Shrinkin' Violets- Part 2 Read Here

[Teachlady 3]

Good night Violets..

Busy day tomorrow with hospital shift, PMS luncheon, hair appointment, dog groomer and singing rehearsal. Whew..... and they said retirement was a piece of cake!!

Laura.. hope you had a good anniversary. Saw your posts about dog training today. Thought sure you'd stop in here!:confused2: Did you stick with the cookie bouquet for DH??

Sleep well, everyone!!

[TerriDoodle 6]

Hi all. Yeah, I'm OK! Went to the doc today to get stitches taken out and he said I looked fine...even though I still look like I've been in a major car wreck! But I am getting out some now, just wearing sunglasses indoors. Yesterday I went to the bead shop and got a few things, when I got home the colors were all WRONG. Duh. Bruises are not quite so purple now...going the the green stage. Mmmmm.

Tomorrow I go for a fill...but just a tiny one.

Jenn called me today but I was not able to call her back. She left a message saying she misses us all and has been thinking about us a LOT. She gets her 'puter back in a couple of days so we'll see her then.

TracyK - Congrats on your first day of Full Time Mom!

My eyeballs are pooped...been beading a lot today. I'll see ya'll manana.

[Kat817 19]

Hi girls~~rough night at our place. We have been in the yard since about 6:45 or so, fighting a fire. I have a large back yard, then it is fenced, and we have an access road (thank goodness) running through, then it goes up a hillside, natural with sagebrush, and levels out again where we had a huge cottonwood tree, probably 65 years old. We had the upper tier landscaped, with railroad ties, and had a fire pit, horseshoe pitching area, tetherball pole.....just a recreational area. Then the land raises again, and on the other side of that raise is a large (7 foot deep, probably 10 foot across) irrigation ditch/canal.

We had been on the back porch and all was well as we grilled our steak. We come in, and were in the process of eating, when our neighbor across the street yanked open our front screen and yelled "The hill is on fire!" Rick and I took off, and when I hit the garage I could see flames, he yelled that his wife called 911. So we grabbed shovels, and headed out there. It wasn't just our upper tier hill area---it was the entire block! We are the last row of homes. And each lot is minimally 1/2 acre. There was Patches of flame everywhere, and our huge cottonwood tree is flaming! The path up the side is lined with very unique drift wood type of logs, twisted, and shaped really cool.....but as you hit the top they are burning, our row of cherry and pear trees are burning. The side garden with cactus, and native grasses is in a huge blaze. Rick and Spence the neighbor took off and began spraying Water and shoveling dirt on the tree, and I hit the trail so we would not get fire blocked in, almost caught my own hair on fire!!! Finally we heard the sirens, and the volunteers started showing up. There are no hydrants back there, but they rigged some pumps into the ditch, and began knocking down some of the flames.

We lost the entire ditch bank.....several trees, and all our landscaping, likely our big tree.....it burned through some lower limbs and they are up there sawing them now. Still spraying hot spots. I come down when the fire dept got here, and filled a laundry basket with files holding our birth certificates, marriage license, titles, land deeds, CD papers.....everything in the file cabinet I thought important. Grabbed the portable hard drives with our pictures and music. And stashed it in the car so if the fire jumped to the yard we could get out.

The main part of my back yard, the grassed area, with the swingset etc. in it, is ok. We have huge rainbirds spraying it down now, and the oscillating sprinkler on the roof of the house. But the hillside, our property extension looks to be a complete loss. Ours as well as neighbors. Will know more in the morning, when it is light enough to see.

I went out and listened a minute ago, and they have quit spraying. They are now letting it sit, for 20 minutes, then will hit it with a fine mist to see if they raise any hot spots. The fire marshall told me our big tree would likely smolder for a week! He said he fully believes he will be back out here before morning, it will likely re ignite.

It just makes me sick! It scared the hell outta me, not just the fire, but Rick and my Dad----they saw the smoke as they headed home from dinner out! They were up there in the midst of it all shoveling dirt on flames 12 foot high! But this is a small town with a strictly volunteer dept. and this fire was a block long and spreading fast! The neighboring volunteer units eventually showed up, and it was finally controlled.

