Things are much better today. The winds have dropped considerably, no longer the strong Santa Ana gusts blowing from the east. Now we have normal ocean breezes, gentle and from the west. Also, the humidity has gone from around 1-3% to the 20-26% range, which is much better for the firefighters.

Our voluntary evacuation order has been canceled and while fires are still burning, they are very far from the house and burning away and not towards us. Other large, evacuated areas are being allowed to return home and businesses are starting to open again.

Also, when you go outside, the smoke is not so bad and I didn't see falling ash today. Three days of smoke, even staying inside, has left me and the family with sore, raw throats, but I can live with that. We are safe, our house is safe and hopefully things can start to get back to normal. My heart does go out to all the people who have not been as lucky. I can't imagine what it would be like to return to nothing but ash and memories.

So now my biggest challenge is keeping the kids entertained till they return to school on Monday. We have picked up some videos, some books to read, and a few crafts. The smoke is still not clear enough for them to play outside and they both have cabin fever. Yesterday I worked on teaching them to cook. We made cupcakes and they enjoyed that a lot.

Anyhow, we appreciate all the love and concern from friends and family. We have had e-mails and phone calls from so many people. Thank you, to each and every one of you.

So many friends and family have called to see how we are doing in the San Diego fires, and I wanted to let everyone know that we are fine and currently not in any significant danger. We are under a voluntary evacuation, but that is due to the air quality here, more than any potential fire threat.

For those who don't know, we live in Carlsbad, a coastal city in the north part of San Diego county. We do have a lot of smoke and I have to wear a mask to breath when I go outside. There is ash all over as well, and it falls like snow flakes.

I imagine there is so much on the news that most I would have to share has already been told, but it has been a rough few days. Virtually everything has come to a stand-still. Schools are closed, businesses are closed, every hotel is full of those displaced from their homes. We are trying to stay in our house, since Joe's asthma is very trigged by smoke and most of the evacuation sites are outside. We have power, filtered air, food, water and comfortable beds here. Also, this is much easier on the cats than being stuck in pet carriers in a strange location without proper litter boxes. Oh and the all-important internet connection. Well mostly, we have lost power, cable and internet on and off, but mostly it is on.

How do explain something like this to someone who has never been through it? It is very surreal, weird colored skies of orange, yellow and even green at times, as the smoke covers the sun. Watching TV for hours and hours on end, so you are ready to go, if need be. Going outside to check the wind, the smoke, look for flames because you can't count on all the information on TV to be as up-to-date as needed. Being woken up while still dark from a reverse 911 call telling us that we are under voluntary evacuation. Having the van packed with things, in case we have to go. Trying to decide what to take in the small room left after clothing and bedding is shoved in the car. Taking photos of everything in the house, just in case.

At this point, the news says over 1500 homes have been lost and the number will certainly only go up. That number does not include businesses and other buildings. The only burn center in San Diego is full to capacity. At least two major hospitals have had to be evacuated due to fire danger. Over one-half a million people have been given mediatory evacuation orders. Our local high school, as well as our local mall are evacuation centers. Red Cross can't begin to provide for all the people displaced, so on TV they are continually begging for various donations all over the county.

Living here, with fires this scale, you can't not know someone who is effected and in a danger zone. I just thank God we are as safe as we are.

The girls are getting cabin fever, not being able to even go outside and play. I hope to do things with them today to keep them occupied: crafts and cupcake baking. Rumor is, schools will likely be closed all week.

The San Diego Wild Animal Park has had damage, but so far all the animals are safe. And now, as I type this, the school district has called to announce that schools will indeed be closed the rest of this week. Lord give me patience!

Anyhow, that is where things are in a nutshell. Joe and I are taking turns sleeping, so one of us is always watching the news and keeping up on things, since things can change so fast with fire. I will try to do updates here, if the internet stays stable, to keep family and friends updated.

