We have A/C again and this week is soooo much better than last week! Hopefully I can get back into the book around my birthday lunch with Biker Witch (delayed thanks to the fire) and seeing my doctor to talk about a second opinion. Okay now onto Wednesday Worthy.

I like this guy’s face, but not enough of him is showing in this shot:

Still not enough showing, but now…I instantly get a glimmer of a story about him as a U.S. Marshal protecting a witness.

But that’s me, what about YOU, do you think he’s worthy?

So have you all had an interesting weekend? Ours was busy recovering from the firestorm that the firefighters miraculously held back from our house, and dealing with the heat. Here’s a few still shots of the fire, which, as Wizard and I have mentioned a thousand times, camd with in 500 feet of our house and right up to our neighbors. What you’re seeing in these pictures is where Maggie and I walk every morning. I easily posted a dozen pictures of us on this street.

This is the exact phenomenon Wizard and I dreaded for 22 years, and it finally happened. Our town is a valley, and our lake a natural runoff for all the hills/forest/mountains around us. Think of it like a bowl. So what happens in a fire like this is that once it crested the ridge of the Cleveland National Forest toward us, in the afternoon, a “downdraft” can happen that quite literally pulls the fire in a blazing run right down toward our homes.

That’s exactly what happened. We watched it on TV, and I asked Wizard, “We’re going to lose the house, aren’t we?”

For the first time, he looked at me helplessly. “I think so. It’s over, Jen.”

And I fought to keep it together. We were safe, we had Maggie with us and our family around us. And then by a miracle I can’t understand, the firefighters took a stand and stopped the firestorm. They didn’t just do it here, but in other neighborhoods too long this stretch of the forest too.

THEY ARE HEROES.

I can’t say it enough. There are signs all over our community thanking them.  People hug them when they can get them to stop long enough. We are so grateful.

Otherwise, we are doing fine except for heat-related misery with no A/C. The repair guy or gal will come today and we hope to have it fixed. We’ll see.

I haven’t written. It’s been impossible, I could barely answer a FB post without constant interruptions plus exhaustion. I hope to get back to that today if possible. I’m also going to make an appointment with my GP, and I have to get a second opinion going for my neck problems. The surgeon we saw seemed very competent but I’m not ready to do that drastic of a surgery. A second opinion will help a lot, I think.

So that was my weekend, but I’d love to hear about your weekend and how you’re doing!

It’s a miracle, but our house, and all our neighbors houses, are still there. We are safe and Maggie is with us.

Here’s the longer version if you want to read it: Okay, so first, sorry this is late.  It’s been a wild ride this week. Here’s the timeline: (Please excuse all typos, I’m typing in the early morning, it’s dark and I’ve had maybe eight hours sleep in five nights).

–Our air conditioning broke over the weekend in a serious heatwave. We can’t get the company we want out until Wednesday afternoon to determine if we can fix it our must replace it.

–Monday, when we were taking Maggie to boarding to get her out of the heat for her safety, we saw a massive fire had broken out in the hills behind our house. I walk at the base of those hills every morning, and occasionally hike up into them, but not during snake season.

–Tuesday, Wizard goes with me to neurosurgical consult. We know my neck is bad, both of us have some experience in reading MRI’s now, LOL. But Holy Cow, this surgeon wants to do VERY dramatic surgery. I’m in shocked and Wizard is concerned. We say, whoa, we need to think, research and maybe get a second opinion. This surgery is bordering on dangerous, so yeah, whoa.

–Wednesday morning, fire jumps ridgeline. And now it’s a serious threat. Voluntary evacuations go out in reverse 911 calls. We pack up just pictures, documents and a few days clothes and wait for A/C guy. Finally I got pick up Maggie, and by the time I get back, fire is exploding. Mandatory evacuations go out. I leave, Wizard reschedules A/C and we get safely to his mom’s house with Maggie. I think this is the day the man is arrested for setting the fire.

–Thursday Morning, fire lays down a bit overnight. Special K brought Baby Slayer over to hang out and keep us company. Our hope soars, but by one o’clock in the afternoon fire has exploded again. It’s racing down hillsides, and this is first hand account from my neighbors: They heard the roar of a firestorm coming. Flames tore down the hill to the street behind ours, jumped it and set a fence on fire. Neighbors were there with fire hoses hooked up to hydrants (one is a firefighters wife, this is partly her account). They were sure they houses were gone. Then the firefighters swooped in and somehow stopped it right there and saved all the neighbors. Guys if it hit my neighborhood, it would have swept through several communities. People and animals would have died. We saw it on TV, and for the first time, I started to cry and Special K evidently called CPA Boy, he came over with youngest son and stayed with us until we knew our home was saved. We still don’t know how they stopped the firestorm, but Thank God!

