It must be said: I suck as a front-pager these days.
Many people have had much worse rides, but it’s been a tricky few months/years for yours truly here in the Hub of the Universe . And thanks for the communal sympathy for the one bit I shared about our family cabins when they were in imminent danger. That all ended as expected, alas, and not well:
That’s what’s left of the larger of the two cabins. The fire burned so hot that the septic tank melted; the county has been informed, and we’re pumping out the hazard as soon as a truck can get in there.
It could be so much worse. Thankfully, no fire fighters or other disaster personnel were hurt while working to save ours and other cabins in the valley; these were summer-only houses, and fire is part of what happens when one chooses to spend time in remote country. (Also, thankfully, not all the houses in the valley burnt. Which is good for our friends and means, inter alia, that the landscape isn’t wholly charred.)
So that’s a part of the reason why I’ve been essentially absent from this site for too long. There’s some other stuff going on which may keep my presence here to a (satisfying to some, I’m sure) minimum. But I hope to take a more active part; we’ll see.
In the meantime, as an apology, take a gander at some great felines:
Here’s Champ, just this evening, objecting as I swapped the chicken that had been in harm’s way for the kale:
And here she is, a mathematical cat, dreaming of topology:
And here’s the cat I serve, Tikka, in his Robert Louis Stevenson moment: the sailor, home from the sea (and no mean hunter, back in the day).
(That was at a holiday house we got to enjoy for a week at the end of August. It was a long enough sojourn that we took the cats. Champ loved it from the moment we unpacked her from the car. Tikka took a couple of days before he’d get out of the drawer he’d found to hide in. He’s an old Spaniard, as Stephen Maturin would describe him: “Let no new thing arise.”)
And last, here’s the boss cat in all his dignity. He is saying, as he so often does, “friends don’t let friends vote Republican”:
And with that, ave et vale. I hope to be a better citizen of the blog soon. In the meantime, the thread is open.
Play nice.
Or not.
different-church-lady
Damn, man, misfortune shouldn’t be viewed as a competition sport. ☹️
Danielx
As always, I feel I have been judged and found wanting by Tikka.
Sorry for the loss of your cabin(s).
JoyceCB
Did I tell you how much I enjoyed “Money for Nothing”? If not, I’m telling you now. And Tikka has the sternest visage of any cat I’ve ever seen!
The Pale Scot
The cat is ALIVE!
https://twitter.com/BFMTV/status/1437303318817218564
By the way there is a FF add-on called “bypass paywall clean” that seems to stop all twitter sign up BS. Good for the Torygraph, WSJ, ftfnyt etc mostly. I am not sure how it works. I use Safari and Brave, FF just for paywall bypass
Gin & Tonic
Somewhat relatedly, I am on my way back to New England on the socialist transit and taking a short break from my Kindle. Recently I saw a message on Twitter offering a too-good-to-be-true deal on a Kindle book about the history of money in England/Britain, and I’m about a third of the way in. But it’s 10:30 and I’ve had some wine, so it may be the end of that effort for now.
I am learning that I know nearly nothing about British history.
WaterGirl
Tom, you do not suck. Not even a little bit. Happy to see you post, but please don’t feel guilty, not even a little bit. The only person who may be happy when you aren’t here is perhaps the “art douche” person.
Hoping things settle down for you soon!
Thank you for his highness Tikka. Baby Champ isn’t such a baby anymore. They grow up so fast!
Tom Levenson
@The Pale Scot: Le Chat Vive!
Carolina Dave
Sorry for the loss of the cabins. I read your previous piece about why they were so special and how much they were in harm’s way.
The vacation rental by the sea looks amazing, even more so you could bring your animals.
Best of luck in the aftermath. As you said, thankfully no one was hurt in their defense.
Tom Levenson
@JoyceCB: Thanks!
@Gin & Tonic: Heh. I’m glad it’s holding your attn. up to the wine limit.
Nicole
No apologies needed, and thank you for the kitty pix.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Sounds like you didn’t spend your (small amount) of Money for Nothing!
CarolPW
My grandfather built a cabin near Echo Summit in the 20s. I spent my summers there and a couple of weeks in the winter. Although the family no longer owns it, knowing the cabin is gone is hard to process. Here in eastern Washington on Friday we could smell and taste the smoke of your cabin and everything near it, and I thought of you and yours. So sorry and much empathy. It tasted terrible.