We just got back from the fall harvest festival at Megan's school. I think both girls had a lot of fun, they went in costumes and played booth games, munched on goodies and visited the haunted house.

Last week was really busy and  I spent a good deal of time at the old house. We have ripped out the vanities in all three bathrooms and installed a new bathtub in the master bath. The old one was fiberglass and had a badly repaired hole in it and was looking very shabby and sad. A new water heater was installed, just in time, as we noticed it was leaking water just two days before it was replaced! We bought the new doors and Joe took all the door knobs off all the doors, in preparation for painting. A plumber has fixed the dishwasher so the drainage and air gap is now to code, hurray. Finally, ductwork and a heating and A/C unit have been installed and that should all be working some point next week, once electrical is finished. Meanwhile, Joe and I picked out and ordered the flooring on Friday and starting Monday we will have workers in to fix cracks found in the cement slab, so they don't turn into structural problems.

Becca got her report card on Friday and made Merit List. (Basically a B average). Becca has also added a course where she will make a glider for the Science Olympiad (in addition to Reptiles and Weather).

Megan won 1st place with her penguin pumpkin! Yeah! And she had a really great time doing horse back riding with Girl Scouts last week. She would like to take more lessons, so I am going to look into it, since we are always looking for more ways to get her physically active. I was surprised, I didn't expect her to get that excited about the whole thing.

And of course, since I have so much to do, I have hurt the tendon in my elbow. I think I messed it up when I was trying to work in the koi pond and slipped and slide into the water. Duh! Anyhow, now it hurts to grasp things and/or life anything with weight, even something as light as a grocery bag or purse. I am on prescription strength Aleve which helps, but doesn't totally kill the pain. I tend to start to feel better, then over do it, then really pay the following day. Argh! Oh, and of course it is my right arm!

Anyhow, I am hoping for a farirly quiet Sunday. I want to devote some time to working with the laser cutter and hopefully just relaxing, because next week is going to be another busy one. We have tons going on at the old house, I have piles of painting left, and the girls have short days at school all week, due to parent-teacher conference!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and doing well!

 As promised, here is a picture of Megan's pumpkin decorated to look like a penguin.

I made the wings, feet and nose using felt and stuffing and a bit of sewing.

 Mom and Beth have visited, thus my longer than normal time without a blog. Okay, maybe I am just slow and don't seem to get around to old Xangaland as often as I used to in years past. It was nice seeing both my mom and sister, but I am glad I was not doing all that driving!

While they were here, I took them up to Julian, an old mining town in the local mountains.

(I didn't take this photo, but it is a picture of Julian)

It was only my second trip to Julian, but I really love the place. It is best know for the apple orchards in the area, and of course this is peak apple season. You can get the BEST pie up there!! There are lots of fun shops up there and we went to a lovely tea shop for afternoon high tea. There were finger sandwiches, soup and yummy dessert. I also took them out to do crafts. We made Halloween greeting cards and really pretty fall door wreaths. I hope they had a nice time.

Anyhow, they are back home now and I am swinging back into the normal schedule here. Being a Girl Scout leader takes a lot of my time currently. This week we are taking the girls on a horseback riding field trip. I have also been working on setting up a time and location for a spring tea. Yes, I know it is not even winter yet, but we are trying to get the schedule all worked out for the year. Meanwhile, I have to fill out forms, get a background check done and go to various training courses required for new leaders.

Tonight we are decorating a pumpkin to look like a penguin for a contest Megan is having at school. I will try to get a picture and post it. She also has a field trip tomorrow to Old Town San Diego. This year they learn about the history of the state of California and this is part of the hands-on learning.

Becca had her first coaching session for her school's Science Olympiad. She is studying Amphibians and Reptiles as well as Meteorology. Today she did the critters and Friday will be the weather.

