Tea Fire

What a hectic few days. I have never been so close to a wildfire and was actually concerned for our welfare. This fire, which the authorities believe to be arson, robbed the homes of 220 families as well as destroying a portion if the Westmont College Campus. One family, our close friends, we only able to grab their children (3 year old boy and 11 day old boy) and a few clothes as they ran out of their beautiful home.

We are all thankful that the fire has not taken any lives directly.

Most of all I am amazed by the FIREFIGHTERS. I know that they are the reason that we are all safe and that the fire did not spread more. They worked tirelessly for our safety.

For some pictures of the devastation here is the link: http://www.independent.com/photos/galleries/2008/nov/17/tea-fire-aftermath/

Where has the time gone?

Really, despite the nice chill in the air- fall sucks! Don;t get me wrong, the color on the trees is beautiful and the 80 degree highs are nice too, but why do we still have to obey daylight savings?? I am not sure about how the rest of the world feels, but leaving work in the complete darkness at 6 pm is horrible. I feel the need to go directly home, bypass dinner and crawl into bed.

The history of daylight savings is interesting... as quoted from Wikipedia- "Daylight saving has caused controversy since it began.[1] Winston Churchill argued that it enlarges "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country".[69] Robertson Davies, however, detected "the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves",[70] and wags have dubbed it "Daylight Slaving Time".

Well, maybe I will move to a state that has decided against it- I hear Arizona is nice this time of year!

3:58

For those of you interested, this past weekend marked the 27th running of the Portland Marathon. A beautiful footrace through downtown, up to the St. John's bridge, through quaint neighborhoods and back again.
Portland was all I had expected it to be, complete with the brisk fall weather and RAIN! After obsessively checking the weather forecasts for the week previous and seeing a mere 30% chance of rain on race day, I thought that I would have a dry run.
Not only did it rain, but it rained and was windy and COLD (I think around a high of 40).

Really, in running a maraton, and all of you think that I am crazy for saying this, the hardest part is the last 6 miles.

Here's the proof:
https://www.runraceresults.com/secure/raceresults.cfm?id=rcag2008
bib# 2613

so fun!

Just a few pictures (taken with my new camera) of our trip to Pebble Beach

Neal and I at the 18th green at Pebble Beach (he shot an 82!)
Waiting for us when we arrived!
The lonesome golfer on the 17th fairway at Pebble.
One view of Spanish Bay

Celebrity Sighting

Not that I am at all obessed with seeing celebrities, but every once in a while, I wonder if I am the only one that misses every celebrity that comes to town. There are a few probable explanations as to why I never see celebrities: 1. they are not inside my office- which is where I spend all my free time and 2. I rarely go "out" to the hot spots.
Well, I am evidentally moving up in the world, last night at dinner I immediately recognized her. She is as beautiful in person as she is on screen.

Chucks

I recently visited the SB location of Chuck's Steakhouse- for a Mat-Tai. I truely enjoy the very dark interior and huge portions of salad and fish. Most of all I enjoy the infamous drinks. I found a picture of a visit to Chuck's in honolulu!!

A Wonderful Sunday

After a very busy weekend of runing, working and hosting, we enjoyed a walk along the bluffs and took some pictures

GoodBye Fires

I am very happy to report that the fire in Goleta, which started last week, is now 50% contained. The Gap fire, has really hit home with evacuations and the ensuing stress was palpable late last week.
Now that the fire has been tamed by the wonderful firefighters, life is somewhat back to normal, minus the ash in the air and the ominous cloud of smoke to the north.
The other nuisance has been the power outages, random and lasting for about 2-4 hours at a time, always when I am about to sit down and work (or blog). They say that the power lines need to be turned off when the smoke is too thick. It really is a small price to pay for us, but really make one realize how reliant we are on electricity.

To find out the most recent information on the Gap fire check this: http://www.independent.com/gap-fire-map/

House Sitting

Over the last 3 years we have been very blessed, in the housing situation. We have been housesitting for a couple that enjoys the wide world of RV travel- for 7 months out of every year. The positives: no home rent, amazing view

from the large deck, TWO bathrooms (great for getting ready at the same time), great neighbors, a guest bedroom (awaiting its first guest of this year), the most comfortable mattress in the world. The negatives: I have realized that it is sad to live without your pictures and familiar things on a day to day basis, moving every 7 months, the decor is not our style (think: ducks, taxadermy, new white shag carpet, white leather barcaloungers with heat and massage) and probably the biggest negative is that things break and we have to fix them!! We have had a big taste of being a home owner. A *short* list of the big issues we are now accomplished in dealing with: a flood and the associated 6 inches of mud that was collected in the garage, a hive of bees in the wall, hornets in the eves, house painting, tree trimming, a broken hot tub, repaving of the driveway/street, skunks, and most recently a broken garage door.

There is always a light at the end of the rainbow and this is a picture from the patio after a rain.

We are off to Napa and leaving the FIRE behind. Although seeing the flames from your house is a very scary sight.

Finally

I realized that reading blogs is much easier than writing and keeping up with blogging. I also decided that blogs with pictures are much more interesting.

So, for your viewing pleasure- a funny picture I found on Neal- in Homosassa, FL (yes that is its real name) visiting the native Manatee's.

me

I couldn't wait any longer!

For those of you that know me, there is no way I could wait an entire week to open the present my mother sent me... So after my 3.5 day weekend started- with a burrito and Corona at lunch- my guard was down and I ripped open the package.

Here is what I found!!

First Try

Totally new at this, but thank you to B for my brand new, shiny Blog!

happy (almost!) birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

LOVE,
BEE