The Way it Looked

This past Monday was mainly spent in front of the television and my computer and running around the house grabbing stuff that didn't matter. Small plug here for my new fiber optic internet/TV/phone service, Verizon FIOS. It never went down. Not once. Most of my neighbors have Charter and I had only switched over two weeks ago. While my computer (I swear I'm going back to the fruity computer) still has a crappy connection and spontaneously shuts down when it has a fever, Roger's laptop works famously and has a super strong connection from anywhere in the house.

When I heard that the fire had moved to Saddle Peak and Piuma, I decided to see if it was visible from the house . I'd decided that if I could see smoke, not just drifting smoke but the billowing kind, I'd leave. This is what I saw as I stood outside my bedroom. And it's why I decided to leave. This is the only time I was happy that Roger was 3,000 miles away. When I decided to leave, I left. I didn't have to try and talk him into it. Every time he talks to certain of our neighbors (hint...they're the ones who have lived here forflippin'ever) he comes home with tales of them with wet towels wrapped around their heads beating embers off the roof or driving over horse trails with burning trees dropping in front of them because they were denied entrance to the canyon on the roads. One woman (who prefaces every sentence she utters about the fires with a simple 'of course') has permanent lung damage from the '93 fires and can't talk louder than a rasp. But she still says stuff like, "Of course you have to be committed to staying and keep your clothes damp so they don't ignite from the heat." I just look at her like, "Of course." And you can bet that of course they didn't leave on Monday when they saw the wimpy Canyon Fire over the ridge.

Click on the pix to enlarge.


The plane in this picture was lining up to make a drop.