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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Week In Review: Jesusita Fire

A huge part of our week was spent in front of the television watching 24 hour coverage of: the Jesusita Fire, (this picture courtesy of MSNBC)

and praying....
Click HERE for a slide show.

The Governor of CA officially declared Fire Season open and within an hour a fire broke out on a small hiking path near the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. A press release was issued at 1:45 pm saying that no structures were damaged. As this press release was being given, helicopters showed aerial pictures of the area. A newscaster interrupted to ask if he was seeing what he thought he was seeing--4 structures had just exploded into flames, we moved to another helicopter view to see the same thing. For days the fire was fought and fought with no containment. People were evacuated. Evacuation warnings were made. There was no time to go through and count the damaged structures....We were finally told that "dozens of structures had been lost or damaged" Things would seem "OK" and then a little after nightfall, winds would pick up, temperatures would stay between 80and 90 degrees and structures would literally explode. This went on for days...The official statement now is that the fire scorched 8,733 acres and as many as 80 homes. Approximately 30,000 people were evacuated.

This lady evacuated her house near the fire to stay with us....
It was a nice visit. We sorted socks
(where do they all come from and why are there no matches?)
We snuck away and "did" school. We performed a science experiment
and similated bark paintings.
We came home and baked a pie
from the canning that we did HERE back in August...when my dear friend was so smart to can pie filling
We stayed up late and watched movies and drank tea and ate doughnuts.....
My friend returned home to prepare for work, and Mothers Day came.

8 comments:

Rachelle said...

Still very glad that you're doing okay! I can't imagine living where fires would be a problem like that! Every year I hear all these stories and it's so sad :(

Hope you had a fabulous Mothers Day!

Dianna@KennedyAdventures said...

Finally! Another momma who understands that you can have an entire basket's worth of socks that don't match!! Thanks for stopping by!

B said...

I'm always shocked by the amazing things that take place like these fires. I never know what to say, but it sounds like you sure know what to do, and actions speak louder than words right?

monica said...

You are a great person for taking in someone that has been evcuated. I also was watching the fire. With the fire season in full swing - it makes me nervious. We live in San Diego, and are always watchful of fires and Santa Ana's.

Stopping in from SITS to give some sisterty love.

Kathy said...

Thank you all for the love and concern ladies :)

Monica, the lady we "took in" was already dear to us. We aren't half as hospitable as we'd like to be:)

Kimberly Retallack said...

We were in this same situation last year, just after moving in to our new home. It's not fun being on an evacuation list. All of our animals had to 'live' in their crates and they were not happy!!!!

Robbie S. Redmon, LPC said...

Hi, just stopping over from SITS! Nice place you have here. Visit me when you have a chance.

Be Brave, Keep Going said...

Kathy, I am so glad to have met you! I wish we could live in SB!!It's my favorite city in the world! Nothing compares to driving down the 101 towards Montecito and seeing the gorgeous hillside.

The Jesuita Fire was such scary time! Looks like you were able to care for another during that time, which is wonderful!