View from the Valley

My husband is still gone on the wildfires here in California.  Tomorrow, Saturday, will mark 2 weeks for him being gone.  And although it is great money, when they get paid by the state, I am beginning to feel really alone.  One week before he left we had moved in to a new place and I have been putting it together alone.  I think it really sunk in last night when I went with some friends to the day before the 4th fireworks show here in Napa and I saw all these great fire guys from his department hanging out.  And I just felt like he was missing out.  Then we have spent 4th of July together for 8 years and this year h isn’t here.  Even though I am spending it with my parents I would so love to spend it with him.  Rumor has it he is coming home this weekend but I am not holding my breath on that one.  If he does I am going to be so excited.  Enough about my depressing state, I would also like to say Happy 4th of July all. 

I come from a family who loves photography and each person is just a little bit different in what they think is totally awesome.  And each person takes the most totally awesome pictures.  You have my father who takes the most majestic scene pictures.  Some of my favorites of Hawaii and Disneyworld.  You have my sister who is more abstract with her pictures.  And you have my good friend Nate who can just take the coolest food pictures except for the pig the other night.  And then I think there is me who loves to take pictures of everything unique.  I love close ups of flowers and rows of trees and doors and just all kinds of cool things.  So I was thinking since I had this new house wouldn’t it be great to get some pictures in here.  I have looked at all kinds of places for costs of pictures.  And then I found this place.  It is called picture frames and they have some of the coolest things you can do with frames.  Just look at all their matting options.  And the cooler part is the canvas printing they do.  So now I can take my pictures and make them into faux paintings.  I am gonna style my house out with this place.  And when I am all done I will share with you. Until next time….. 

My sister had a Great Dane and I have been hounding her over and over again to buy her supplies online.  They are cheaper, they come to your door, you don’t have to carry the 50lb bag of dog food the UPS man carries it for you.  Over and over I tell her these things.  And does she listen, but of course NO.  So when she asked me to look into some special goodies that Pinkie Dane needed because she moved into a new house I thought it was a great chance to check out what the online dog supply scene looked like.  And I found this great site that I thought I would share with you. Dog_Supplies They have some amazing things.  And what I thought were the coolest were all the toys.  Pinkie loves to kill her toys so we have to buy her the extra strength toys, the ones that last for more then a week.  She goes through about 1 Loofa Dog a week.  It has to be pink though since thats her name.  And she loves the Kong stuff.  So if you are out and about and just not finding what you need check out this place.Now it is off to see if Tricia will get them as an affiliate. Until next time….

In many ways.  I belong to several disney chat boards and today I have read some things that are just sad.  First off I just read that Disneyworld is closing Pleasure Island as of September 28th.  It is the end of an era there.  I remember when it opened and now it is leaving.  I feel so old. At Disneyland we lost some swing dancing greats.  They were called the Dirty Dancers to most but Rose and Dub the fabulous Dirty Dancing swing couple have passed away.  Dub passed first and Rose two weeks later.  They had been dancing at Disneyland since the 1960’s.  If anyone has ever watched the swing dancing at the Carnation Gardens Stage you would have seen them with their matching costumes and their funky moves.  No more!!!  Disneyland is going to honor them on Saturday, July 26th.  They were truly a site to see and we watched them dance for hours.  Until next time…. 

Okay so maybe I am a little over the top with this, but I have had a crush on this fabulous man since I was in High School.  And I just read an article about a roudy concert go’er he took care of in Washington and it sent him right back to the top as my Hero.  Like most people you pay almost $100 for a ticket you want a concert.  You don’t want some idiot distracting the show.  I am being polite here.  It is a family blog.  I mean have you ever been to one of his concerts.  You just melt when he comes on stage.  And then for someone to be out of control.  Well that is unacceptable.  So if you haven’t heard Tim McGraw was in Washington when this happened.  And he called for security but they couldn’t get there so him and several of his band mates yanked this guy onto the stage and pushed him towards security.  I guess the man he had thrown out had attacked a female fan right in front of him.  Idiot!!!!  I think I would have done that too.  I wish I could have been there to see it.  But I wasn’t, so all I can say is Woo Hoo!  Way to go!  You will probably get sued by the guy over it but if you need any back up I am here for you. Until next time…

I really tried hard to not blog about this trainwreck.  I really can’t believe that this person is getting so much publicity but I guess I am going to add to it.  I am just fuming over this person and I can’t do a thing about it.  My view comes from a totally different standpoint.  Here is disaster is 24 years old, has been in the hospital, on every kind of drug, and now has the startings of emphasima.  Okay congratulations you are going to kill yourself before you are 50.  But what bothers me is that in an article I read her dad says that drugs will get old and she will soon want to become a mother and motherhood will be her addiction.  OMG!  Just what the world need a crack addict baby that she can’t take care of.  Here my husband and I have been trying to have kids for 4 years and I can bet money on it she will have a kid and that kid will have the most horrible life ever.  I guess I can only hope for the best but with that comment I really had to stand up and say something.Until next time….

