WILDFIRES!

We were camping in the Santa Ynez Valley Saturday night. Winds gusted at about 40 miles per hour the entire night. In the morning, everything seemed calm and copasetic. Until: We smelled and saw a small cloud of smoke billowing nearby. Was some jerk ignoring the "no campfire" restriction? Well, you could say that: Moments later, a fire marshal--the battalion chief no less--cruised by in his fire vehicle, and asked us "how long we were planning on staying." we said, "oh, do we need to leave now?" He said, (in a tone generally reserved for sharing recipes,) "well, you don't have to, if you're prepared to leave all your stuff behind. There's a four-hundred acre fire burning below you. Surprised they haven't evacuated you by now." I've never seen five tents come down so fast. On the way out of the valley, we could see planes flying around, spraying the fire. And then of course, our way home was fraught with smoke, ash, a deeply darkened sky, and a bright red moon, as we drove through the towns adjacent to several other fires, most notably, the Canyon fire in Malibu. Here's a map which marks the more than fifteen fires that were burning yesterday in Southern Cali.

So, does all this mean the end is near? I think so. But until then, I'm going to buy stock in water.