It's Been A Hot Time In The Ol' Town...

Hi Everybody!
Thank you for your calls and prayers. They were comforting and sincerely appreciated.
I went from freezing snow to burning fire in the space of an hour and a half last Sunday. My, how quickly things can change! As we drove home from the airport after Girl's Weekend, we could see smoke in the far distance. That's not an unusual sight here so, we just speculated where this one could be. When we arrived home we spent the day watching the smoke come closer and closer. There was no information on the news yet so, we didn't know how far away it was nor how quickly it was coming. At about 3:00 Monday morning our neighbor called and said, "It's time!". So, Robert and I began loading the truck. On our fourth trip out the door, I looked up and saw Robert silhouetted by a 50 ft. wall of flame. He hadn't looked up. I yelled, "Throw it in the back of the truck and let's go!" He looked up, threw the cat carrier (with TC and Max) in the back of the truck and we took off. I drove the truck first out of the drive way and nearly ran into the firetruck parked in front of our house. The wind was blowing leaves and dirt and embers so ferrociously across the road it was hard to see anything, including the firetruck. Robert followed me in his car down to Rangeland Rd. below our neighborhood to watch what was going to happen. Soon other cars came and joined us. We watched as the flames mowed through our neighborhood on the hills, not knowing if our house was there anymore or not. Finally, the police came and chased us away. We arrived at the Neuenswander's house in Poway at 5:00. The next day we watched the fire that had been in our neighborhood come rolling over the hill toward the Neuenswander's house in our old neighborhood. When it came time to leave, we went to Robert's office and spent the night there. Liz suggested we call Nate's mom and dad. We did and they immediately invited us to dinner. Oh, it was good! The first real food in three days. We'd been living on water and Fig Newtons. The next day, Nate's dad offered to give us a police escort up to our house. The pictures show what we found. We were sure blessed!! Twenty of our neighbors lost their homes so there are only about 5 of us left. The things we lost are replacable, mostly... the tractor, lawn mower, and golf cart, my tools and craft things, Ramona Communittee Theater scenery, the Christmas ornaments and Halloween decorations that we'd collected over the years, the crib Dad made for Jordan, and the doll crib I got when I was 8 years old. Just stuff. And two of our chickens died. Oh, Mick, all of your stuff burned, too. Sorry. Now it's time for the Great Cleanup. Isn't life exciting?
Thank you again for your love and prayers. We love you all.