This morning as I type this the skys are yellow over the hills that are on fire but the Cal Fire website is stating that the blaze is 80% contained and it is burning into itself so that is a very good thing.  I did wake up to ash on my freshly washed car.  Poor car doesn’t know what to think of all this.  It is usually garaged but because we just moved it has had to stay outside.  I am sure it is scared.  But enough about the car, I got to talk to my hubby.  He called yesterday while at work and I must admit I cried when I heard his voice.  I never thought in a million years I would miss him so much.  Then he called last night and we got to talk for about five minutes.  It was so wonderful to hear his voice and get an update on the situation up in Humboldt county.  Especially when all I know is what is written below.  They actually got hotel rooms last night and the nights before they had been sleeping in the cab of the engine.  He said it wasn’t very comfortable.  Enough about me, you want updates don’t you?  Well here they are:

For the Humboldt fire where my hubby is there are 51 fires for more than 900 acres, with 4 new fires today.  The Paradise Fire is Northeast of Shetler Cove and is 600 acres and 5% contained, the Redcrest Fire is 30 acres, the High Fire is in Humboldt Redwood State Park with unknown acreage or contianment, the Carson Fire is 40 acres and 50% contained, the Hansen Fire is 2 acres with unknown containment, the Williams Fire is 25 acres and 50% contained. 

As for the Napa “Wild” Fire this is the latest update from today at 7:30 this morning

Acres burned is up to 4089

It is 80% contained

Only 1 building has been detroyed but there are 150 structures being treatened. (For those of you who don’t know there are million dollar homes built all around this area)

And the total cost to date is $651,574.

All this information comes from the CalFire website.

Until the next update…..

I wish that I could say it is all good news but it isn’t.  As I left my house this morning all I could smell was smoke.  Looking at what is about 15 minutes away by car only because they are winding roads all I could see is smoke.  No mountains, no sky, nothing.  As I write this at work my office is filled with the smells of smoke and the sounds of engines fill the air.  Over 300 homes have been evacuated where this fire is and the hills provide all the fuel a fire could ever desire.  The only thing that could stop it are these wonderful brave firefighters.  I have been searching for pictures of the Humboldt County fires that my husband is at but I have still yet to find anything.  So I thought I would share some pictures of here and some stats from the CalFire website.  I will try to keep you all up to date as I learn of things.

Last Update: June 23, 2008 7:10am

Date/Time Started: June 21, 2008 4:00pm

County: Napa

Location: Northeast of Napa and Northwest of Fairfield

Acres Burned: 3750

Containment: 40%

Structures Destroyed: 1 residences and 1 outbuildings

Threatened: 200 structures

Evacutations: Mandatory evacuations in place on Joyce Lane, Twin Sisters Road and Wooden Valley Roads in Napa and Solano County.  Voluntary evacuations in the Green Valley subdivision.

Injuries: 1

Cause: Under Investigation

Total Fire Personnel: 438 (187 Cal Fire)

Engines: 63 (5 Cal Fire)

Airtankers: 4 Cal Fire

Dozers: 13 (7 Cal Fire)

Water tenders: 6

Cost to date: $197, 421

As promised here are pictures of my hubby loading up to go on his Strike Team up in Humboldt County Area.  I am so excited to share these.  He is going to kill me when he finds out I did.

And if you want an update on what is going on here in my area 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/22/MN6611DDD1.DTL&tsp=1

Or at least I though.  On Thursday my husband was fired from a job with the Carpenters Union after 8 + years.  They pulled the whole insabortination card and it was a total joke.  But it all started when two years ago his boss decided to march on the boss above him.  He told every person who helped him do it that they would be taken care of.  Sure enough they were.  And one by one they were fired.  Until there was 4.  And my hubby happened to be the 4th example.  We knew this was going to happen when in March he was given 2 weeks off without pay because he took a week off to take care of me and my family because of my grandmothers death.  Since then they have just been torturing him.  We haven’t had the best of years and this adding to it was just the icing on the cake.  Until today…… 

I had been praying that my hubby would be able to go up on a Strike Team now that he was gainfully unemployed.  What a perfect time.  His passion is to become a firefighter anyway and now was his chance.  Well this prayer started on Thursday after he was fired and today at 11 am while talking to his volunteer chief he was told there was a Strike Team heading up to the Humboldt fire in Chico, CA at noon.  So off we ran to the house to pack.  Hubby packed all the fire gear and I packed all the extra needed items.  And off he went to meet up with the team.  This is is first Strike Team and he is so excited to go.  I actually have pictures which I will post later.  Tonight he called me and said that on his way up to Chico he had been diverted to Fortuna, CA for a fire up there.  He was standing on top of a fire engine when he called me.  They expect him to be gone for 7 to 10 days.  And although it is such a long time right now it is amazing pay and an amazing chance for him to get some great training.  So if you watch the news and you hear about the Fortuna fires and you hear about the Strike Teams please think of me.  My hubby is one of those guys.  Today was the break we needed and maybe the start of some wonderful things.  

Until next time…..