What, Me Worry?

What, Me Worry?

You are old enough to remember Alfred E Newman, the gap-toothed doofus whose face appeared on the cover of every issue of Mad Magazine over the words, “What, Me Worry?”

Well, Alfred, where to start?

Of the three largest, measured by acres scorched, wildfires in the recorded history of California, numbers two and three are at this very moment incinerating fields and forests and structures in Northern California, one to the north of us, one to the east of us.  To the west of us, that is, upwind, the so-called Woodward Fire is having its way with Point Reyes National Seashore.  The only reason we have no fire to the south of us is that San Francisco Bay seems impervious to lightning strikes.  

Last Sunday and Monday dry thunderstorms rolled through, producing 11,000 lightning strikes (how in the heck do they count that?) and hundreds of wildfires all over the Golden State, far exceeding CalFire’s capacity to respond.  Giant fires merge into mega fires, that one five percent contained, this one zero percent contained.  Armadas of red fire trucks rumble along the freeways towards trouble.  Calls go out to Oregon and Idaho and Texas.  Send help!  Calls go out to Canada and Australia, for heavens sake.  Send help!  

Here in Sonoma we experience no immanent peril, unless the new dry thunderstorms predicted for tonight and tomorrow torch off what’s left of the Mayacamas Mountains woodlands from the 2017 fires.

Mighty Thor, how did we offend thee, brother?  Enough, already!  I have lived in California since 1967 and have never, not once, experienced this kind of dry thunderstorm.  Rain comes with thunder and lightning, right?  Buckets of rain, right?  And when thunderstorms do come, they never ever ever come right smack at the beginning of fire season.  Scorched hills.  Stunning sunsets.  Air you could slice with a giant butter knife.  Pity the people whose living relies on outside work.  Construction crews.  The (mainly) immigrants who pick our apples and cherries and grapes.  They might as well smoke a pack of Camels before lunch as breathe that air.  Suddenly here everybody has a new favorite website, purpleair.com, which provides you your air quality index on a rolling ten-minute basis.  Depending entirely on the direction and velocity of the wind, our air quality index varies from crummy to practically lethal.

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Chances of real, fire-quenching rain here before November: slim to zero.  We have a long wait ahead.  And, weirdly enough, that is only Worry Number Three.

Worry Number Two is COVID-19, about which I have nothing illuminating to add.  It sucks.  I hate it.  And . . . we have a long wait ahead.

Worry Number One (parenthetical aside: this blog has never before gone political, but I would frankly feel like a chickenshit weasel if I tiptoed around this Worry) is Donald Trump.  I just don’t get it, I really don’t, that nearly half the people in my beloved country approve of this lying, misogynistic, divisive, ignorant president.  My wonderful pal, Geof Baldry, who had the genius to move to Skiathos four-odd decades ago, refers to our president as Agent Orange.  Spot on, Geof.

Suggestion.  Lash up on YouTube “Texas profanities for Trump” where you will find a Texas Republican in a cowboy hat expressing his feelings about our sitting president.  Spot on, Cowboy.

So, yes, Alfred E. Newman, me worried.  And most of all I am worried for the soul of my country.  Not long ago we watched an officer of the law casually extinguish the life of a person in his care by kneeling him to death.  Out of that a movement called Black Lives Matter came forth.  And, sadly, clearly, way too many of us took that to mean, Cops don’t matter or Whites don’t matter or I don’t matter instead of having the intestinal fortitude to confess the racism latent in me, much less the racism entwined in the sinews of our society.

Donate.  Get active.  Vote.  Make sure your kids, and for some of you your grandkids, vote. Worries Number Two and Number Three I can handle.  Four more years of Donald Trump . . . we can’t let that happen.

19 thoughts on “What, Me Worry?”

  1. Lovin’ it. I hear you.
    One of my sisters is a Trump supporter. Why? Because he loves America. He’s created thousands of jobs. He hasn’t gotten us into war! OK, ah-ha. Veda has more than gently suggested I not get into it with her because I’d be wasting my breath. She’s right. But I do have some influence with my nieces and we chat regularly about politics and the state of the disunion.

    Love you blog Bill.
    Hugs to you and Jane.
    Kathy

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    • Thank you for another wonderful piece. Just yesterday I was hoping we would hear from you some first hand commentary about those awful fires. All the best (-:

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  5. Thank you Bill… I totally agree – I cannot imagine another four years of a banana republic president in the WH. I grew up with one in the Philippines and it is not pretty.

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  6. So nice to see lovely Jane and, well OK, you. Your writing is always cogent, interesting, and refreshing and I hope you keep writing for many years to come. I wholeheartedly concur with your sentiments, particularly about the concept of (God forbid) another four years of Herr Trump. Linda and I are writing postcards and letters via Vote Forward and the Sonoma County Democratic Party folks to voters all over the country and hope they do some good. Regarding the fires – this is August and we have September and October to go. If over 1 million acres can go up in ashes now with virtually no rain in sight, what will the next two months bring? Stay well and prepared!

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  8. I agree with you regarding worry #2 and worry #3, but respectfully disagree with you on worry #1. It is nice that in America we can still hold different opinions and remain “friends”! Blessings to you brother.

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  11. Lovely picture finally – Worry 3 is still with us with my son’s family staying with me after evacuating Felton. He calls his house 2x daily and if answering machine answers knows his house is standing and still has electricity. Worry 2 continues to need action on our part every day to mask and keep distance despite social and economic costs. Worry 3 is so scary but has the potential to end rapidly and never be repeated. VOTE!
    Thanks Bill and Jane.

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  12. Without a doubt he is the most frightening president in modern day history. It isn’t just him who is frightening but so are many of his supporters who believe that he was sent by God. They don’t know or don’t care that he is an immoral liar, a man who will do and say whatever he believes will benefit him. They don’t care that he is trying to undermine our election and that he can’t give assurances that if he loses he will accept defeat.
    This is probably one of the most dangerous times in our history since the Civil War.

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  13. Thank you Bill for this nice picture of Jane and you. You look so happy.
    We are following the infos about the fires in California , terrible, !
    We have also a very dry summer in France, no rain since June. In our area no fire.
    We hope also for a change in November and for the end of the horrible Covid 19.
    Keep safe . Bises de Torçay
    Colandi

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  14. Bill: I’ll save this as an accurate and sensitive description of our current lives. Meanwhile, great photograph of you and Jane. Love, Brother Norm

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  15. Way to go bro. You can say it like no one else can. We are all praying for you and Jane and Katie and Owen and Jack and Grace and all the others being threatened by those horrible fires and smoke. We are also praying that everybody gets out and votes in November and we send that lying , cheating unethical guy in the White House packing.

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  16. Bill, thanks for your good message. Totally agree with your sentiments. Blessings to all who continue to wear masks and physical distance. I called 3 people about whether they were a) registered and b) actually voted. One was OF COURSE!, one was, yes we do but not sure their son was registered – will check, and 3)yes I’m registered, but I’m a felon and can’t vote, but will check. A google search I did seems to indicate that unless s/he is in prison or on parole, s/he can register and vote in CA. With such interesting results, I’m going to try another 3! And urge them to contact others. Dan even says he’s willing to write postcards. But will anyone be able to read this physician’s handwriting!
    All the best to you and your families! Betsy

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  18. Great writing, Bill. And so good to see you and Jane looking so healthy and happy.
    I find myself repeating the mantra “we’re going to get through this” many many times each day.
    Stay safe.

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