The Steussy Ranch

This entry is being made using Gabi’s new iPod Touch. Very similar to the iPhone – it hooks into the Internet over wi-fi. Not too hard to type with either!

On Tuesday, I woke up at 3:30am to catch a flight to San Francisco. When I opened the garage door, I could see fires on top of the mountain in this photo. I woke Gabi up so she could see it as well.

That said, we were never nervous about the fires this year. They all occurred downwind of us, so even though they were physically close, they did not seem dangerous. In fact, Temecula was the preferred evacuation site for much of Northern San Diego County.

On the map here, you can see that the big fire was the one in central San Diego County (the Witch fire). The one that was close to us was the Rice Canyon Fire, which came within five miles of Temecula. This fire forced the complete evacuation of Fallbrook, a small military-support town just over the county line in San Diego County.

Last year, we were much more nervous, as there was a large fire upwind of us. It was not as noteworthy as the events over the past few days, but had a more direct impact on us here.

Kids are out from school both Thursday and Friday this week due to bad air conditions. I’m not sure how staying home helps them, or anyone else for that matter. Most of the evacuees have been allowed to return home at this point. And while thousands of homes were lost, the vast majority are still standing. This is not another Katrina-scale incident.

Hey all, Christopher here,

we are well. still in our little house in la mesa. My principal and our friends in Spring Valley (just a few miles south & east of us) have been ordered to evacuate but so far we are OK. News says winds are dying down a bit. Best reference to follows the fires is here;

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571

and if for some reason that link doesn’t work just go to google.com and type in Harris Fires and hit the gooogle map link that pops up.

There are around 1 million persons displaced now because of the fires (county population is around 3 million) so the swath of concern is truly vast. We are staying indoors with windows closed because the air is so bad and we’re keeping our power usage to a minimum as so many lines are down. Kids are doing well (playing chess with Norma right now while I take a break, but its been much more rambunctious than that).

As a former midwesterner this even has some similarities to our own disasters. Its sort of like an ice storm and a tornado all at once. Everbody tells you to hide, as in a tornado, the event covers miles and miles, like an ice storm, and thousands of structures might be destroyed/imagine a big heavy ice storm or lots of tornados)

I’m sure Ed can put up some great picturtes but I won’t bother futzing with that for now. The fire has gone as far as east Del Mar (the horse track) and is now spreading over Palomar mountain in the North.

Must go ref. the chess game. over & out.

There are more people playing Warcraft today in the US than there are farmers. By a factor of between 2 and 4. Think about it. You can link to the article below, but here is the key point:

From a CNN political reporter in the field:

ANDERSON: We stopped by the Lebanon [Kansas -- ed.] hotspot, Ladow’s Market, where one local told us Hollywood just can’t relate to a farming way of life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They’ve never been back in here to know what it’s like to actually have to make a living doing this.

Now, if demographics really mattered, it should be at least twice as important to poll Warcraft players.

ANDERSON: We stopped by the gates of Ogrimmar in Durotar, on the east coast of Kalimdor, where one local told us Hollywood just can’t relate to the level-grinding life.

UNIDENTIFIED ORC: They’ve never been back here, questing Razormane or Drygulch Ravine, y’know … or farming for Peacebloom and Silverleaf. They’re out of touch.

http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2006/03/farm-fetish.html

Ahh, it’s good to be home with a loving family. Squeaky, but loving.