Map of LA area fires

Julie posted a great link to a map of all the fires going on in So Cal at the moment. Check it out here.

FIRE - update 2:42pm

I'm working today, so not much time to take pictures outside. I can see from my window that the whole area is glowing yellow. Not from the fire, but from the sun. Not a sunny glow. The air is thick with smoke and the sun shining makes it glow. There is a heavy ash all over everything. At times you can see it falling from the sky. When I drove in to work this morning, I put a damp washcloth over my mouth and nose to breathe. You can feel it burn when you breathe. The temperature is hot, about 85, and the humidity is less than 25%. Wind WNW at 4mph right now but it peaked at about 38mph sometime during the night. The fires have grown and changed directions and even combining with other fires. Total homes evacuated is over 500,000 now. That's half a million HOMES! Figure at least 2 people per home - that's over 1 million people having to find shelter or hotel rooms in 2 days. Some evacuation orders have been ordered for the coastal towns of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas. Those orders are voluntary at this point, meaning people can leave now if they want to, or they can wait until the mandatory order is issued. I heard that there are no more hotel rooms between the Mexican border and the Orange County line. Here's a link to a google map that shows the fire areas, the evacuation areas and the shelters. If you are unfamiliar with the area, San Marcos is off the 78, right near the 15 intersection. You'll have to zoom in on the map to see it more clearly. Zoom in a bit farther and look where the two red exclamation point (!) triangles are near West Valley Parkway. Ok, now look a bit to the left. Do you see Harmony Grove under the left hand "!" ? Those people are being evacuated right now. A lot of wooded areas there and a lot of horses and country homes. I'm only speculating, but if the fire goes through Harmony Grove, it will go over the mountains and join back up where the fire started originally on the hills of San Marcos. The one that is 100% contained. Get it? The fire is circling around and weaseling its way back over here. There is plenty of water and power in San Marcos at the moment. SDG&E is asking everyone to cut back on any unnecessary electrical use, but that's about it. We have not been issued any evacuation orders at this time. Things change with the wind, so we are all glued to our television sets. I'll take some pictures when I get home tonight and post them. I know it's been a while without pictures.

FIRE - update 8:10am

All went well for us last night. I was glued to the television until midnight when the news crews signed off. We had our bags packed and all the kitty paraphernalia gathered and ready to go if we got a phone call to evacuate. Technically, we were in the red zone, the evacuation zone, but the fire was not headed our way, so we stayed. This morning, the skies are gray and smoky. The air is thick with ash. It's 8am and already in the 70's. The air is very dry. I came to work this morning. The building is full of families, friends and pets who were evacuated from various areas of the fires. I feel lost without my television and the constant fire updates. I heard on the radio that OES was going to start letting evacuees from the western part of the county to return to their homes. They said they were reluctant to let everyone in the safer areas back home just in case the winds changed the direction of the fire and they had to re-evacuate. Makes sense. I'm off to get some news, eat a bagel and drink my morning coffee.

FIRE - update 8:57pm Video Link

Julie posted this link to 10News live feed on her blog, but I wanted to add it to mine, too. So many people just need to be informed. Stay safe out there. Watch the news and do what they say. I have our bags packed and will be ready to go if we get a phone call.

FIRE - update 5:00pm GREAT NEWS!

Fire did not take over the Wild Animal Park. All the animals are safe. They evacuated the endangered animals earlier today. I am so, so happy!!!