Joe got a CPAP machine yesterday for his sleep apnea. It was weird to not hear him snore and I actually had a lot of trouble sleeping! I kept waking up thinking he was not in the room and something was wrong and then would remember he had the new machine! How weird is that? I am really glad he is finally being treated. I have been really worried about the strain on his heart from not breathing while sleeping. He has to go back into the doctor on Thursday because they may have found something a lump in his colon in his last exam. The doctor is pretty sure it is nothing, but wants to be sure. Please think good thoughts for him!

Meanwhile, we are still working on the old house. I was there most of today, mostly painting. Tomorrow I should be able to finish the iron railing next to the den. It looks really good, even with just primer.We picked out and brought over new vanities for the bathrooms and I unclogged two of the three toilets and then scrubbed all three of them down again. They were gross from neglect and workmen. I also got some more primer down on the cabinet part of the kitchen. I have been working on the doors. Soon I should be able to finish up and reassemble the first section. Three more to go after that! Baseboard molding was delivered today. The new electrical panel was inspected. All the outlets and switches have been replaced. New lights have gone into the girls old rooms, and the HVAC guys were in figuring out what parts then needed to start work tomorrow. We also had the plumbers by to get measurements for the new water heater and other stuff. And finally, the door installer guy was by to help us figure out what doors we need to pick up at Home Depot. The guy running our project is really nice and is having us buy the stuff, because it will work out cheaper for us in the end.

We are getting a lot of compliments on how great the yard is looking now (by workmen who saw it before) and how great the house will be overall. Lots of positive response. I hope that means we might do better than average when we can finally put it on the market.

So anyhow, if you made it through all this, you win my hearty thanks. As you can see, life is busy as ever around here, but good. If all goes well, we hope to have the old house done in 3-4 weeks and then life should be a lot less insane! Hope everyone is well!

October starts tomorrow and we have been having some lovely fall weather. Cooler temps, autumn ocean breezes and leaves changing colors.

We have bought some koi for the pond in the backyard, 6 larger ones, 6 smaller ones. We almost never see the small ones, they hide in the rocks, but the big ones are fun to watch and are starting to swarm over when we come out to feed them. The girls have named them all and come in and tell me how "Stripes and Speedy are best friends" and "The little multicolored one is always with the big yellow one", etc. Cliches even among koi!

Meanwhile, I am still busy on the old house. I have put the final paint color on several cabinet doors and I think they look nice. It is slow, two coats of primer on every surface and then two coats of the final semi-gloss. But still cheaper than $5000 for cabinet refinishing. Joe has been busy redoing lights in several rooms. It is amazing how much a difference a new light fixture can make in the room! To give you an idea of why the cabinets need to be refinished, here is how they look now:

I also put up a hummingbird feeder in our backyard yesterday. I have seen a couple back there and we all love them. Joe had never seen them before moving here, hummingbirds apparently don't take to English weather. We are thinking of adding a second one outside the family room window, so we can see them from inside the house. That should make Milkyway go nuts! LOL!

Last night, the girls and I took at class at Michael's Craft to learn to make domino jewelry. It was really fun and everything turned out very well. The instructor was very impressed with the talent the girls have. She said she would be happy to teach another class if I wanted Mom and Beth to do it as well, while they are visiting. So I just may take her up on that.

Anyhow, I am off to Home Depot. I am hoping to get some wood and finish off a room box that has been sitting 95% done for way too long. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

My free time lately is mostly occupied with working on the old house. The more I can do, the more we save money. And hopefully, still make some profit when we sell, although that concept dims more and more each day. Seriously, we will make some profit but only because I put a lot down when we bought the house and we have lived there 5 years. The repairs and such are costing a fortune and the market is horrible, as you probably know.

We have kitchen cabinets that are old and worn, very stained and dirty with age. I think they are original to the house, so some 40ish years old. They can't be restained, so I am scrubbing them down, removing all hardware and going to try to handpaint them all. This is not as easy as it sounds. The chemical to degloss them is nasty smelling and you have to wear gloves to use it. Then it takes at least two coats of primer to get a good base for paint, and I am expecting to have to do at least two more coats of the final finish paint.

