welp, the third day off school this week so i'm home watching tv, painting my toenails, packing for the trip back to ohio tomorrow.
yesterday i went to one of the red cross evacuation centers to drop off some pillows and blankets and stuff and i tried to volunteer but they actually turned me away! apparently, they've had tons of volunteers--so that's neat to see.
the sun is out because we're on the coast and we just got a wind from the west, so it makes it feel more normal (it's not orange out here anymore) but it's such a sick trick, because the fire is blazing east of us (now over 300,000 acres have been burned through). i don't know if they'll call off school tomorrow or not, but i won't be there either way!
mare (and anyone else), you wanted some christmas ideas:
-dension witmer cd "philedelphia"
--christopher guest dvd collection (about $46-48 online)
-2 wearever beach chairs ($18.44 each at walmart.com on my registry:)
-photo printer
-gift certificates to home depot for plants for our backyard
-gift certificate to express for new clothes
-silver necklaces or earrings
1 day until i see my hannah banana niece!!!
-tracey
Monday, October 27, 2003
hello everyone.
thanks for all the calls from our family and friends--we feel loved!
thankfully, the fires haven't moved closer to us (the closest one is still about 20 miles away) and the winds have died down, so it will be easier to actually fight the fires. some idiots here are complaining that action wasn't taken soon enough to get more reinforcements and are of course blaming the current governor (gray davis). the fire chief finally came on the news and said that even if we had a ton of back up, it still wouldn't have mattered--the conditions were such that the fires were totally unpredictable and quick spreading.
nothing is contained yet, over 150,000 acres have burned.
they're predicting another 5 days at least.
communities are still being evacuated.
and still no school, due mostly to poor air quality.
therefore, matt and i are still trapped at home in our smoke-scented house, bored out of our minds.
definately not as devastating as 9-11, but feeling some similar helplessness and weirdness.
check out the pictures matt posted of the strange scene at our house (go to his blog)--freakish orange sky and snowing ash is so disturbing.
obviously there is nothing else going on here.
matt's calling me to play nurtz, so i must go beat him for the 4th time!
-tracey
thanks for all the calls from our family and friends--we feel loved!
thankfully, the fires haven't moved closer to us (the closest one is still about 20 miles away) and the winds have died down, so it will be easier to actually fight the fires. some idiots here are complaining that action wasn't taken soon enough to get more reinforcements and are of course blaming the current governor (gray davis). the fire chief finally came on the news and said that even if we had a ton of back up, it still wouldn't have mattered--the conditions were such that the fires were totally unpredictable and quick spreading.
nothing is contained yet, over 150,000 acres have burned.
they're predicting another 5 days at least.
communities are still being evacuated.
and still no school, due mostly to poor air quality.
therefore, matt and i are still trapped at home in our smoke-scented house, bored out of our minds.
definately not as devastating as 9-11, but feeling some similar helplessness and weirdness.
check out the pictures matt posted of the strange scene at our house (go to his blog)--freakish orange sky and snowing ash is so disturbing.
obviously there is nothing else going on here.
matt's calling me to play nurtz, so i must go beat him for the 4th time!
-tracey
Sunday, October 26, 2003
we had a fun time with mary and casey this weekend.
at our bar-lympics, mary and i were a team, "the pirates"--we had eye patches and pirate hats and kept yelling "aargh!". so much fun! we ended up going to 4 different bars and playing darts, foosball, pool, and shuffleboard. mary and i won darts, but it was downhill after that. either way, it was such a fun time.
however, we had a strange day today.
it began with me waking mary up to go for a run.
then i went out on our deck to see how cold/warm it was, and what i needed to wear.
there were ashes covering our deck and falling from the sky (which was yellow looking). it smelled like a campfire, too.
all the tv stations were covering the fires that were in our county and they were talking about closing interstate 15, so mary and casey hit the road. it has been such a surreal day, just seeing the fires consuming the land and vegetation and homes.
then my principal called (had to evacuate his home, along with several other teacher friends--everyone is okay) and said that san diego school district is closed tomorrow. it's not a satisfying day off, like a snow day is, because people are still in danger and without homes. the airport is on temporary shut down and was messed up already because of the fires in LA, so hopefully everything will be okay by thursday at 6:20 am so we can go home and be part of kevin and emily's wedding. but it is hard to say at this point. the closest fire is only 20 miles away and it is unpredictable, so who is to say what will happen...
we can just pray for everyone's safety and that the firefighters are able to contain the fires as quickly as possible.
welp, matt and i are going to try to distract ourselves with a movie or something.
-tracey
at our bar-lympics, mary and i were a team, "the pirates"--we had eye patches and pirate hats and kept yelling "aargh!". so much fun! we ended up going to 4 different bars and playing darts, foosball, pool, and shuffleboard. mary and i won darts, but it was downhill after that. either way, it was such a fun time.
however, we had a strange day today.
it began with me waking mary up to go for a run.
then i went out on our deck to see how cold/warm it was, and what i needed to wear.
there were ashes covering our deck and falling from the sky (which was yellow looking). it smelled like a campfire, too.
all the tv stations were covering the fires that were in our county and they were talking about closing interstate 15, so mary and casey hit the road. it has been such a surreal day, just seeing the fires consuming the land and vegetation and homes.
then my principal called (had to evacuate his home, along with several other teacher friends--everyone is okay) and said that san diego school district is closed tomorrow. it's not a satisfying day off, like a snow day is, because people are still in danger and without homes. the airport is on temporary shut down and was messed up already because of the fires in LA, so hopefully everything will be okay by thursday at 6:20 am so we can go home and be part of kevin and emily's wedding. but it is hard to say at this point. the closest fire is only 20 miles away and it is unpredictable, so who is to say what will happen...
we can just pray for everyone's safety and that the firefighters are able to contain the fires as quickly as possible.
welp, matt and i are going to try to distract ourselves with a movie or something.
-tracey