trays of baking soda and activated charcoal. Keeping our fingers crossed it works, it would be great not to have to replace it. We were having a tough time finding one to buy that would fit the space that didn't have a months-long delivery date. Covid has apparently caused a refrigerator shortage, just like so many other things, right?

I may sew today as my studio room is only 70 or so!