Love, Life and Puppy Dog Tales

I have recently begun having enough time to read again. I found a book that I can't put down and since it is the first in a series, and I am nearly done with it, I ran to Barnes and Noble before coming home tonight so as to have the next in the series. Imagine my embarassment when I realized it is in the new releases for TEENS section! AAAKKKKK I just turned 40.... I am not sure what that says about me and what need in me this book series has touched.... but I am thoroughly enjoying it! Mostly what I am very aware of is the fact that this book (and the "Dexter" series I just whizzed through on CD) is that the story that is told is an absolute escape for me. I become a voyeur into another life and can go for the ride and enjoy the thrill and all the emotions a good story teller can invoke. I find that too with music. I am currently in love with Alanis Morissette's new album. I have an affinity for singer/songwriters because somehow I think the music that they s...

I bought a sprinkler last week. I was looking it over thoroughly to see how much area it would cover when I saw this warning: "For outdoor use only." Really? That ruined ALL my plans for watering my indoor plants! This means that someone actually used the sprinkler inside their house. And probably complained to the company about it. And the same day, I saw something else that caused me to laugh hysterically! A building is being put up and I saw 4 people working on it. Well, actually I saw 1 person working. He was standing on a scaffold crane swinging, rather lazily by the way, a hammer onto a nail in the plywood. There was a man on the scaffold with him, leaning, seemingly comfortably, on the railing. I would have guessed he was there for safety, except he wasn't watching the hammer swinger... he was chatting with his coworkers down below. The operator of the scaffold crane was sitting in his seat sideways, immersed in conversation with yet a fourth person, whose...

Picture from the local news paper... that isn't the moon... it is the sun! I awoke this morning and discovered our house was socked in with fog. Except it wasn't fog... It was smoke, thick enough to taste it. I have worked fires and been exposed to less smoke! I am beginning to redefine the meaning of 'trial by fire' in my life. I just got home from evacuations for fires for the 2nd time in 2 days, with more expected as the week goes on. Not my evacuations mind you, but other peoples. My area, for now, thankfully, is safe. So here I sit 2 weeks after a fire that started on a Tues and caused me to give out evacuation advisories to others, only to find myself being told to evacuate days later. Now, with the new fires, I have found myself traveling to ends of the county waiting to be told the next road that needs to be notified. This time it seems a little scarier. No my house isn't in jeopardy. But the whole north state is on fire, so resources are thin. ...

California began allowing gay marriage as of yesterday at 5:01pm. Four years ago San Francisco had begun allowing gay marriage and we made an appointment to get married there. But it was taken away before we could go there to get married. But Portland Ore began the marriage thing and so we dashed up there and got married. It was legal in Oregon for less than a month and then we got our money back with apologies. Now we have a shot at it again. Even though we refer to each other as 'wife', we aren't married. We are.... in so many ways we are... but we aren't. Today we went to the clerk recorders office and paid our money. Once again we are on the road to married-dom. Someone asked me 'Just how many times are you to gonna get married?'.. I replied; "till it sticks!". This time it just might. The Federal government still won't recognize it, however. We will not be able to file taxes jointly, although we still have to figure them jointly f...

It has been one week since that nasty fire began to make its dent on my life. The evacuation notice was lifted Sunday afternoon and within minutes our power went out as the last remaining powerpole that brought power into our community gave up and fell over. Such was the day. Six hours later power was back and it was time for bed. My dreams tell me just how vulnerable and scared I really was. I know I maintained an outward appearance of calm concern and perhaps a bit of frustration as I looked for the next thing I could do to ensure our safety. Inside I was a nervous wreck. But since my wife was outwardly worried enough for the both of us, I decided it was better to not let my nervousness make its way out. My dreams are now releasing that tension, with dreams of hearing radio traffic from the firefighters, but not being able to tell what they're saying, as well as the intense need to leave where I am, but with no ability to get out. Even now though, the dreams are less and le...

Just wanted to throw out an update... we are breathing easier (no pun intended, but actually, there is no smoke up here...) Today they are attacking the living daylights out of the fire with a bunch of aircraft. I can hear them working fervently as they pass over head and watch them work in the canyon below us. They are cautiously optimistic that they've got a solid handle on this now. I am SO glad I was able to listen to the fire's progress with a handheld radio all yesterday. Without it, we would have had to leave because we couldn't be sure what was going on with the fire. Once I figured out that I was listening to the fire crew in Butte Creek canyon below us... I was GOLDEN and we felt comfortable staying. When the fire got past/around them yesterday we couldn't have stayed without hearing what was going on and knowing that air support was redoubling efforts and that they were fully aware of what was happening. All I could see was that the quality of the smo...

We have spent the day anxiously waiting.... waiting to see if we needed flee... waiting to see if the wind would pick up and whip the fire into a frenzy. At one point, in the mid afternoon, the fire flared up and we could see black smoke billowing up from the canyon. The fire had found new fuel and was eating it like crazy. But along came the aircraft... planes and helicopters and I could listen to the radio traffic and hear the bulldozers working frenetically to get the fire surrounded and trapped.... and soon, the smoke thinned and calmed down.... whew.... And now we're okay. The fire has 'officially' turned (for now...) away from us. We'll see what tomorrow brings....

We haven't been in our house a month yet, and our first real crisis is occurring. A fire started in a town below us and, due to the extremely dry conditions and horrific winds, it has come dangerously close to us. I spent yesterday evening helping with evacuations because my home wasn't threatened, but today was a different story. While at work I watched all day as the fire moved.... and moved.... and advisory evacuations were issued. Then mandatory as the fire jumped a major road. I left work and rushed home as fast as I could, which wasn't terribly easy. The news of the area was scary as time crept on. Homes were being lost. The only evacuation route was packed with people and traffic wasn't moving anywhere. Now we sit and wait. We watch the internet, the tv and listen to the radio... waiting for the next piece of news of the fire to break. All of the important things are packed away in the truck, ready to go. They just need to say the word....