FIRE - update 4:05pm

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I'm here at home. We were without power for a little while. I was going through withdrawal from the news on t.v. The skies above are fairly clear. Smoky, but not so dark and scary as earlier today. The wind is still blowing like all get out, but no fire near us. The fire is behind the hill. See the pics I took on previous posts. See the hill behind the palm trees? That's the hill that was burning this morning, but no it is only burning on the other side in San Elijo Hills. People there have been evacuated in San Elijo Hills for quite some time. The base of the hills of San Elijo run into Rancho Santa Fe Road - which runs from San Marcos to Encinitas. Just west of Rancho Santa Fe Road is La Costa (Carlsbad). My cousin lives there and he got the reverse 911 call to evacuate. I believe the authorities are concered that the fire will cross Rancho Santa Fe Road. Oops, just listening to the t.v. they have lifted the evacuation for San Elijo Hills. Thank goodness. That means the fire on the hill is under control. You never can tell what the winds will do, so we should keep alert. Besides, the world needs more lerts. haha! As for the Escondido area, they have issued evacuation orders for all of the San Pascual valley, all the way up to the I-15. Bear Valley Parkway residents were told to evacuate hours ago. The smoke is terrible out there. I do not know anything about the Wild Animal Park yet. John and I still have our bags packed (with passports!) in case we need to get out. Oh, I had to come back and edit this. They have evacuated parts of Solana Beach. Solana Beach is west of Rancho Santa Fe. The part of Solana Beach that was evacuated is the part that butts up to the San Elijo Lagoon. (No relation to San Elijo Hills.) The concern was that the fire would travel from the I-15 west along the stream bed through Lake Hodges, Rancho Santa Fe and on to Solana Beach via the lagoon. That part of Solana Beach is also accessible via the open spaces as well. I guess you can't be too careful. Over and out. For now. More pictures next time.

FIRE - update 12:05pm

No pictures this time. The sky has cleared considerably just south of me. The big problem now is falling ash and the heavy smoke smell. I'm not going outside for a long time now. The smoke smell triggers my migraines. I'll keep you posted on evacuations, etc. The inside/outside kitties (Cheeto and Frankie) have given up on the fact that I'm not going to let them out no matter how much they beg. They have, however, hidden themselves somewhere in the house. Gizmo is still my shadow. Gizmo's tummy must be upset because I'm finding kitty puke everywhere. Poor thing. I'm watching tv and coloring images for cards. I've calmed down quite a bit now. It helps to post.

FIRE - update 11:50am MAP

Ok, here is a Google Earth map of stuff I've been talking about. You'll have to click the map to see the details. I hope this helps you understand what is where.

I couldn't draw on the fire locations on this map. You can go to http://www.signonsandiego.com/ to see more details and for locations of the fires.

The wind is picking up again. The house is shaking from the force of the wind. Still blue sky above me.

FIRE - update 11:20am

I got a call from my Tony, who lives in Encinitas, east of the I-5. He said he knows that people are getting the 911 calls. These people are told (via recording from 911) that they should get their belongings together. This notice is a 2 hour notice. If they are required to evacuate, they will be called again by the 911 system to go immediately. Tony has not received a call. Yet. So far, over 250,000 people have had to evacuate their homes in San Diego county. Where are all these people going? Some are headed to Las Vegas. Most are headed towards the coast. Can't go too far north on the I-5 because there are fires up there, too. The I-15 is now closed between the 76 and Rainbow. Where I live, there is no access north or south on the I-15. I'm going to go get a Google map. I'll be right back.

FIRE - update 10:45am

Here are some updated photos. You can see the orange hue to everything now. This smoke is to the south of me. I am not in the direct flow of smoke. As you can see from the first photo, my house is under blue sky now. The air is fairly clear, but I still smell the smoke and can feel it burn my eyes when I go outside to take photos. The second picture was taken from the center of the cul-de-sac looking north. Nice and blue that way right now. You never know what will happen once the wind changes. No phone calls to evacuate here yet. I did hear that Rancho Santa Fe is under mandatory evacuation right now. The county is utilizing the reverse-911 calling, so residents are being notified that way. The reverse-911 works in the way that they can make many calls all at once to residents in affected areas. I have a place to go if I get a call. My mom lives in Encinitas and I have an emergency bag of our clothing, meds, documents and cat carriers ready in case we need to leave in a hurry. I don't think that will happen, but I'm ready if it does. Oh, I just heard that the San Marcos fire (Coronado Hills) has died down a bit. That doesn't really mean too much because the winds are still blowing pretty good. Flare-ups happen all the time. That's all for now.

FIRE - 9am update

These first few pictures are from the tv. The first one gives you a good idea of where the fires are. The second pic shows the freway closures. The next few show some tv pics of freeways that are closed and the smoke. It's horrible. The last pictures show what it looks like from my house. You can compare the pics to the previous post t see how much more the smoke is coming our way. The first pic is from my backyard looking south towards the San Marcos fire. The next pic is my roof looking up towards the sky. The last pic is from my driveway looking south.

