Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Fires on Tuesday

Smoke from the Fire
 
Yesterday, I mentioned the Santa Ana winds.  One of the dangers of the Santa Ana winds is the threat of wildfires.   There is a major wildfire not too far from where I live (but not close enough to threaten me), which started overnight or very early this morning.  I could see the billowing smoke from my house, this morning, and I took a couple of pictures on my way to the office.
 
Today, I called the hospital (since that was the number that was on the authorization form) to schedule the surgery.  Of course they had no idea what I was calling about and I was told to call the surgeon's office!  So, I called the surgeon's office and they had no clue, either!  In this day of supposedly having everything online, they couldn't find anything!  Eventually, I had to make a photocopy of the form and drive over to the surgeon's office to hand it to them.  Apparently, the US Postal Service is faster than the internet!

The drive home after work took practically forever, since there were some freeway and other road closures due to the fire.  There were several contingents of police cars and fire trucks speeding on their way to the fire, too, with sirens blaring, so traffic was quite bad.  But I was grateful that the freeway I take was still open and I was able to get home without any detours, etc.  
 
I could smell the smoke from the fire when I came home and it started to affect me in the short time I was outside, collecting the mail, bringing the trash cans in, and looking for the garden cats' water dish which had blown off to the side yard!  I took my emergency "rescue" inhaler and feel OK, now. 

This fire is very close to where one of my friends lives (she's the friend who invited us to Thanksgiving).  In fact, the area to the south of her is under mandatory evacuations orders.  When I saw the evacuation map online, I called her to check on her.  She said she is not under evacuation orders, but they are prepared to evacuate if needed.  I offered her my house as a place to evacuate to.   Another friend of mine called, too, to say that they had to close the school where she works early due to the smoke and ash; they'll be closed tomorrow, as well.  I told her that if she needed to leave, to let me know, I can come for her.  She said she's OK.  But she said they closed the road to traffic, earlier in the day.  
 
Ash
 
This is a picture of my bathroom window sill - the black dust is soot and ash that have blown in from tiny gaps in the caulking!

More Ash

I can only imagine how much worse it must be closer to the fire.

Today, I am grateful for:
- The fire is not close enough to threaten my house
- My friends are safe and not under mandatory evacuation orders
- The winds seem to have slowed down and hopefully, that will help the firefighters
- The freeway I take home was open so I could get home without much difficulty
- Rescue inhalers

I didn't do anything much after I came home, other than check on my friends, exchange emails with another friend, and video chat with daughter.

I also checked the weekly grocery specials as the sales ads came in today's mail.  The Kroger affiliate stores in my area are having a "Mix and Match" sale,  One must buy 5 participating items but the items include peanut butter, 4 lb. bags of sugar, cream cheese, eggs, cake and brownie mixes and they are $.99 each.  I have been waiting for peanut butter to go on sale (I am almost at the end of my last jar) and I need to buy eggs for the almsgiving.  I can buy cake mixes at that price from the dollar stores, but I might get a brownie mix and bake it for one of the almsgiving desserts.  And sugar at $.25/lb?  It doesn't specify cane sugar (I've checked the ingredients list on these bags of sugar and all it says is, "sugar"!), but sugar is sugar, right?  

How was your Tuesday?  Did you have a good day?

6 comments:

  1. Thank goodness you are OK Bless, and it is very kind of you to offer your friend somewhere to stay if the need arises. The fires were on the news here yesterday, it must be very scary for everyone affected.
    Keep safe. X

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    1. Apparently, yet another wildfire broke out, last night! Now there are four in the surrounding areas and yet another freeway - one of the busiest - has been closed! The news is showing wild deer running to escape the flames - where would they go? It's heartbreaking.

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  2. Hopefully you're not assuming you're safe. Those Northern California fires were a real eye-opener for me. My son and his family live very close to Santa Clarita and the rest of my family is in Southern California so I pay close attention. The worst is probably coming. Being prepared for an earthquake is different from being prepared for a fire.

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    1. Marylynn, I hope your son and other members of your family are not threatened by the fires. We had another one start, today, and they had to close the 405 freeway!

      Well, one can never be sure one is safe, but all one can do is be as prepared as possible and hope all will be well. I was discussing just this with one of my friends, yesterday. She was asking what to do, what would she even take with her if she needed to evacuate and I was telling her to put together her important papers, etc. She asked, "Like what?" and at first, I thought it was a rhetorical question, but then, I realized it wasn't; she really didn't know! So, I went over a list of things with her - what her important papers would be. Those disaster preparedness classes I've taken can be helpful at times. Never wait until something is about to happen; be prepared ahead of time, so that, if needed, all one has to do is pack the car and leave!

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  3. In Provence the region where I come from, there is a wind called "Mistral" which often causes huge fire the summer.
    The damage are often enormous.
    I hope yours will be quickly. extinguished.
    (Scuses me for the approximate English)

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    1. I believe I have read about that wind in some book. The winds are still blowing and the fires are spreading. You don't need to apologize for your English. It is a LOT better than my French! :)

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