Witch Creek Fire Archives – Kristen Koster

Roof Tiles Blown Off By Santa Ana Winds 10/21/07 We just received news that 20 staff and over 340 students in the Poway school district have lost their homes. Staggering news. In order to get the community back into normal routines, they have canceled the half week off school next week for Parent/Teacher conferences. Guess it’s a good thing we hadn’t planned a trip that long weekend.

I did manage to write in my journal yesterday and today. I was far too stressed to think about doing it on Monday as we scrambled from shelter to shelter. Once we were in Anaheim, we were too focused on what was happening back in San Diego and keeping the kids entertained. I barely made any progress in the paperback that had been tucked into my purse.

It was interesting to note that after we got back home Thursday, unpacked the car and began to settle back in I began to feel uneasy and felt the urge to journal again. I managed to write over 1,100 words while DH picked up dinner last night and I wrote another 1,000 today. I’m still having trouble sitting still long enough to pin down some particulars for reworking the story from earlier in the month.

Some words come easier than others, but I’m thankful our home was spared, unlike so many nearby. I’m also relieved that the view from that patio isn’t as devasting as I feared after watching the news. As bad as it is, it could have been so much worse.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those involved with fighting these fires, those affected by these fires, and those who support their neighbors in the awful aftermath.

We came back from Legoland to drive into a wall of smoke from the fires out in Ramona on Sunday afternoon. We decided we’d better pack our bags just in case and have everything ready to go in case we needed it. I would have happily unpacked it all unused! We decided we’d pack the van and parked it outside about 2am and grabbed some sleep. We woke up around 5am and could see the flames crawling over the next ridge So over. It looked like lava flowing down the canyon. We went to one of the evac shelters and spent the morning there and decided to head out to the coast to a friend’s house we stayed there until about 2 am and then drove to Anaheim to a hotel. We switched hotels just to get internet access, but we’ve been focused on what’s been going on at home. No writing this week! So, once you’re away and have time to stop and think, you begin to think about what you left behind. I must say, after having come home to a house fire before, it’s MUCH nicer to have a chance to pick and choose what you want to save than not.

UPDATE: We’re back home, the air quality here is slightly better than Anaheim: this morning you could smell the smoke from the fires up that way in the hotel air conditioning. DH’s office is a bit smelly, but our house up on the hill isn’t too bad. We lost some roof tiles to the wind on Sunday night, but that seems to be the extent of it.

13 Things We Should Have Grabbed or Done Monday Morning

1. Bathing suits: cabin fever and kids don’t mix well when you have a great view of the hotel pool. At least we can’t see the castle as Disneyland from our room.
2. Chargers for the Nintendo DS: cabin fever and kids don’t mix… DH did find an adapter, phew!
3. More underwear! Always a good thing.
4. Camping Bin: flashlights, batteries, air mattresses, emergency radio… DUH! I think this will do ouble duty from now on
5. Weekend Fish Feeders: I hope they haven’t eaten each other. I also hope the water isn’t toxic.
6. Some Playstation 1 games we already paid too much on eBay to replace once after the aforementioned house fire.
7. The autographed book one of Harry Potter and many other autographed books and CDs
8. The limited edition letterpress prints and other stuff in DH’s art portfolio
9. Our Tent: we might have stayed at the first evacuation center… *shrug*
10. PB&J: had the loaf of bread and sandwich meats, but DS won’t eat those *eyeroll*
11. Copy of email and phone contacts — had some, not all. Thank goodness for forums and mail2web.com!
12. DH’s car: we probably should have left it out in the driveway, not in the garage
13. Claritin! DS and I could breathe much easier if we had some… oh, right, it’s in the camping bin… *headslap*

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17 Unusual Historicals	18 Jennifer McKenzie	19 frustrated writer	20

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