JesusH

Michelle and I had to make a late-night run to the pumpkin patch last night to pick up some pumpkins for the super-top-secret jack-o-lantern project (which I’m sure you’ll hear about soon if you haven’t already, as JesusH reanimates from its extended slumber), and we decided to hit Vons on the way and cash in the penny jar.

You see, the thing had finally gotten full enough that it was getting tough to add additional pennies, and it was becoming a bear to transport, as I was reminded of during our recent move. I used to be able to lift the thing fairly easily with one hand. By the time we cashed in, I didn’t dare even try that due to the significant risk of breakage or strained forearm.

A woman with money is a beautiful thing.
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I’m sure you remember the Craig ‘Ironhead’ Heyward post from back when JesusH was occasionally updated.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I’ve just been handed an urgent and exciting news story. I need all of you to stop what you’re doing and listen: it is, in all it’s splendour (though without much on the audio end of things–be sure to turn up the sound on your computer so you can really hear it), the Zest commercial.

Thanks to JesusH reader and/or petition signer JP for the heads up!

Well that didn’t take long to happen again.

As I’m sure you know if you’ve been alive for the past few days, Southern California in general and San Diego in particular has again played host to a series of massive fires. The Santa Ana winds were blowing pretty good all weekend, it’s been ridiculously hot even in areas not currently burning around here (apparently it hit 98 degrees yesterday), and that’s a recipe for trouble in the reclaimed desert.

I don’t have any half-assed photos for you this time around, but here’s the sitrep:

• Escondido was evacuated on Monday. People I know that were affected by this include Mom, Dad, and Woody, all of whom left at various times. Mom and Dad loaded up Auz and some victuals and headed down to our house in Scripps Ranch Monday morning to wait out the blaze. Mom and Dad were able to return home on Wednesday. Their house is fine, if ash-ridden.
• Scripps Ranch was evacuated later Monday. Mom, Dad, a neighbor of theirs who came along for the ride, and Michelle and I left Monday afternoon and headed over to Jeff and Phet’s crib in Mira Mesa. We were able to return home Tuesday afternoon. Unlike 2003, fire never touched Scripps Ranch this time around–the evacuation was very precautionary in nature.

  The cops took access to the Ranch seriously in the meantime (as they should; it’s an exclusive neighborhood and membership has its privileges). Michelle and I tried to get back to our house on Tuesday morning to pick up a prescription for Pop that we thought was left there, and the fuzz had the place locked down and wouldn’t let me in. If you’ve moved lately and haven’t updated your address on your driver license, now would be a good time to do so.

• Rancho Bernardo was also evacuated, and Aunt Nancy crashed with Jeff and Phet as well this week. I hear she was also able to return home today, and her place wasn’t damaged.
• Nobody I know actually lost their house as a result of the fire, though the fires are still a long way from total containment. Felix might be closest. He’s so far avoided evacuating his place in Julian. I’ll keep checking on him.
• Observations so far:
  • much less smoke and ash than 2003.
  • I’m pretty quick to criticize government, so to be fair: so far it looks like response at all levels of bureaucracy has been superb. Relief efforts appear to be well-organized, needs appear to be met, conditions appear to be addressed, and everyone really seems to be pulling together.
  • Tons of evacuations in this fire–over half a million last I heard, which is 10x the 2003 fires. I certainly favor caution over people roasting alive in their houses as long as it doesn’t cause a logistical nightmare on the roadways and block emergency vehicles from moving around, and that seems to have been the way it worked here. As an aside, learning the side streets one can take to avoid major traffic arteries in and out of communities really pays off at times like these.
  • Thank you for your input, Brownie.
  • I will bet you $10 the Chargers don’t play on Sunday in San Diego. These are world-class athletes. We can’t have them huffing charred particulate matter while they’re running around the field.

Thanks for all your kind calls and notes. We’re all fine, and looking forward to getting back to earthquakes, the natural disaster California does best.

A scant four years after moving into our place, we’ve finally accomplished our goal of putting something up on the living room wall! We were going to go with photos but, instead, I found these invisible bookshelves on sale at The Container Store and solved our book storage problem in a way that makes the wall seem much less plain. I’m like Bob Vila or Carter Pease or something.

Just in time for Halloween: spooky, levitating books.