The hillsides are, from what I’m told, completely burned by our homes. We’ll try to get in to look today, but likely can’t stay without A C.  Smoke and ash are everywhere, and the fire is still burning–more than 10K acres now. Maybe Saturday we can go home, if possible. A C guy comes Monday.

We have a lot of heroes to thank, all the firefighters, first responders, pilots and the neighbors who stayed when the rest of us evacuated. We know anything can still happen with the active fire burning, but we are in better shape than yesterday. Now we have to pray for everyone else threatened.

Thank you to my family, all of you! Wizards mom and her husband who took us and Maggie in at a moment’s notice. My boys and girls, all of them. But Special K, she was my girl yesterday, just there with me as only another woman can be. And Baby Slayer!

And all of you. Thank you for caring. I know it’s just a house and things, and we never lost sight of the fact that we got out safely. But I’m grateful to have a home to go back too, and even more grateful for friends like YOU.

Today I don’t have a super sexy guy, what I have are my personal heroes this week:

The firefighters are battling wildfires all over California. As for the fire that broke out Monday in the hills right over my house, as of last night when I wrote this blog, they’ve kept the fire from jumping the ridgeline. That line is really important, once it gets over that ridge, we are in serious trouble here in my neighborhood, and a couple neighboring neighborhoods. We are very grateful for how hard the firefighters are working, along with the pilots flying the nonstop water and fire-retardant dropping runs.

In other news, the A/C repair guy should be out today. We are desperately hoping he can fix the air TODAY. We’ve had Maggie in boarding for two nights now, and I hope to pick her up this afternoon. But if the A/C isn’t fixed or the fire flares up, we may have to leave her another night where she’s safe and cool.

Next week, I hope to bring back the Wednesday Worth Hunk

The good news: The bridal shower on Saturday was great! What’s not to love? We celebrated one of my favorite niece’s upcoming wedding, and I got to spend the day with my three favorite women (my daughter in law, and my two soon-to-be-daughter in laws), visit family, and spend some time with Baby Slayer, who came by the shower to charm all the girls.

The bad: Our air conditioning went out Saturday evening. We’ll call today and try to get someone out here, but it’s likely going to be a long hot week. The temps are miserable, soaring over a 100 degrees with humidity. I’m going to try to write and keep Maggie cool. Tuesday I have my surgical consult, and naturally it’s at least an hour or more from my house, depending on traffic. The upside of that is at least I’ll be cool for a few hours

That’s my weekend, how was yours?

Wait, what? It’s Friday? This was another one of those wicked fast weeks! Okay let’s see if I can think of five things about my week:

1. Wizard likes Dress #2 over Dress #1 for Middle Son’s wedding. I like Dress #2, but it’s slightly scratchy under my arms so I have to be sure it won’t become painful. Good thing I still have 2 months I wonder if there will be a Dress #3??? I normally just find a dress and I’m done. This is new for me.
2. I’m able to write some now, which is great, but I’m so stumped on making this timeline work. I’m going to shift scenes around and see if that works.
3. Yesterday was my birthday, and we went to dinner. I was looking forward to chocolate cake all day long. Dinner was not that great, and then after we ordered dessert, the server came back and told us they were all out of chocolate cake, and had been all day long. Some years are like that.
4. We visited Baby Slayer on Wednesday and had so much fun. He’s soooo active. I’m laughing my butt off. He just wants to go, go, go! Good luck to his parents trying to keep up
5. Tomorrow I’m going to a bridal shower for my niece. I’m going early to help set up, so it’ll be a long day, but a lot of fun!

So that’s my five, now it’s time to share yours! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Hump Day! So…

Who else likes pockets in their sweatpants?

Just asking for a friend…LOLOL! Sometimes I really crack myself up. What? Okay yeah, I’ve had one glass of wine. ONE! I swear it. But since I’m in a ugly battle with my book that’s going to involve moving and restructuring scenes and I have no idea what I’m doing, I should get a second glass.

But before I could pour that second glass, and just as I started to post this blog, I remembered to check the rice cooking on the stove.

No, I didn’t burn the house down.

But I as a was rushing back to my desk, I sliced the side of my foot open (okay it’s just a deep scratch, but there was blood) on the plastic plastic thingie under my desk. It’s there so I can roll my chair around and, apparently, cause myself great bodily damage.

Right now, Maggie’s looking at me like, How is that even possible? 

Sigh… so anyway, do you think he and his pockets are worthy?

Sadly, I’m obviously going to pass on a second glass of wine because I’m obviously an extreme danger to myself after just one glass