My stuff is still in the car, and Rick has set his cell alarm to go off every 90 minutes so he can go check on things if the fire dept leaves.

I cannot imagine sleeping at this point.

I keep thinking of things that were up there......gardening tools, wheelbarrows, water pump.....thousands of dollars worth of fencing, and edging. My dog and cat are buried up there, with little markers......so much is gone. But our house is not and we are not!

The neighbor got his dogs and chickens down and safe....so nothing that way was lost----it was all replaceable things.

It stinks soooooooo bad. We cannot run the AC (swamp coolers are what we use here) because it pulls in outside air, and the air is filled with smoke and nasty. I have hit my inhaler 3 times so far. Blew my nose while I was waiting my turn in the shower, and it was black! So if my nose had that I know my lungs do, I was running up and down the hill and shoveling till I was breathing hard. Thank God I am in better shape than I was! I did not do a lot, but I saved our pathway in and out.

Will take some pics tomorrow.....

Sorry for rambling on so, I am totally wired, still shaking. Looking around for Rick and seeing him just in relief --- black in front of a wall of orange fire is a scary thing!

Kat

[janiebug 0]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!!!!!

How Scary Kat!!!! Can't imagine!!

It is my once a month meeting where I feel I get up at the crack of dawn!

Have a good day!!

[TracyK 3]

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!

:party:

[TracyK 3]

Kat-how are things this morning? So sorry you all had to go through that....I can not even imagine the fear!

[TerriDoodle 6]

((((Kat))))) I am so sorry, honey. What can I say that would make things any better? I just know from where I sit, I am just very, very grateful that nobody was hurt and you didn't lose your house. I am so very sorry that you lost all that hard work that went into landscaping your hill. I know it's impossible to think of it all being gone...and how sad it is. Things would have been 1000x times worse if that fire had started when you were gone (which you are quite often). You owe every single firefighter a banana nut bread or something! Sounds like they did a great job.

I'm sorry, Kat. Let me know if there is anything I can do. In the meantime, I'll try to think of something meaningful. Let us know what all you lost that maybe we can help you replace.

((((I'm sorry)))))

[Suziecat 379]

Happy Birthday, Michelle. And Many More.

[Suziecat 379]

Kat, My heart was pounding while I was reading that story. How scary for you and your family and neighbors. I've been thru a fire before and it just chilled me to read your post. Thank God that no one was hurt or killed. That's the most important thing. Keep us posted and if there is anything you need, please let us know. Somehow we will figure out how to help. Purple power to you and all the volunteers.

[TracyinKS 7]

HOLY COW KAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so glad you and yours are OK! What a scarey thing.... HUGS!

Happy Bday MICHELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mdrai 3]

Good Morn, Vi's~~

Yep, it's my b'day today... when I post this, I guess I'll see "age: 45" on the post... bleh. That just sounds "old" to me... I mean, I could rationalize & pretend away the other lower 40s numbers... but now I'm closer to 50 than 40! Yikes!

Thanks for the wishes!! I wish we could all get together for some birthday revelery -- now THAT would be a fun birthday!!

I am doing only what I want to do today... so no work -- yay!! DD & I are going to Target (see, I'm so exciting now that I'm old)... then meeting a friend at 'Bucks... then going for lunch @ my fav salad place... then going to my mom's for dinner w/the whole family... ds, dh, dd, my mom, my cousin... Oh! & somewhere in there I'll redeem my coupon for FREE ICE CREAM @ Coldstone... cuz' b'day cream has no calories!! (hee hee) (anyone else notice a disturbing trend in my plans for the day???...)

Make it a great day, everyone!!

[TracyK 3]

WARNING! WARNING!

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TASTE A Thin Mint Blizzard!!!!!!!! :eek:

(I've had 4 over the last week)

:cool2: :tt1::eek::tt2::tt1::wub::jaw::eek::tt1:

[mdrai 3]

Ack! Yep, there it is!

Age: 45

[Haydee 2]

Morning girls!! Whew, what a busy 4 day weekend I had... I gotta go and catch up real quick... i'll be back...

[mdrai 3]

((KAT!))

I am so glad that you, Rick, & your home are safe. I can't imagine the fear you must've been feeling!! Do they know what caused it??? Sending you calming purple vibes, dear friend!!