One Week Later

It's hard to believe it's been a week since the fires started, but things are slowly starting to get back to normal. I'm back at work today, after having been off all last week since they closed our office. The timing worked out well stress-wise, though, since John and I had to deal with all the inspections/repairs necessary to get the house ready for closing.

The Chargers played yesterday, and despite what some folks said about how they shouldn't have held the game, I think it was the best thing they could've done for the city. As of today, the largest of the fires, the Witch Fire, burned 197,990 acres and is 90 percent contained.

John began driving to California two hours after closing on Friday, and as of today he and Xander have made it as far as Odessa, Texas (yes Dad, we know there's a Waffle House there!). :-)

We ended up needing only two ReloCubes from ABF for all our stuff.


One Full ReloCube
Picture by John

My mom came by and did a final look at it all.


The Other Full ReloCube with Mother Kate
Picture by John

John gets here on Halloween night. Woo hoo!

ps - In a fit of being bored this week, I went down to The Salon (the place I used to go to get my hair cut when I live in California before) and went blond. Hee hee!

Closing Time...

"Closing time...every new beginning comes
from some other beginning's end."
- Semisonic



I got up at 5:45 a.m. PT this morning. Why, you ask? It's CLOSING TIME! We closed on our house in Philly this morning at 9 a.m. -- Eastern Time! So, with the time difference, I had to be ready to talk coherently at 6 a.m.

I'm very happy to report that John and I officially no longer own a home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I am going to miss the house, because it was our first and we put so much time and heart into it. Having said that, I'm so happy we finally sold it -- John and Xander are going to be here in five bednights! :-)

Here are some pics of the residence formerly known as Casa DeFrias:

Witch Fire - Pt. 4

Evacuations are being lifted for much of San Diego County, and people are slowly beginning to return to their homes. There are still 11,000 staying down at Qualcomm, but when you see them on the news their spirits are high. It seems we've learned from previous natural disasters about how to take care of displaced evacuees (see Civility Reigns at Qualcomm Stadium), and one of the best resources in all of this was the Reverse 911 calls that went out (thanks to Happy for the link).


Courtesy of NASA

The above image is the satellite view of the fires in San Diego and the rest of Southern California. Here are the overall San Diego County fire totals as of 7:45 a.m. PT:
- Almost 300,000 acres burned
- 560,000 total number of people evacuated
- 50,000 have been able to return home
- More than 1,350 structures destroyed

The largest of the fires, Witch Fire, is about 20% contained as of right now, but the stretch of the damage is overwhelming:
- 198,170 acres burned
- 20% contained
- 1,061 homes destroyed
- 62 homes damaged
- 239 cars burned

All San Diego schools and most companies (including mine) are staying closed all this week. The media coverage on the local stations has been 'round the clock, to the point where we've turned it off just to have a mental break. Some of the stations began showing their regular shows last night, which gave us something else to look at.

Race for the Cure

I recently accepted the challenge to raise funds to support the Komen San Diego Race for the Cure on November 4, 2007 in the fight against breast cancer.



My mother is a breast cancer survivor, and I have had friends battle it as well (battle the disease, not my mother). I am participating in the Race (and by participating, I mean walking, of course) with the hopes of raising as much money as possible to provide for research programs. This is my first time as a walker (I know - it's about time!) so I've set a high goal for myself (and by myself, I mean you, my friends and family who are donating your hard-earned money).

You can visit my personal page to donate if you'd like. Thank you for all your support!

The House is Habitable!

John called at 6:10 a.m. PT and said, "Would you like a U&O permit for breakfast?" The inspector came over first thing this morning to re-inspect our house, looked at all the changes we made, and deemed our home up to code.

This comes on the heels of getting our heater and chimney certs yesterday, so now we just have to hurry up and wait for closing tomorrow. Yay!

Witch Fire - Pt. 3 / In the Middle of It All

Witch Fire

The sky outside our house in San Marcos is blue today, which is deceiving since the rest of the county is still burning. The 5, which is the main artery from San Diego to Orange County/Los Angeles, is closed at Camp Pendleton due to controlled burnings (they expect it to open up later this morning).