FIRE

I live in southern California. We have fires every year. I get scared every year. The hot Santa Ana winds blow east to west for about a week every year. The winds started over this past weekend. It was about 90 outside and the winds were blowing about 35-40 mph. The first fire started up in Ramona, in the Witch Creek area. The second fire is in southeastern San Diego near Jamul. Neither of those fires is anywhere near in control. 0% contained. Now there is a fire burning on the hills in San Marcos. You can see an ember fire starting to burn here in the first picture. I took this picture from my backyard. See all that thick smoke behind the hill there? That's a lot of the smoke from the Witch Creek fire. They have evacuated the people on the hill there. There is a big hill behind my house. So far we're ok, but you never know where those embers will fall. Many of the freeways and roads are closed in this area. So many people have been evacuated and have headed west. They evacuated Ramona last night. That was over 36,000 people. I heard that they have evacuated peope from Rancho Bernardo as well. Rancho Bernardo was the place from the Cedar fire in 2003. Remember that fire? Thousands of homes lost. The winds are now blowing about 30mph in SM right now. This last picture is the sun rising this morning through the smoke. Kind of pretty and scary at the same time, huh? Many residents don't have power, so I'll keep my blog updated as long as there is power.

A few Halloween cards

I colored these House Mouse images last year when I bought the stamps. I used Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I don't often use gamsol, but thought it might be fun to try it. It makes coloring very easy and quick. I always have a hard time figuring out the layout for my cards, so got out the most recent issue of Cards magazine and picked ones I liked and adapted. I've mentioned this before, but I am terrible with embellisments. I just don't know how to put them on, how much to put on or even do I use them at all? This second card is a very unconventional Halloween card. I colored the lobster more red than orange, so I had to choose paper with more reds in it. This paper is from Memory Box. It's on of the new ones. I can't remember the name, but you can find it on the Memory Box website. There are lots of new papers, and yes, I have them all. This last card is 5.5" x 5.5". I don't make many cards this size because they take extra postage and they don't fit in my "for sale" box, but I couldn't resist the paper and the layout. Isn't this mouse too cute in his cheese costume? Yeah, I think so, too. I'm tempted to send my cards to someone who does good embellishing to see what they would do with the card. You interested? I'll send them to you. There are two copies of each card. You embellish them, keep one and send me one of each back. Deal? Leave a comment.

The same, but different

I love blue and brown together. I also love polka dots and paisley. I would say this paper was meant for me. I've had it for quite awhile and decided it was time to cut it up and part with some of it. I also love justjohanna stamps, and this one is one of my top 50. Yes, 50. Have you ever tried to make a top 10 of justjohanna stamps? It's tough. What a fun card for an anniversary, a birthday or for a "just because" card. I did the card the same, but in opposite prints. I'm not sure which one I like better, but it doesn't matter because both of them will go in my "cards for sale" box at work. Do you sell your cards? It's often been a topic of discussion on the message boards I peruse. If you sell them, then how much do you charge? It seems the average price I sell my cards for is $4, but some go for as much as $10, depending on if there is a lot of coloring or if it is a custom order. My coworkers often tell me I underprice my cards, but I just feel weird charging more than $4 or a card. I sell them at work for the convenience. The money I get for the cards I use to help support my habit. So tell me, if you sell your cards, how much do you charge? Where do you sell them? Inquiring minds want to know.

Catching Up

Here are a few cards I've worked on lately. All stamps are by justjohanna. This first one is a little different. For the front of the card, I stamped the mini-snowman and the snowflakes onto a piece of transparency with white pigment ink and then embossed it with white embossing powder. The transparency is sandwiched between the two torn pieces of cardstock. I put some cardstock on the inside of the card so the white embossing on the transparency showed up better. This next one I call "Snow is glistening in Aldenville". Did you know there is a real Aldenville? It's in Pennsylvania. It's pretty close to Honesdale. Both are stamps by justjohanna. Ok, so that was your trivia for the day. I stamped Aldenville on the light blue cardstock and then drew in a line to anchor the image. Then Iused my White Pearl dimension paint to the town and on the sentiment to make it look like snow. I stamped the snowflake trio in white pigment ink on the blue strip. This last card was just fun. As you can see, I stamped and cut out all the images on this card. I drew the banner around the sentiment. I also drew in the border lines around the card. I'm really liking this doodling thing. I just have to have more confidence in myself to do it more often. It's fun.