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.