Courtesy Union-Trib.com

There are about 12,000 evacuees down at Qualcomm Stadium now, and Anderson Cooper was interviewing people and describing the scene as "Qual-calm". The Governor's come down to talk to San Diegans and apparently the President's coming tomorrow.

I got a call from my boss last night telling me that work's going to be closed for the rest of the week. That's good, since they're still asking folks to stay off the roads unless you absolutely have to be on them. They've also opened up the office for anyone who's been displaced (like many companies have). So if you've been evacuated, you have another option of a place to go. One of our director's lives in Ramona, all of which was evacuated, and we haven't heard about him yet, while another director was displaced from his 4S Ranch home and is staying in a hotel down in Mission Valley.

All in all, we're pretty lucky up here in San Marcos; the fire hasn't spread over the hill and into our neighborhood. Yesterday they said they were evacuating parts of Solana Beach, so I called the place we're renting from to see how they were doing, and the owner said everything was okay there.

In the Middle of It All

While this is going on, my husband, John, and I are trying to coordinate a cross-country move from Philadelphia to San Diego. With him in Philly. And me in SD. As I type this, he's packing up the two ABF moving ReloCubes (think PODS but way cheaper). Here's a pic of it from their site:


Courtesy upack.com

Here's the two John's packing up with the help of friends:


Cube #1 - pic by John


Cube #2 - pic by John

So the latest is that Petro certified our heater yesterday, after the tech guy worked on it for three hours. Major props to Pat, the heater cert assignment lady at Petro, for working with us on all this. We're waiting on Keystone to come do the chimney cert this morning.

Everything's so 11th hour right now since closing is less than 48 hours away, so it's stressful on both John and I. Here we were thinking that after the buyer's inpsection things would just flow to the closing, but things (expensive things) just keep popping up, like the Township inpsection ($1200 in repairs), the heater ($160), the chimney ($100), etc.

Again, we know there are costs associated with the house selling, but still, these are all things that should have been fixed two years ago before We just keep trying to focus we moved in to the house. We've chosen to kind of accept it and move on, but our mothers are still spitting bullets.

His mom: "You should write a letter to their boss and the mayor and send them the bill!"

Mine: "I'd like to be at the house when the Township inspector comes back so I ask him why all this passed two years ago."

We just asked that the latter wait until AFTER he passes the house before she opens her mouth. :-)

Witch Fire - Pt. 2

Due to the Witch Fire, the ticker at the bottom of the news screens reads:

"Evacuations are north of the 56 to south of Del Dios highway; from West of I-15 to the ocean."

Evacuation...from West of I-15 to the ocean.

To the ocean. There's no western boundary for the fire now, except the water. That's just crazy.

At this point, over 300,000 people have beeen evacuated, and many have gone to stay with friends and family in other parts of San Diego, with some going up to Orange and L.A. Counties. About 4,500 people are down at Qualcomm Stadium, and still others have fled to hotels at the beach thinking they'd be out of harm's way.

Unfortunately, as you read above, that turned out to not be 100% accurate.

The seven confirmed fires are still going. I pulled a fire map of San Diego County that KPBS posted. The yellow is the voluntary/mandatory evacuation areas, and the orange/red is where the fire is burning:


Courtesy KPBS.org

Here's one of our area in North County (I drew a black dot where we are in San Marcos):


Courtesy KPBS.org

There's just so much going on right now...we haven't had to evacuate yet here in San Marcos. There were two fires near our home yesterday, but they've been contained. My sister-in-law and her family had to evacuate their home in Poway yesterday, so they have come up here to stay with us. So far, it looks like her house should be fine.

As some of you know, John and I are renting a place near the water in Solana Beach, right above Del Mar. According to the news folks, that's exactly where the Witch Fire is expected to burn out to. (If you look on the second map above, see where the left tip of dark orange is pointing toward a green horse? We are going to live a block above the green horse.)