Kelly
I to have been drawing comfort from what didn’t burn. Last years Beachie fire stayed down in the brush as it swept past our home. Home was filthy with soot but unscathed. Lost a shed and some big trees. Now that the big, burnt trees are down and the burnt buildings cleaned up I can see it’ll look OK next summer. 90% of the big trees within sight of here are OK. Vigorous shoots of maple, hazel and dogwood are springing up from stumps. Undergrowth of ferns, salalal, backberrys, elderberry have filled in.
Richard
@different-church-lady: i found myself lacking in sympathy. The cat is not to blame. It was hard to understand or feel sad about the burnt cabin or cabins. Ave vale indeed!
Tom Levenson
@CarolPW: Thanks.
We will rebuild, and put as much fire resistance into the new place as possible. Really with a view to the next generation, among whom are several for whom the spot is as beloved as it is for me and my sibs.
Nothing is certain; we will take what we can get of the moment.
Tom Levenson
@Kelly: Good to hear. I look forward to seeing that process unfold around our place.
Gin & Tonic
@Tom Levenson: It’s a fascinating read so far, but please, no spoilers.
Jay C
Minor pedant correction: Author/poet RLS was Robert Louis Stevenson (not Stephenson)
Great cat pix, anyway.
Sorry about the cabin.
Tom Levenson
@Jay C: Damn!
I always screw that up.
Thanks for the catch. Will fix.
Tom Levenson
@Gin & Tonic: You win some. You lose some…
debbie
That top photo is very saddening, but Champ! ❤️ Grown too fast, alas.
Tom Levenson
@debbie: Champ has grown. But she’s still a goof, delightfully.
And in that first photo, I do take an odd pleasure in the tori-gate look to the standing steel posts. Enter!
Dan B
@Tom Levenson: That’s a tough image of the cabin. Sorry to see. You’ve been missed here but not needed – not nearly as much as your need to lift the weight you’re under. It’s good to hear that the brilliant TL can be as human as the rest if us.
BTW some fires years ago left straw bale houses intact – combination of stucco siding and mass, or maybe sheer insulation power of the bales. It might be an avenue to research.
Richard
@Kelly:
Thank you because many times the country will grow back. Call us optimists. It might be beyond my lifetime. Some things will be lost forever. But our planet is not an amateur.
The Pale Scot
@Tom Levenson:
The kitty’s blaise “of course you should cheer me” is the best
Benw
Not only do you not suck, you have never sucked, unless at some infinitesimal time you sucked, but that happens to everyone. Nice cats
susanna
@Tom Levenson: Did you not play card game “Authors?” If not for that game, my book/author memory and name-spelling would be kaput.
Love you cat beauties and that they got to have their relaxing vacation, too. Very sorry about your cabins, Tom.
chopper
dang sorry about that family cabin. that b.l.o.w.s. good y’all are okay tho.
AM in NC
I love your posts, Tom (and loved the Stephen Maturin reference)! But don’t feel guilty because life gets in the way of blogging. I would hope the jackaltariat understands.
trollhattan
Well, shit.
As outcomes go that one hits the left-end of the worst-best outcome scale and I’m very sorry about that. The land won’t recover for decades and whatever the new normal may be, we can’t yet guess. The sun-baked, volcanic, southern Cascades are a peculiar and lovely region I can’t compare to anywhere else. This fire, among the many to hit the region the last decade has ruined so very much.
My heartfelt sympathies to you and your family, Prof. Levenson.
Flanders Other Neighbor
The fire stayed above a friend’s cabin that’s just below Hwy 88. Been in the family since the grandparents bought it in the 40s and he thought it was doomed.
We just stayed there the first time over the 4th of July, and we only told the kids there was an outhouse and no cell coverage once we got there. Hilarity ensued.
Dan B
@Flanders Other Neighbor: Sadist!
Come sit next to me. With a mask or six feet away, or both.
Tom Levenson
@Flanders Other Neighbor: good stuff. It took my son until he was ~21 before he got his head around the no internet issue. We did (and will) have indoor plumbing, though.
Tom Levenson
Crashing now. Thanks for all the good thoughts and kind words.
See you on the flip side.
Poe Larity
No worries about keeping the jackals humored. Humble introspective offerings.
I’d guess a lot of your neighbors are pretty old, and what I’ve learned from the LNU fire is that most don’t have the paperwork skills to work the rebuilding process in Napa county. Out of 28 of 30 burned, only two have made any progress. But builders are all focusing on high-end, so the regulars are awaiting, living in RVs.
