Progress report

Today I had a bone marrow biopsy (BOO!), under general anashesia (YAY!). Have no idea what the results are, but I will find out Wednesday.

While I am a bit sore from the biopsy, I am even more sore from a slip and fall I had on Sunday. I hosed down all the ash from the porch, then as I walked out with a load of newspaper for "someguy" to pick up, my feet went out from under me. Scraped up my fore arms, with big bruises to boot. I also landed on the edge of the stair tread with the small of my back.

That was panic time.

If this had happened a few months ago, I would have broken my back. As it is, I have a bruise across my lumbar area, and boy is it tender. Most chairs have lumbar support, and since I tend to sit more, it is constantly being bothered.

Besides that, I feel better than I have in over a year. Looking forward to, and being, thankful on Thanksgiving.

jc

Fire Videos

I had a doctor's appointment at Kaiser Lakeview (went A.O.K) and had some time to kill, so I went to the burn area around the parents place.

When I said the fire split in two close to their house, it was CLOSE! 0.3 miles to the south and 0.4 miles to the north.

Hard to get good pictures, but I got a few.

Saw fire units from Fullerton, Laguna Beach, Long Beach, and several other places. Tons of fire equipment and Police in the area.

Very odd pattern of fire... at the Bryant Ranch school, I saw play equipment schorched at the top, melted and burnt, but the bottom was good as new.

I posted several videos on YouTube and put pictures on Flikr. Browse at will.

jc

Fire Blogging II

I always like seeing things on a map. It looks like this fire merged with the Brea fire and went up to Diamond Bar. It also went down the toll roads, south.

Diamond Bar to Irvine, what a fire!

It is amazing that the fire split right at my parents house.

The evacuation order was lifted about 45 minutes ago, so they charged into the area. They are settling back in. I guess the water supply is adulterated, so they need to boil water for drinking.

So, this interesting chapter is closed for the moment... I may go out there and get some pics later.

jc

Nap attack III

Jenna was good, so she got to play on the computer. Jenna was tired, so she got to sleep on the computer. Sleep, Jenna sleep!



I bet a few of you would like to do this at your office!

jc

Fire Blogging

The fires still rage, and the big concerns are: wind changes, flying embers.

Last night my parents place was under voulentary evacuation orders. Today it is manditory. No reports of looters, and the area is easy to secure, with only two main (no minor) ways in.

Mom and Dad are hooking up with their neighbors who evacuated their stuff. Hopefully they will get their belongings back and go back to their house today -- but I seriously doubt it.

The winds are calm, but if the normal wind pattern returns, the embers from the front of the fire (west) will come right back at them.

This fire spread so fast, it skipped many areas, so if the winds reverse, it will just burn those areas. No chance of a controlled backfire.

Here in Fullerton, the ash is falling like snow. It is not even 09:00 and the temp is 78, with 21% humidity.

There is also the Brea fire, not as bad, much closer than the Corona - Freeway Complex - Triangle complex fire. This one is more contained, scorched the high school and a few apartments. This one also shut down the 57 freeway, causing even more havoc on the OC freeways. It took my dad (who could not be bothered to stop golfing) 3 hours to get here to my house after golf last night.

Time for breakfast -- since I started typing the temp has gone up 1 degree and the humidity has dropped 1%. Not a good trend for firefighters.

jc

Yorba Linda fire (now called the FREEWAY COMPLEX FIRE)

I got the call to help my parents evacuate their house, and immediately jumped into the car and headed east.

The roads to the house were blocked, no one allowed in. I went over to the shopping area near there, where there is some high ground, and got some pictures of the fire. This fire started in Corona, at least 5-6 miles away. When I left, the fire had jumped the freeway (south) and was starting to tear through the apartments in Anaheim hills. That is picture 0018. When I left, the freeway was vacant, as you can see in picture 0029.
Picture 002 shows how the fire area when I got there. Directly in front is where my parents house is, looking due east, the fire off to the left and right (above the red pointed roof on the left). For those who know the area, I am at the El Torito restaurant in the Savi Ranch area. Luckily, the fire tore down the river bed ( center of picture 002) and didn't go up the hill. Another fire line went to the left (north) and that took out several large houses in the area above the Honda dealership near Yorba Linda and La Palma.

This is a fast moving fire, that has skipped areas and moved fast. Areas that were skipped are still in danger, embers are flying everywhere.

My parents are safe, as are their neighbors. Mom and Dad will probably stay here tonight, as the area is still an active fire area. Thankfully, their neighbors got into the house and evacuated some vital things, but at this point we don't know what that entails.

I am the point of contact for information, so go ahead and barrage me with questions.

jc

Crime of Hope and Change II...

More tolerance from the non racist left.

With this much tolerance, we should be in a Utopia by now.

"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said.

If Catherine was shocked by such passive-aggressive threats from instructors, just wait until she goes to college.

What a great, tolerant society we are building in our schools!

jc