the homes under mandatory evacuation orders are about 2 miles southeast of my home. the winds have calmed down (great news) and last hour authorities were going to re-evaluate evac needs.

it was tough going to sleep last night with flames clearly visible from the top of the ridge.

the air attack is well under way this morning and i am feeling much better about the situation. granted, a major freeway and a few miles stand between the fire and here...but, i can certainly remember the horror of how quickly a wild fire can march several miles and consume everything in its path (laguna and malibu as examples).

so, other than my house smelling like a campfire and ash everywhere, all is well.

God bless the firefighters!

Not even the smell of a fire this morning. In GG, that is.

In Orange there have been evacuations, school closures, etc, as you can see in today's story. I heard that the City of Orange's website crashed because there were so many people checking updates to see whether they should evac. Thankfully I won't be too close to things when I head up to Orange this afternoon. I'm nowhere near the evacuations so far.

I work in Anaheim Hills. I didn't think the smoke was too bad yesterday where I was, but I'm feeling the effects of it today! (cough, cough)

It seems the winds are following a regular patern as once again I could smell the smoke when I left for lunch (gone by the time I got back). This time, there were some light ash flurries in the air as well.

i went to run some errands and the fire seemed like it was somewhat calming down...mostly grey-white smoke which is always a good sign...

went into the bank, post office and grocery store. spent a good deal of time in the grocery store (mostly socializing with an old friend)... and when i came outdoors, the fire had taken a turn for the worse...the winds had picked up and shifted...my way. things looked dire. more dark, black smoke and signs of new fuel found. the sun is veiled with murky orange clouds and smoke is now headed this way.

now, it seems the winds have died down again.

finally got home, put away groceries and turned on the news...

they say the evacuation order has been lifted at 4pm, but schools and the toll road will remain closed tomorrow.

so i am confused. it looks worse to me, but, reports seem to indicate otherwise. it is very warm outside and humidity in the single digits. i think the biggest problem is the predition that the winds will pick up again tonight...and the air assault will end until morning.

i'm not at all worried about my neighborhood, as the fire is a long way away...but, i do worry about the homes across the freeway if the winds pick up again tonight.

Whoa driving home there's this smoke cloud that reminds me of that scene in the 10 Commandments - thankfully I'm the third born in my family.

I'd suggest lamb chops for dinner, just to be safe.

Extra rare.

You must spread some Mojo around before giving it to €uroMeinke again.

Yummmmmmmmy Lamb!

I both love and despise the thick stream of black/orange/dirt cloud that has descended over my city. As I was walking a dog today, there was a tall tree, barren except for spiky seed pods, with a backdrop of half rich blue sky and half icky smoke cloud. I wished I had a camera with me. Eerily beautiful.