Ethan and I took the mighty hound up into the mountains behind the house to see what the fire had done to our landscape, with Ethan particularly concerned to visit the golden fish that bizarrely live in a concrete cattle pool a half mile up the trail. It’s a very different place today. We found it hard to find a way around to the pool,  blocked by broken branches and chain-sawed logs. Firefighters had to cut trees and clear areas of brush to create firebreaks, so the pale tracks and scrapings of the earth movers stand out strongly against the thin layer of fine black ash covering the land. The lower ten feet of the trees are charred black. while the tops appear dried out, but still green. Once in a while we saw birds and butterflies, who are probably feeling a bit lost right now.Â
Next year the land will be beautiful – the spring flowers are going to be glorious.Â
