Clearing the Lines

Oak Creek Ranch is in California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills, in fire country.  When there is wind in the forecast, the power company shuts off electricity in areas at risk for fire.  That would be us.  The power is out for a day, if we are lucky, and a week, if we are not lucky.  When the power is out, we not only don’t have electricity for the refrigerator or lights — which is inconvenient but not life threatening — we also don’t have power to the well.  That means no water is pumped out of the well and no water is pumped from the well to the house or barn — or horse pastures.  A year ago, we purchased a humongous generator that powers everything: house, well, barn.  It runs on propane (and we have two tanks to provide it with fuel) and is hard-wired into the house.  A month ago, I was taking a shower when the power went out.  It was immediately pitch black.  I stood, water running over me, unable to see anything.  I was thinking, “how do I find my way out of the shower?” ...and then, with a roar, the lights came back on.  I thought, “best investment; ever.”

The electricity is not turned back on until all the lines have been checked by the power company and that takes a number of days.  Helicopters swoop low and PG&E trucks cruise up and down our roads.  Currently, contractors are trimming trees away from the power lines.  This morning, there was a knock on the door and a very polite tree trimming guy informed us that they needed to go into the girls’ pasture to trim one of the oaks that is too close to the lines.

We moved Lucy and Pistol into the donkey pasture.

They loved the new locale, with a soft, sandy place to roll in the dry pond bed and bits of green grass here and there.

The donkeys weren’t so thrilled.  But, they also weren’t about to argue with Lucy about it.