Safe for now

After seeing 2 fires within 20 miles of my house, I decided not to go to the office. Going to the office would be over an hour away and headed towards other fires and crazy traffic. So I worked from home and kept an eye out.

The fires are still out of control and growing faster and stronger by the minute. I have been able to get my hands on a list of homes completely destroyed and it's unbelievable. Click here to get an idea. The house I grew up in, is gone. The neighborhood that my parents lived in for about 5 years after the kids left the house, is gone. So much is gone. With my parents on vacation till Sunday they were able to get a hold of a neighbor who said that everything on their street is gone. The neighbor is going back tomorrow just to check in case. So by tomorrow I'll know for sure. My grandmothers house was barely spared, but is still standing.

I have to say that watching everyone at Qualcomm stadium makes me feel better. To see everyone coming together and helping is awesome. At one point it was said that there were almost as many volunteers as their were evacuees. I saw lines of people getting a hot breakfast and people were being taken care of. And this was before FEMA showed up.

My neighbor has been calling every 5 minutes to see if we're packing up. Her husband is out of town and she's by herself with a baby. Until tonight, when I started to see flames coming over the hills, I had been telling her not to worry. Thankfully she can't see the flames, otherwise she'd probably be sleeping between Phil and I tonight. We have promised to help her if and when the time comes. Ack......we'll see what tomorrow brings.

It's worse than you think

People have been emailing and asking if it's really as bad as it looks.......they answer is No. It's actually worse. We're fine. My grandma was evacuated last night as firemen we're pounding down her front door. My aunt was able to get her. Then my aunt heard my parents house was in danger and they're on vacation. She spent hours in the middle of the night to rescue all the animals. As of today we think my grandma's house was spared, but we're not sure. She tried to go back to her house today and the neighborhood is shut down and she's not allowed in. My parents house........there are two major roads that many houses have burned on....my parents house is in between these two roads. We won't know till Thur or Fri when they open up roads so my aunt can drive and take a look. I had no idea of any of this till 7am this morning. I was getting ready to go to work and was listening to the radio and heard..."Major fire...Bandy Canyon road...San Pasqual Valley". I immediately called my parents who were already hysterical. All this after spending 4 days in the hospital with a friend who ended up in the ICU. Long story there...but after 4 days of endless Dr's playing "hot potato" with her and no one wanting to do shit for her...a surgeon opened her up to see that there was a foot and a half of her intestine that was rotted and she was dying. Something about an infection after having her appendix taken out and her intestine had shut down and had gang green. I'm actually going to work tomorrow given that I can actually drive there with all the fires....I'm actually looking forward to work as a mental vacation. Keep you posted.