I am also refinishing a metal banister in the den. It is white, chipped, dirty and sad looking. This requires lots of sanding to get off the layers of old stuff, then a coat of primer spray paint, followed by a nice glossy black. I also intend to remake the mantel on the fireplace beside the rail. I am going to put on decorate wood molding and paint it black also.

Meanwhile, we are working on getting in people to install forced air through out the house, since it is unbearably hot in the summer and freezing in the winter right now. We don't think it has a snowball chance in hell of selling in this market without proper heating and cooling.

In other news, I am now the co-leader of Megan's Girl Scout troop. Girl Scouts require at least two, non-related adults, to run the troop and the previous mom's kids dropped out. No one else stepped up to the plate and I think the group is really important to Megan's social skills, being she is borderline high-functioning autistic. So I got drafted. Hopefully it will be fun and not too much additional work.

Anyhow, that is about it. The news said we might be getting a storm the end of this week. That is really unusual for here in September, but would be great. They say we might even get thunderstorms and hail, perhaps snow at higher elevations! Cool! Bring on autumn!!

Things are going on, we are all busy, but am too tired to blog most of it. I found out I have been taking the wrong type of iron supplement and suspect a big part of my low energy is being anemic again. Blah! But the good news is I went to the pharmacy and got the right one, so hopefully I will be perking up soon.

I imagine, now that more and more people have had gastric bypass surgery, they will better be figuring out long term effects and what sort of nutritional supplements people need and how much, with the changes in digestion.

Speaking of gastric bypass, I have found I have a very rare side effect of the surgery. I now suffer from hypoglycemia because my body is now making too much insulin in response to food, in particular sugar. I have suspect this for several years, but not been able to find any studies till now. Anyhow, I have a blood glucose meter now and I am tracking my blood sugar behavior and I am finding that my occasional episodes of being ill, faint, shaky, sweaty, etc.is often happening about 1-2 hours after eating something sweet, say an ice cream cone. Most recently it hit on Friday and I was able to find my blood sugar was only 64. Experts generally agree that anything under a range of 70-80 is too low. So anyhow, I am making up records of my trends and will take them to my doctor along with the study done at the Mayo Clinic and see what he can do. Unfortunately, in very bad cases they either remove some or all of the pancreas to 'cure' the problem. This is not something I want to do, it would create a whole new host of medical problems!

Anyhow, on to more cheerful things. Here are the some pictures from the Jamestown settlement:

Some of the homes within the Jametown Settlement fort

Blacksmith's wife, can you see how hot she was? Poor thing, between the heat, humidity and the fire for the smith, it was really bad!

Here the girls are learning to sand wood. The boards they are working on are used to carry hot cooking pots from the fire.

And here the girls try there hand a making a canoe. Hot coals are placed on a log, then shells are used to scrape out the ash. Messy, but not too hard. Joe is holding a type of blunt ax tool the natives would use, I think for trenches in planting.

She is explaining the bread making process. Behind her, the beehive shaped item is a bread oven.

Megan tries on kid-sized armor that is like what the original settlers brought and wore.

This is where the food and meat was stored. Yes, that is real meat and it didn't smell at all good in the heat!

This building was used for cooking for the majority of the community

This is what the homes of the Native American's would look like

A close up of a hut. The boy is trying his hand at grinding corn with a wooden tool

Inside one of the larger huts. I think this may have been a community meeting room.

Joe next to a bear skin in the hut of the tribe's leader

Chickens! They liked to hang around the places where the corn was being ground up. Becca wanted to take them home.

An exact replica of one of the ships the first settler's traveled to America on.They were SMALL!

I seem to have lost my summer somewhere and can't find it! Did it go by fast for you? The best thing I can say about the start of school (beyond wild cheering) is that I think and hope I can finally catch my breath and get back to a more normal life and schedule!

