Thursday, October 25, 2007

Recovery

I am happy to report that the evacuation orders have been lifted for most of San Diego County. We have two church members who have lost their home; no one has lost their life. The news and the pictures in the papers do not do justice to the devastation that surrounds us. I had to drive to Costa Mesa today, and the area of I-5 going through Camp Pendleton was thick with smoke; the thickest I have seen all week. In the distance, off the interstate, you could see darker plumes of smoke from fires still burning. Life is returning to "normal" as both The Rev. and I went into work today. My store is still closed and will be until Saturday. Most of my salespeople have just been allowed back into their homes today, and far be it from me to be calling them to come into work.

The outpouring of concern and love has been overwhelming. Thank you. The Rev. and I were blessed to be in a tiny pocket of Escondido that never had to be evacuated. God is good. I am now running errands with a face mask on, as the news is warning people that to be outside for periods of time is like smoking a half a pack of cigarettes. We are expecting air quality to get progressively worse before it gets better, so the air mask will probably be the must have accessory for this winter. You heard it here first.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Burn Day 2

Nothing much has changed since yesterday, and much has changed since yesterday. We are still sitting tight, not sure when/if the reverse 911 phone call will come telling us to evacuate. The sky is gray orange, and I can't go outside without gagging. The smoke gets everywhere, in your clothes and especially in your hair. We've kept ourselves indoors as much as possible.

Several members of our church have been evacuated, and one family is at the church. We feel relatively safe at our home, as it is on the far north end of town, but there is talk of fire just east of us, and that has us concerned. The Rev. and I are home again today, and we anticipate being home for the rest of the week, unless of course, the wind pushes flames towards us and then we head somewhere.

We've been surprised at how orderly everything has been. Thousands of evacuees are at Qualcomm Stadium, local high schools, and the fairgrounds and the news has done a good job of encouraging people to stay off the roads and stay tuned for information in regards to the fire zone. Everyone is calm, or the news has done a good job of keeping hysterical women out of the camera's eye.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We'll keep you updated.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Burn

At the moment, there are ten separate wildfires raging in Southern California. One is just to the south of us; one is north of us; one is to the east. We are basically surrounded, and while people have been evacuated to the high school that is just around the corner from where we live, The Rev. and I filled the truck up with gas and made of list of "grab and go" items just in case we get the call that we have to leave also. If you were to look out our dining room window, you would see blue skies and the big white "E" for Escondido that is on the hillside. If you step outside and look south, you see a menacing orange-brown cloud looming behind the not so distant hills. I've live through a few hurricanes and a tornado, but I have never seen anything like this.

The interstate that runs parallel to my place of work is shut down, and the church school is closed, so The Rev. and I have the day off to listen to the news and look at each other. The Santa Ana winds that have been driving the fires are howling right now, and are not expected to die out until tomorrow. What tomorrow will bring is anyone's guess.

The ladies at work had a surprise baby shower for me last night, and I was driving I was struck by the ash falling from the sky. Funny how fast things can change. One minute my hostess is cleaning up baby shower favors and the next minute she is being evacuated with her family to a local high school. Count your blessings, one by one. Once the fires are out, it will the air quality that will be keeping everyone inside.

We'll keep you posted.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

6 months

I am six months pregnant. My belly is obvious, and the discomforts of pregnancy are becoming more and more apparent to me with each passing day. I am learning to master the art of squatting to pick things up, because it takes me two or three tries to grasp something if I bend over from what used to be my waist. We won't discuss the heinous swelling of my ankles, but every bottle of water I eye causes an internal battle within me: swollen ankles vs. potty breaks every 20 minutes. The Rev. has grown used to me stopping to use the restroom before we leave the house and waiting patiently at our arrived destination so that I can find one.

I am also learning the rhythms of Baby Boy's daily cycle. He's up early with a kick, but is quiet once I have eaten breakfast. By 11 a.m. he is at again, and if I am sitting down, I can see little bumps and nudges through my clothes. He's quiet again for most of the afternoon, but in the evenings The Rev. and I talk to him and he responds to The Rev.'s touch wiht a bump and a kick. For the longest time The Rev. thought I was crazy because he could never feel anything, but the lightbulb went on the other night, as our baby demonstrated his future ability as a kick boxer.

We have also entered another dimension of house repair, as my parent's graciously gave us an early birthday/Christmas present of new flooring. Nasty carpet up, new laminate in. Unfortunately, The Rev. got a wee bit excited about demolition, so when I arrived home, I found my dresser in the dining room and the contents of my closet on the guest bed. We thought we would be able to lay the flooring yesterday, but a visit to our flooring place revealed that the flooring that I had to have was on BACKORDER and wouldn't be in until this week. The Rev. quickly communicated that he had an unhappy 6 month pregnant lady in the car, and the very apologetic owner said he would personally deliver it this week. "He's lucky I won't make him personally install it," was my response to The Rev. This was after we spent another large, unexpected sum in the span of 15 minutes at Sears because our washer and dryer went kaput.

As bad things seem to happen in threes, we are taking bets on what in the house is going to blow up next. My bet is on the dishwasher. But, hey, we're having a baby, and what could be more exciting than that?