wednesday
the fourth day of fires.
on the third, the stable where my horse was boarded had to be evacuated. from the road, we could see the fire coming over mt. miguel in the distance, a pulsing red scar.
so many things can go wrong when you have to move a lot of horses quickly. but when i got to the stable, some of the horses had already been taken out, and mine knew we had to go. i think he was worried he would be left there. when it was his turn to be loaded into the trailer, unlike the others he walked in with me with no hesitation. (he is not known for having a terribly cooperative personality.)
a ranch in imperial beach took our horses in. there in the tijuana river valley, if the fire burned through the whole city we could walk them through the park out to the sea.
i spent a long time just waiting. sometimes sitting in the car listening to fire updates on the radio. eventually public radio went off the air when the fire got to their tower on mt. miguel.
for awhile, little bits of ash fell out of the clouds, gathering on windshields, horses' coats.
at some point the winds changed and the fire began moving north instead of west.
today, the fatigue has caught up, run me over. like everyone else, just waiting, hoping the worst is over.
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