An exciting event

Yesterday was a somewhat exciting day, at least for our somnolent little community. In the early afternoon, we began to hear firetrucks going by down on the road across the creek, sirens screaming. Then we saw tanker planes going back and forth across the sky. Fire! But where? We knew it was to the west of our house, but we could see no smoke. After awhile, the commotion died down and we settled back down in our lawn chairs in the shade. No further news came, but the paper noted this morning that six acres of dense timber had burned about three miles from our house. There had been a disastrous fire in the same area about 25 years ago, destroying houses and burning large areas of timber. Thank goodness this one was contained as soon as it was.
We dread fire more than we dread earthquakes here where we live. To escape the area we would have to drive or run down a narrow road to the intersection of a larger, but not much larger, road, and if an accident or breakdown occurred, we would all be trapped. Trying to hide out in the creek probably wouldn't help because the fire could easily leap over from one side to the other. A fire came through here early in the century and there are still huge black tree stumps here and there, with tree rings around them where the trees have grown up again. We have two tree rings on the hill below our house. We had a hammock hanging in one of the tree rings and I spent many a happy afternoon with my grandson there, telling stories and playing games. When I walk down the path to the meditation walk, I am flooded with happy memories.
The question has come up regarding how long we can continue to live here in our little house. We hope to make it for at least five more years, longer if we can. One by one, we have seen our neighbors succumb to advanced age or disability, some going to care facilities and some going to live with relatives. Being stubborn and resilient, we are resisting every suggestion that we yield our independence to a more secure living arrangement. So far, we are hanging in there!