Friday night lights & then dark

It is Friday. I have the day off and are watching my dogs zoom, doing homework and reading. It feels good. 

I like getting ahead of things. I suppose it would be easier if I could let things go, but I can't.

Even this blog, which is completely self imposed for me to do, is something that pops into my head and I think, why not?

The world seems dark. Darker even still. The administration is worrisome at best, terrifying and facist at worst (or is it the worst yet?) turning me into a worry wart and making me paranoid. I wonder if I should leave the country. Thinking to myself, am I overreacting?

But then, for those of us well versed in history, there are many points with situations like these, where someone thinks they should leave but they stay. 

There's whole books and mini series, both fictional and historical, about those kinds of decisions. People stay put thinking it can't get as bad as all that can it? But it can. 

The question is whether it will.

California California

There's a Joni Mitchell song called "California" that I think I've quoted here previously. She sings, "Oh California I'm coming home". Tonight, I am not at home. I came up to the high desert house with my mother in law and my husband and three puppies in tow. We hadn't had power all week and I couldn't shiver in the dark anymore. It was a good decision. It was warm. I was able to charge my phone. The dogs were safe. We could make dinner and did. And I have an espresso maker here too. So that was good. 

Yes, the longer drive to work was hard. And I forgot my court shoes and had to buy some at Target. But all in all, it was fine. Compared to what others went through in California, it was nothing.

Then yesterday late afternoon, I'm at work in a unit meeting and see Little Mountain, which abuts my house in unincorporated San Bernardino near Devore, was on fire. I freaked out until someone informed me it was controlled. Everything was fine. But is it?

The amount of loss in California is really unfathomable. I have a few friends in Altadena that lost everything. I've heard that many of my law school colleagues lost their homes in LA and the Palisades. People have perished. Schools are gone. Animals have died. Communities have been leveled.

Where do we go from here? Will there be a mass exodus from California? I'm rethinking where to go from here. I can't do many more of these power outages and the risk of fire in my area of the wind tunnel is real. 

So I guess I should just breathe. Hold my shih tzus and family close. Help the people I can in the criminal system. Drink coffee. Lots of coffee. Just so you know it's 4:39 am. My dogs woke me at 3 am and I've been up since. 

This is my life. This is my rant. 

Covered in shih tzu

It's 4 am. 

No power. 

Shih tzus crying. 

Swear under my breath.

Downstairs, it's dark, cold. 

Out of their crates, 

Wrestle, pee on pads. 

Lay down on the couch,

All three pile on me. 

I'm covered in shih tzu.

Three siblings snoring. 

I'm so in love it hurts. 

Thought it would take longer.

I was wrong. 

I'm theirs.

New days

So, I've been busy, as we now have 3 puppies. It's a magical story that started off almost tragically when our two shih tzus, Merry and Pippin, were injured recently (as you know if you read the blog regularly). Merry is still recovering from hip surgery, but doing well and Pippin's broken arm is fully healed and he is zooming all over the house with his sister Princess Leia who is now affectionately known as Princess.

Princess became available after the house she was homed in didn't work out. She missed her brothers and the house's older shih tzu did not like Princess at all. She is a ball of energy and very needy so it makes sense an older dog might not adjust to her ways. So we took her in too and she is a handful who makes the already precocious Pippin even more so and they are mischievous little hobbit shih tzu trouble makers of epic proportions. Princess is so tiny that she can go under the couch and peek out to taunt Pippin.

Poor Merry has been sad in his crate desperately wanting to play, but we are being careful and cautious with any play time which is heavily monitored. Suffice to say, I've been off work but fully occupied. It feels like they are adjusting and within the next two weeks, I should be able to bring Merry back into the fold. This morning, I go back to work so we shall see how they do.

Yesterday, I did make time for brunch with my sister Annie and my friend Kim. We ended up talking for two and a half hours over cup after cup of coffee and it was a nice girl day.

I guess I'm just traveling along. It's a new year and a new day and I'm oddly hopeful. I feel optimistic. Happy new year everyone.