San Diego on Fire

Yikes! At about noon today I thought I could smell a chimney going (a sent I do love) yet it was 80 degrees. I go outside and there was a giant smoke cloud heading my way. About a half hour later, the smoke had covered my neighborhood. It's kind of like a fog, except there is a bit of ash and grit in it. The sun looked really neat behind the smoke (red and orange) but that's the only plus side. The real down side is, I live between two canyons that are as dry as the Sahara desert.

California is in the middle of a 3 year long drought. A wind condition we call the "Santa Ana's" causes warm to hot air to move out of the deserts and towards the ocean. This air is very dry and in many places very windy. We've had some gusts up to 70 miles per hour in some areas.

Unfortunately, there is a road up to an old gold mining town turned into a tourist attraction called Julian. Beautiful place. The road to Julian is as dry and brittle as it can get. It is now on fire.

I feel for these people who have to evacuate. I'm just inhaling the smoke but I'm not having to leave all my worldly possessions behind - at least not yet. I'm far enough away where the fire won't get me tonight. Tomorrow though, is another story.

It's times like these that life gets put into perspective.