Coming down from the hill to Nicasio reservoir, I noted that the Inverness has reached the top of the ridge, and in some places, gone over the top. I think it’s Mount Wittenberg. I could almost see the flames. I had to pack everything up and evacuate from my friend’s house this morning, so I spent the morning packing, and the evacuation lines in Sonoma County changed to right where I was. The entire west county has been evacuated. All the way up to Graton. My car was covered in ash by the time I left. I played a mad game of Tetris wedging my things into my car so that I could drive, reverse is still problematic, but at least I can get into third gear.
I took some photos which didn’t come out, very distinct plumes of smoke in different colors, plus a smoke tower. Also one place where a new fire is breaking out on this side of the ridge—the side meaning the side facing Nicasio Reservoir and Elephant Mountain.
I’m in San Geronimo now and the skies are amazingly clear. But to the north, and over Petaluma, West County Sonoma it’s a nightmare. Here the air is sweet in Forest Knolls. It’s hotter than hades, and I’m self-treating for first signs of heat exhaustion, ugh. Delicious chills, first warning sign. Foot cramps, excessive dripping, a lack of thirst, chills. Think I caught it on time. I drenched my head and shirt—wet clothes act like a fridge.
I hate it when heat sensitivity is triggered. When I was younger I had heat exhaustion and didn’t deal with it and so now it’s easily triggered. So if I get overheated I really have to watch it. I often won’t sweat, which is a problem. My grandfather nearly died from the next level after heat exhaustion, which is heat stroke. So, it’s in the gene pool. The first thing is to submerge yourself and cold water. Then take aspirin and Gatorade. I hate Gatorade. Then it dawned on me Alka-Seltzer. Two for one. Both salts, and aspirin. It took a half hour, but it worked.
Some bad air stats coming up today. Staying indoors is the safest thing to do. If you need to go out, right now is better than later on. I know there are better AQI sites than the government site which averages out the readings over several hours. But this is much more violatile. I was so tired I slept on Sam’s landlord’s deck, on the wooden boat trailer. It was lovely watching the Milky Way, it the stars were red.
Thursday evening was absolutely surreal driving home from West Marin. The combo of fog and smoke created strange red green mercurochrome rainbows at sunset. It was like being inside a Maxfield Parrish painting.
No comments:
Post a Comment