Hard to Believe

No, I'm not referring to Hillary Clinton et al. Although it would be an appropriate description of my reaction to the subject.


But I digress.


It's hard to believe it's nearly August already. This summer has flown by, more quickly than usual. Prob'ly had something to do with all the packing, moving, unpacking, and household chores.

But here it is, July 26th. Of course, in a peculiarly Alaskan twist, it was 49° on my deck this morning. Although AccuHunch surmises that we might get into the upper 60s today, a return to summer weather is a week away. Or so they predict.

We've had several consecutive days of rainfall, and the fire department/Dept. of Conservation/everyone else has finally contained the McHugh Creek fire. They began rolling up all the hoses and sprinklers laid out in the southern subdivisions yesterday, finally secure in the knowledge that we've had enough rain for it to be absorbed by the greenery. Thus the risk of wildfire is reduced to acceptable levels.

Much ado is being made about properly protecting homes on the edge of wilderness, by clearing trees out to a safe distance from houses, pruning crowns at least 10 feet apart, and so on. Most homes on wooded lots are completely surrounded by trees, and in many cases only the building site and driveway were cleared.

Like mine, f'rinstance. Even the homes with manicured front yards (roughly half, in our subdivision) have trees too close, by fire safety standards.

So we have to weigh the cost and trouble of removing a couple dozen large trees from the sides and rear of the house. It will be neither easy nor inexpensive. And frankly, I'd rather not.

On the other hand, I'd rather not let my house burn down, either.

Sigh...