oh what a night

As some of you already know, Santa Barbara doesn't have seasons like the rest of the world. Ours are quite different. Here, we have Flood, Fog, Fire, and Fiesta. At this moment, we're enjoying the lovely Fire season. You may remember a post from right around this time last year. We had a huge fire that lasted *forever* and dumped tons of ash all over our house. It was so bad on some days, that the kids couldn't go outside. This was by far, the worst case of ash I've ever seen in the area. We've only just gotten free of the effects w/in the last few months. Finally! no more ash all over the back porch!

...until now. Now we have another fire. Last year, the fire was behind the mountains of Santa Barbara. We could see the smoke & ash, but it was highly unlikely that it would actually reach the main city homes, etc. This time, it's on our side of the mountains.


Last night, we had a sitter come over so Chris & I could have a little time alone before people come over. Our sitter's family rents a house from us a few miles north, in Goleta, just at the foot of the mountains. She told us that she and her family have packed up a bunch of their things, just in case they have to evacuate. I started to think, "wow. that would be so sad to have your house burn down." & then it occurred to me: "Wait a second... that's *our* house!!"


Anyway... for our date, chris & i went to a restaurant in Goleta for Dinner. Shortly after getting our drinks, the power went out. While we were waiting for the lights to come back on, the man at the table next to us said it was out all the way down to Carpinteria. (to see a map of our area & where the fire is, click here.) So we left, & drove about 45 minutes south to Ventura, where we had dinner at a fast food place, and then went to a movie (Hancock). Just as the previews were playing, our sitter called & asked us to come home. She was sitting in our house, in the dark (the power was still off), watching the hillside burn from our window. She was anxious that her family would be evacuated, & she wouldn't know what was going on. So we left the movie & went home.

After she left, we lit a million candles, watched the fire burn for a few minutes, then went to bed (i was exhausted, since i had been up with Evy til 2:30am the night before) . Around 2 or 3 in the morning, the electricity came back on --and all the lights & radios that had been on in the evening came back on. Before I woke up, Evelyn (who's 2) got up, made herself breakfast (dumping half the cereal on the floor), let Shasta out of her crate & tried to feed the dog by dumping all of her treats on the floor. The dog, who wasn't let outside, promptly peed on the carpet. *sigh*


And now begins a new day with an eerie orange sun and great flakes of ash falling from the sky.