By Fred Owens
"California
is Burning," I wrote that a few months ago when the huge Ranch fire
swept through the northern part of the state. Now it's happening again.
People are exhausted and despondent. I mean people like me in Santa
Barbara and all we got is a little smoky air and a TV news show of
helicopters red-bombing the flames. Let alone the tens of thousands who
had to evacuate, let alone the thousands who have lost their homes and
the many who have died in the fire. It has been quite awful and if I
look out the window I see a tinder-dry landscape. There has been no rain
for months.
We expect the rainy season to
begin in late October, but so far we have had only one sprinkle and the
blues skies that make us famous now make us worried. Clouds feel
better. Hoping for clouds.
Some people
have a better attitude than me. I have lost nothing, but I am bummed out
to even be near this. Neil Young lost his home in Malibu or was it in
Topanga Canyon? Or was it Bob Dylan? Either way, famous people who have
pets and memories just like the rest of us have lost everything.
We
can build new homes in California. We have the resources to replace the
6,000 homes lost in Paradise. We can build 60,000 homes. We can make a
new city. What else can we do?
There is no replacing the lost oak trees, not in a hundred years, but still we will plant them.
The next issue of Frog Hospital. The
next issue of Frog Hospital will include political talk, fundraising
plans and medical concerns. A friend of mine is undergoing kidney
dialysis and he is in line for a new kidney. Talking with him about this
has been interesting. And, if he agrees, I will tell his story.
For
politics, I have in mind something like "In Praise of Nancy Pelosi."
And for fundraising we will announce the Go Fred Me fundraiser which
will commence in mid-January.
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