Given our stuff was Ag or 120 sqft, we’re progressing. Water system working, master cabin enclosed and all metal exterior. Picked up old 3/4” solid oak flooring for $1.50 sqft this weekend. Not the same as the timberframe but should be good for a few decades as long as we win against the damned pyro Yerba Buena satan growth. Lot of seeding this winter if we just get some rain.
You write good books, have wondered if anyone would write an embed book of one of these superfires.
Kelly
I been thinking about the function of fire in forests since the 1988 Yellowstone fire. Visited in 1989. The park service already had displays up explaining the role of fire in the landscape. Park service took a lot of criticism for their light touch fire fighting. I think time has proved the park service correct.
There was a good fire in woods along the wild and scenic Rogue river in 2014. One of my beloved places. It was a good fire. Started by many ridgetop lighting strikes the flames burned mostly downhill. When we floated the Rogue in 2015 it looked OK from the river. The rangers said it burned a million tons of poison oak and left 90% of the big trees. They were pleased. Said they could not have burned it that well on purpose.
There are old growth stands we’ve lost in the last 5 years or so that I grieve over. Before this was the USA there would have been enough other old growth that it wouldn’t be missed quite as much. There isn’t much left and I won’t be around for hundreds of years see them grow back.
It was impossible to take the long view amongst the blackened ruins last winter. As with other grief time helps.
prostratedragon
Sorry about your cabins, Tom. It looked like such an idyllic spot in the other post. At least some of the trees look like they’ll make it, to my amateur eye, and rebuilding might turn out to be enjoyable in itself.
Champ in that first photo looks like she’s been learning from Tikka.
CaseyL
@Tom Levenson: It’s wonderful to hear your family will rebuild the cabins; the last I had heard was that it was still being discussed. Will you build from scratch or get a pre-fab cabin? Today’s pre-fabs are gorgeous!
I can put up with a lot to be in the great outdoors, but what killed camping for me was the lack of a real bathroom. The only thing worse than walking through a campground at night to find a portapotty or park toilet is walking through a campground at night to find a likely tree or bush. And when it’s raining on top of everything else…
Give me indoor plumbing or give me death!
Your posts are a treat, whenever you can do them, at whatever frequency. I love your writing, whether blogpost, Tweet, or (hear my heart go pitty-pat) your books, your wonderful wonderful books. Take care of yourself, and your life events.
Champ and Tikka are, as always, worth of price of admission all by themselves. I adore Tikka’s crooked little ear, and have been wanting to ask: is there a story behind that?
NotMax
Well, it is B-J After Dark time on one coast, so (as there was no classical art included this time) a different look at suckage.
;)
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Needs some Bootsy Collins with that:
stinger
I think maybe you need to re-read the directions for putting together cats. You appear to have some Tab A-into-Slot B mishaps.
Recently finished Newton and the Counterfeiter — fascinating!
So very sorry about your cabins.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue team
I always thought it was ‘ave atque vale,’ but maybe both work or my memory is wrong, again.
Morzer
I suspect Stephen Maturin would have described Tikka as an old Catalan. Sorry to see the bad news about the cabins. Build back better!
Tehanu
Sorry about the cabins but you seem ready to rebuild even better, so, silver lining and all that.
Champ is a very expressive feline person. Thanks for the pics, and hang in there.
Miss Bianca
So sorry about the loss of the cabins. As someone who lives up in the “Stupid Zone” for fires, I can sympathize. (and am exploring the possibilities for getting my butt out of the Stupid Zone, but that’s another story).
My, how Champ has grown! What a pair of handsome tuxxie felines!
mvr
I’ve been thinking about your cabin ever since your first post. Thank you for the picture by way of update. I’m really sorry for your loss of an important family artifact and place of good memories.
We spent part of August hauling branches and small trees to the dump from our cabin as we try to make the landscape a bit more fire safe. So far we’ve just been lucky. The largest fire nearby stayed on the other side of the North Platte last summer. And a couple of smaller fires on our side did not move all that much. Our history with our cabin is much shorter having built it about 15 years ago. But it would be a hard loss.
Anyway, thanks for the update and I hope that rebuilding will bring a kind of pleasure and new good memories.
WeimarGerman
As a frequent Sierra visitor/hiker I am very sorry for your loss.