Housing Stalls

This was going to be a townhome 'plex with 24 units. The first 5 of them have been sitting in this condition for a year and a half, now, complete with stacks of shingles on their roofs, and are heading into their second lonely and unprotected winter. I believe transients sometimes stay inside, and once in a while we see a new broken, then boarded, window.

A family farm used to stand on this property, with a lovely old white farmhouse, garage, barn, etc. In our tenure here, we saw years of corn, tomatoes, sunflowers and other crops grown and harvested. But then the farmer died, and the property was sold. The new owners razed the house and other buildings, leveled the lots and put in the streets. Soon after the buildings went up, the housing bubble burst, and ... overnight the project was abandoned.

In this photo, if you blow it up, you can see a kid in a red hoodie standing on the corner. A few days ago we saw him tagging up on the levee. I think his paint can was empty, because he tossed it away in disgust, then sauntered down off the levee, trailing booming bass and angry-sounding rap from his media player...

The Golden State of the Golden State

It's been a dry winter, with only two thirds of the rainfall considered "normal." Thus, much of the grass has already dried to its late-summer golden hue, including the grass here on the levee where I walk. The city has sent crews to mow it to the ground as a precaution against accidental fire, but it is still like tinder.

The number of burning fires is now reduced to just under 300 from over 1,000 a couple of weeks ago, and, with the advent of the delta breeze a few days ago, the air is now clearer, the sky is blue again, and the sun doesn't have that reddish cast it had during the worst of the smoke.