Rob and the California George Family

We are definitely out of harm's way now, but the fire is still going. It is heading south and east. As Shoo noted in his Blog, it could head up and over Saddleback Mountain and/or the surrounding foothills into Riverside County. The map shows the extent of the fire as of today.

Governor Schwarzenegger was at El Toro High School (the blue pin at the bottom of the picture) yesterday touring the evacuation center and giving a short speech. It was cool to see our local school in the news, but unfortunately under sad circumstances. The link above has a video of his speech. You can clearly see "El Toro" and part of "Chargers" at the top of the video as it starts.

We don't get snow days here in SoCal. In fact, I can't remember an unscheduled day out of school for any reason (Earthquakes, Riots, etc.) in Orange County (I may just have a bad memory?). However, today the entire Saddleback Valley Unified School District is closed due to smoke. With the Santa Ana winds gone, we are left with a campfire smell and smoke permeating the area. The kids asthma and allergies are definitely being triggered to a small degree. The kids are just happy to skip a day of school. I don't think that it has sunk in yet that they will have to make up the day later. Oh well, let them enjoy it for now.

The picture below is my windshield after sitting in the driveway all night. The ash was like a light snowfall yesterday and last night.

Labels: Family