I finally managed to get downtown to the post office to pick up my stranded mail and get a change of address form. The oldest parts of Chico around downtown are pleasant enough, but as in most American downtowns automobiles are accommodated in large numbers and their exhaust fumes clog the quaint streets. I could hardly smell the odor of burning forest for the competing mechanical pollution.
The air should clear over the next couple of days as a significant rain storm is due by tomorrow morning. It should make short work of what remains of the fire and will wash the air, though it also brings a considerable danger of flooding in the lately burned areas. It will also hamper the cleanup efforts in the town, and especially the search for human remains in the rubble of destroyed houses. Had the rain come two weeks ago I would still have a home, and cats, and 50,000 other people would not have been displaced, and there would be no need to go searching for cadavers. Weather is cruel.
But the onset of rain also means that tonight's view of the moon could be the last I get until after it has passed the full. But the view will return in time, while so much else never will.