So, let's see. The summer in a nutshell. First our friend Daryl visited for a week. While he was here, Per, another long time friend from Sweden visited and spent several days. The day after Daryl left, Mel and her four children arrived from Scotland to visit for three weeks. I had never hosted so many people at once, it gave our house 9 people and I must say, I bit off more than I can chew. We had three girls, ages; 7, 8 and 10, and three boys: ages 10, 11 and 13. One set of kids was used to bed at 8:30 - 9:00 pm, the other was used to staying up very late, often to 1 am or later. The amounts of laundry were stunning and I don't think the machines stopped running all day. I also never adjusted very well to cooking for so many people. I seemed to either make too much or too little and there was always one or more people who were VERY unhappy with whatever was served, no matter what I did.

Anyhow, in the end, I think and hope they had a good time. We took them to Legoland, the beach, SeaWorld, Big Bear for a week, they went swimming till I thought they would grow gills, we went to the movies, a car show, a middle age fair, the zoo and the wild animal park. But boy, I am STILL tired, even two weeks later!

Two days after Mel and her family left, we went on our own family vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia. I had not been to Virginia before, beyond the one day we spent at Mt. Vernon last December and I really, really enjoyed it. There are so many trees and it is SO green compared to California. I also discovered there was at least 8 places to eat within 2 miles of our hotel with the word "Pancake" in their name. What is up with that??  Unfortunately, as is typical in August, it was very hot and humid and that part was difficult. But I found things so interesting and fun, it was almost possible to ignore that bit!

Colonial Williamsburg was great! There was tons to see and even spending two days there, we didn't see it all. I loved the little gardens tucked all over, the lovely homes, so carefully restored, watching craftsmen work on things like bookbinding and saddle making and being able to ask them questions and have them explain their work.

So, without further ado, here are some photos from Colonial Williamsburg:

The girls, left to right: Zoe, Megan, Liz and Becca

A lovely meadow next to the Governor's Palace

A duet inside the Governor's Palace

Meeting George Washington

Leather workers 

Colonial garden shop

Gardens at the Governors Palace

Fife and drum boys

Children's militia, be afraid! 

Canon firing demonstration

Blacksmith

Becca learning about Colonial cooking

Next blog, pictures and commentary on our visit to the Jamestown Settlement.

Well we are 1/3 thru Mel's visit and I am hoping she and her kids are having a good time. So far, we have gone to the movies twice, the pool three times, as well as a trip to Legoland, The Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo.

It has been pretty hot, and I don't think Mel or her kids handle the heat very well, but we are doing the best we can. We have had a few sunburns and are trying hard to make sure everyone gets appropriate sunscreen. Her kids had never been to a zoo, so that was a really big event for them. Our zoo is so big you just can't do it all in one day, so we may take them for a second visit when we get back from Big Bear.

I was checking temps and see that right now it is 105 in Big Bear! Ack!! I am seriously hoping this drops before we arrive on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps it is just a freak heat wave. I am also really hoping our rental house has A/C. It is not mentioned in the description.

The old house is coming along. They have installed sprinklers in the back yard, removed all the overgrown stuff, and a lot of overgrown plants, and then laid new sod. Just that has made a world of difference in how the house looks. Inside, all the rooms are now empty, the carpets and old floors are pulled up. The contractor expects to have his bid ready by the time we are back from Big Bear, so hopefully then we can start the main work. I still have to sort out the laundry room and office (build off the garage), the garage itself and the shed outside. Oh, they have pulled all the old shingles off the shed too, so we can re-roof that. It is a busy, busy place. We are really hoping to have it on the market before fall, but I don't suspect it will be possible. But all we can do is try.

Anyhow, that is about it for now. I hope to have some nice pics from Big Bear, next time I post. I will likely be without an internet connection while up there, so will not be blogging or checking e-mail till after the 12th.