My cute little mini Kindle Fire tablet has died. I'm 99% sure it's the charging port, you can get replacements online, but actual installation is beyond my meager skills. I've gotten quotes for $99-$120 to repair it. Meanwhile, last I looked I could get a brand new one for 40ish bucks. I HATE this "everything is disposable" outlook. But I really can't justify paying 2 1/2 to 3 times the cost of a new one for repairs. Still hoping I can get a tinkery local friend to take a shot at it, but no luck so far. So frustrating!

Timelies all!

Silly Scrappy cat.

I understand, Epic. It's a turvy topsy world.

Looks like they've evacuated all of South Lake Tahoe in advance of the Caldor Fire. JZ's family has a summer home there, right on the water. It was her grandfather's place where she grew up spending summers there. Her uncle owns it now (not his primary residence) and the whole family uses it from time to time. The way the fire's going now, I'm not sure it's going to survive.

You can see the fireline encroaching on the south end of the lake on this map: [link]

Oh I'm so sorry. I'm glad no one lives there but after JZ's dad's house burning I just...this feels like the worst timeline.

Thanks, askye, but I feel... weirdly indifferent. The house hasn't been *the* house in a very long time. At first it was one of only three houses on the block and whenever we went up there were acres of open fields to wander through, or plop down in and hide in the long grass and listen to summer insects, or make snow angels and watch the dog go bonkers with delight in the winter. Then all the other houses came crowding in and although there was still that breathtaking view from the back, from the front it just looked like a suburban neighborhood in Anywhere, USA (except for the big rusting anchor my grandfather, the sailor, had plonked into a hillock of tanbark--that was un-suburban and eccentric).

Then after my grandfather died the house went to my uncle, and his wife took down a bunch of what she considered to be junk and hung up a bunch of quilts, and they both ditched about 2/3 of the books, and all but about 20 of the owls Nana had spent a lifetime collecting, and all her encouraging Alcoholics Anonymous placards, and a lot of the family photos and all the vintage magazines and and and. It's a large, reasonably well-appointed, nice place to go if you're well-off and want easy access to the lake in summer and the slopes in winter, but it's not a place for kids to ramble and explore and loaf around aimlessly reading trashy novels and going over all their parents' and grandparents' childhood treasures and all the ephemera a summer place gathers. It's just a lot of beds and a kitchen.

I still have *the* house in my head; it's the only place it still exists. Whether or not this place goes up, I'll still have it. I just hate the thought of all the people who live there year round losing their true and real houses.

Dang, JZ. Now I have warm nostalgic feelings about the house! Yes, all the loss from fires in recent years is heartbreaking. My mom used to have a hurricane box that she would pack up before she would leave for NY for the summer. She would let people know that if a hurricane was coming grab the box.

Uplifting election news. Received my usual newsletter from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. It was filled with their Back to School news concerning education and registration projects for the school system. Yes, the Blue counties of Florida doing all they can to get people registered and voting. It takes some work to thwart the GOP leadership in the state but it is good to see my county doing what they can. I expect Broward is as well.

Huh. The minimum payment on my student loan has tripled. I wonder what that's about.

Do You Qualify For $8.7 Billion Of Student Loan Forgiveness?

then Thursday visiting Watkins Glen [link] on the way back.

My sister and her family have been under mandatory evacuation from the fire in South Lake Tahoe. So far they are safe. It’ll be sad if they lose the house but at least they will be alive.