More Fire....
This is captured whole and without permission from the Tassajara fire website.
Meanwhile, Hwy One in Big Sur south of Molera is under mandatory evacuation. Post Ranch is closed....all the employees temporarily laid off. The fire has jumped the containment lines east of Ventana Inn and moving down towards Ventana, Deetjen's, etc. One can assume that this means bye-bye to Judge Burleigh's house, Johnny Rivers' house, etc. Apple Pie Ridge has also been evacuated completely. The new fire break is Hwy One itself.
You have to love the Zennies' attitude.......
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Fear and burning
"The buildings can burn, but you can't actually burn down Tassajara. Fire can never touch Tassajara's heart."Devin's words (taken from the LA Times article) ring true to me. Here's part of the reason why.
Lots of people like the Tassajara zendo and would hate to see it in ashes. Yet, this is a building which owes its life to a fire. A temporary replacement for the zendo which was destroyed by a local fire the year after Zen Center students fought hard to defend the monastery against the Marble Cone fire.
While we sit with the possibility of the fire reaching Tassajara we are playing with the idea of how we could take our cue from the seeds that need fire to open and use this fire to renew ourselves, our community and our places?
The dislocated community
While the folks down in Tassajara are at home, working away at jobs they find meaningful, getting on TV, a larger part of the Tassajara community is having to work, possibly much harder, dealing with the emotional effects of becoming displaced. Torn away from home, job and meaning.
How are you doing out there? Sitting with the unknown, the ambiguity?
How are you doing out there? Sitting with the unknown, the ambiguity?
Morning July 2nd
The sky is clear and it's a day off for some of us here at Jamesburg so we're heading out to try to find some clean air for a while. In the meantime...
Inciweb seems to be back up and working. Responsibiility for fighting the Basin Complex fires is split between two management teams, Tassajara is in the East Zone.
This Google Earth overlay shows that the fire didn't get any closer to Tassajara overnight. Note that to get the latest satellite information you have to reload this file so I have the link as a bookmark in the browser and don't save the CONUS data to My Places when I close Google Earth.
Inciweb seems to be back up and working. Responsibiility for fighting the Basin Complex fires is split between two management teams, Tassajara is in the East Zone.
This Google Earth overlay shows that the fire didn't get any closer to Tassajara overnight. Note that to get the latest satellite information you have to reload this file so I have the link as a bookmark in the browser and don't save the CONUS data to My Places when I close Google Earth.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday evening
Most of the Jamesburg crew went in to Tassajara today to deliver the shopping and pick up the trash. And to bring out a couple of people who need to visit the dentist, and who must now wait out here with the rest of us. This I have been told:
Everyone at Tassajara is in good spirits and seem much more rested now that the schedule has eased off a little. They wanted you all to know that humor is still part of their lives and that they are enjoying having something to do that they believe in. In some unusual ways it's still very much Tassajara.
They asked about the people who had to leave and how they are doing. They wanted to know if there is any way in which they can help them maintain a connection to Tassajara.
One noticeable change to the schedule is that there is now a nightshift watch. Two teams of two people are on watch through the night, the first team from 9:30pm to 2:30am when the second takes watch until the wake-up bell.
Kathleen talked to Stuart Carlson (a fire-captain friend of Tassajara) who was very positive about the work done to construct the defensible space. He emphasised that in his experience the places that survive fires have been those that have made similar improvements, for example, the firelines down to the soil that now encircle Tassajara, the regular watering of the surrounding foliage, the sprinkler system.
Tassajara is now in the area managed by the team from the Indians fire. The Information Officer for this fire is now making daily visits to Jamesburg and today he told us that all he had heard about Tassajara indicated that it can be defended against the fire.
He brought with him this morning's map of the fire which showed a movement towards Tassajara in the area approaching the Oryoki Bowls, and that the fire was now well established in the Tassajara Creek drainage.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days is for north-west winds which could bring the fire closer.
Everyone at Tassajara is in good spirits and seem much more rested now that the schedule has eased off a little. They wanted you all to know that humor is still part of their lives and that they are enjoying having something to do that they believe in. In some unusual ways it's still very much Tassajara.
They asked about the people who had to leave and how they are doing. They wanted to know if there is any way in which they can help them maintain a connection to Tassajara.
One noticeable change to the schedule is that there is now a nightshift watch. Two teams of two people are on watch through the night, the first team from 9:30pm to 2:30am when the second takes watch until the wake-up bell.
Kathleen talked to Stuart Carlson (a fire-captain friend of Tassajara) who was very positive about the work done to construct the defensible space. He emphasised that in his experience the places that survive fires have been those that have made similar improvements, for example, the firelines down to the soil that now encircle Tassajara, the regular watering of the surrounding foliage, the sprinkler system.
Tassajara is now in the area managed by the team from the Indians fire. The Information Officer for this fire is now making daily visits to Jamesburg and today he told us that all he had heard about Tassajara indicated that it can be defended against the fire.
He brought with him this morning's map of the fire which showed a movement towards Tassajara in the area approaching the Oryoki Bowls, and that the fire was now well established in the Tassajara Creek drainage.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days is for north-west winds which could bring the fire closer.
Some photos from the weekend
Shundo sent out some photos from the past couple of days and I'll try to upload them later tonight. This is the view of the road from the Tony Trail.
This is the work-circle with the Fenner Canyon inmate Strike Teams geting ready to leave.
This is the work-circle with the Fenner Canyon inmate Strike Teams geting ready to leave.
Smokey The Bear Sutra
The students at Tassajara have just asked for the Smokey The Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder and I've sent it in to them. You can find it here or here and then join in the chanting.
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