Wildfire evacuation

[Sunshine Flock]

The bear is back in our area again. Good to know he survived the fire.

Well, tonight I'm a good news bear. Someone just posted this. It's the sweetest photo ever. Her chicken coop burned down in the Carr Fire, but her chickens survived and are laying bright white eggs in the blackened ashes of their former home.

https://twitter.com/Tricia84103918/status/1028118286335074304

 

[micstrachan]

Bless their little hearts. That actually made me cry. I’m not sure why; can’t tell what emotion it is, but it hit me hard!

 

[GoldenChooks]

The bear is back in our area again. Good to know he survived the fire.

Well, tonight I'm a good news bear. Someone just posted this. It's the sweetest photo ever. Her chicken coop burned down in the Carr Fire, but her chickens survived and are laying bright white eggs in the blackened ashes of their former home.

https://twitter.com/Tricia84103918/status/1028118286335074304

Wow that's powerful! I hope everything goes well for those chickens and for that person!!

 

[1muttsfan]

What tenaceous little creatures they are!

 

[MROO]

No matter the hardship, Life will find a way. It's a wonderful ... and humbling ... lesson for all of us. From a tiny pair of eggs ... comes Hope.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Just want to say that I live in NorCal, too, and I can see the smoke from the Carr fire - and the Ferguson fire, and the Mendo fire... My heart breaks for all of the people affected by this. More often than not, these fires affect those with property and animals (dogs, horses, chickens, etc.). I can't imagine the fear and anguish involved. That pic made me tear up, too. It is beautiful and sad and haunting all at the same time. I am praying for everyone!

 

[MROO]

@Sunshine Flock, I have a group of children out here in Maryland who are specifically praying for Jasper. Please let us know if he's home ...

 

[Sunshine Flock]

@Sunshine Flock, I have a group of children out here in Maryland who are specifically praying for Jasper. Please let us know if he's home ...

Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you.

Jasper is safe and sound. He's our Chief Security Cat and a good hunter. He's petite for a full grown cat, black and very fast. So he did great on his own in such a scary situation and with so many predators on the run from the fire.

His twin brother Juniper is a cuddle buddy but shy with strangers. He leaves his fangs hanging out a lot, so his nickname is Fangs. But his brother Jasper is super duper shy, even with us, and almost impossible to catch. He also has difficulty passing through the doorway into our home. He can run up to it, but only rarely will he go inside.

The boys were born in the backseat of someone's car. We adopted them when they were six weeks old. One night a few days later, as I was working on my computer, I heard a suckling sound, looked down, and saw both of them nursing on our dog Meesha. She's a Queensland Heeler and chocolate lab mix and really sweet.

For months she nursed them. She hadn't been fixed yet. Her entire day would revolve around nursing her puppy kittens. And now, a few years later, Jasper so loves Meesha he gets really excited whenever she's outside and follows her around and rubs up against her legs. She doesn't nurse them anymore, but she does groom them and shows them lots of love.

The all black cat in this photo is Juniper. We rescued Luna from a parking lot when she was seven months old, the same age as the twins at that time. So we had three kittens running around and a fourth cat of ours (Ezra, rescued from the train tracks) who's very much like a kitten and would organize them into a play group we named Ezzie and Friends.

Okay, enough about cats. Back to chickens.

 

[MROO]

Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you.

Jasper is safe and sound. He's our Chief Security Cat and a good hunter. He's petite for a full grown cat, black and very fast. So he did great on his own in such a scary situation and with so many predators on the run from the fire.

THANK YOU! You just made a bunch of youngsters (and a couple of so-called grown-ups, as well) very happy! Ever since my kids read the note about Jasper hiding from the rescuers, they've been asking, especially my teenage son, my resident die-hard cat person.

Our cats are rescues, too - all four of them. Only one was intentional. The other three were "Failed Fosters." I'm sure you know the scenario ... you take them in to prep them for adoption and can't bear to part with them. I passed along nineteen other kittens, but when the fourth foster-fail, an elderly queen who was too afraid of the the world to adapt well, chose my son as "her person," I had to call it quits. I can't afford any more!

All our pets rescues, including both dogs and my daughter's horse. I guess you could call he chickens rescues, too. They're mostly Nankin Bantams - part of breed conservation program for critically endangered livestock species. I guess, technically, they aren't themselves rescued, but their breed is, so I think I can count 'em!

I hope things are beginning to settle for you a bit as you push back the smoke and crud from the fire. Thank you for sharing this whole ordeal with us. It has made my family and inner circle much more aware of the world beyond our immediate place and time, the need to be vigilant on all fronts - and of the tenuous nature of "normal."

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Thank you for your thank you!!

I read it to my husband and he laughed at the "foster failures" and said, "We have those!"

We've talked many times about our new normal and also the new normal of the evacuation. Everyone had to shift gears really fast into a new life while we waited to hear whether our homes survived. Ours did, but our lives aren't the same. Everyone here has changed because of this fire.