We are still at The Ranch.. Norman the famous fibreglass pink Pig who sits in the field is wearing his smoke mask! The great firefighters..some from as far afield as Australia!!..have bulldozed a fire break up the road from us and have lit a back fire. At the moment the winds are down. We have several friends right in the area where the big fire ( for us) is burning and that is three miles east of the historic Sonoma Plaza. We are about 1 mile from the closest mandatory evacuation area. There are some moments of levity in all this. There is a newly erected statue of General Vallejo that sits on a park bench on the Plaza. He has been wearing a smoke mask for a couple of days. Yesterday we drove by to see a line of cop cars from Berkeley lined up and we feared the worst..only to see all the cops surrounding the general having their picture taken! We cruised by in "Speedy" my vintage VW truck and they all cheered. Someone has also been posting signs all over town that say " The love in the air is thicker than smoke". Added to that the Nepalese community that is really big here have been amazing. Nema and Mingma opened a fantastic restaurant here a year or so ago caled "Sonoma Grille". They are giving free food to any police or fireman who drop by and at 5 o clock each day they are hand delivering meals for 150 to the Veteran's Hall where the cops and fireman are resting..probably some of the best chow they've had!!!I would encourage any future visitors to this lovely part of the world to tip those guys heavily..we have been trying to do our part. Apart from the few scumbag looters this has brought out the very best in Wine Country folk..