We're the lucky ones, though. All our stuff is still in Philadelphia. If we have to rent another place due to the fire, we can. The 1,500 families who's homes have been destroyed aren't so lucky.

I have to give credit to our officials here in San Diego. The evacuations have gone so smoothly, and firefighters and police officers are doing such an amazing job. The news has done a fantastic job of keeping us up to date. The outpouring of volunteers and people who just want to help has been wonderful.

That is the San Diego I know and love.

It's hard to believe, though, that I'm still getting calls/emails from people who are asking, "Hey, I heard today you had some fires?" I'm in shock, because so much is burning here in the whole entire county, but I find out from another one of my sisters-in-law that apparently Entertainment Tonight covered the Malibu fire. Wow. All of San Diego is burning, yet the news...I should stop.

It's okay, because I just turned on CNN and the San Diego fires are getting coverage.

Again, we're okay here, haven't had to evacuate yet. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, and positive thoughts.

UPDATE AS OF 12:07 P.M. PST:Susan and Mark have been cleared to return to their home in Poway - yay! Their home is now out of the fire evacuation zone. :-)

Witch Fire - Pt. 1

First of all, yes, I'm okay. My neighborhood hasn't been evacuated yet.


Pics by me

Most people who have either visited or lived in San Diego know what a pain the Santa Ana winds can be. I lived in San Diego for five years (1999-2003), and the most damage they've ever done to me is kick up my allergies into super-high gear.

Yesterday, I went to Disneyland with my BFF Michael and a few others, and the Santa Anas were so intense the palm trees were blown sideways. As I drove home, I realized I desperately needed a shower, because my body was covered in dirt and debris. As I drove back down the 5, I turned on the radio and heard that a fire was burning in San Diego. They didn't think it was going to be as bad as the Cedar Fire of 2003.

I got on the 78 to head home to San Marcos, and as I came around the last bend on the freeway, I could see a bright orange haze on the horizon in the distance. I turned on the news when I got home, and after showering I stayed up a little longer to listen. Turns out this fire could very well be worse than the Cedar Fire.

I received a voicemail from my boss this morning informing me our corporate headquarters were going to be closed today. I knew at that point things were serious. I called my husband back in Philly to tell him I was okay. I then called my sister-in-law, who lives in Poway to see if she'd been evacuated. She's still in her house as of right now, but many homes west of the 15 are being evacuated to Qualcomm Stadium. My friend Tammie's in Escondido, and some of her husband's family has been evacuated and are staying at her house. All of Ramona has been told to leave. It got to the point last night that the 67 reversed its lanes so that all the residents could evacuate. It looks pretty bad.

When I got up this morning, I looked outside and saw this:







Here's the debris on our street from the Santa Anas:



So I grabbed my camera and began taking pictures. I went to Wal-Mart down the street to get some milk and water, and brought my camera with me. Here are some more pictures:







The news just said there are eight confirmed fires in San Diego. The Santa Anas aren't helping, as the winds are making it nearly impossible for firefighters to drop water on the fire. The craziest thing is, when I called my mom this morning to tell her I'm okay, her response was, "I thought there were only fires in Malibu." I guess as of 7 a.m. PST this morning the San Diego fires weren't national yet. Crazy. Cause the view out my window as I type this is a pink, grey, dark sky.

The Joy of Selling

So I technically currently live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (even though I'm working in San Diego) -- and any government official will quickly correct you that PA is a commonwealth, not a state. As such, they have quirky silly little things that other places don't have, like things called "Use and Occupancy Inspections" (U&O).



So even though I'm working in San Diego, my amazingly awesome husband stayed behind in Bucks County until the house sold. Well, closing is Friday, October 26th, and then he'll drive out here with Xander. But back to my story - in pretty much any other state, if you sell a house, the buyer has the option of having an inspection done, which goes something like this:

Inspector: Hi, I'm going to go over the house with a fine tooth comb and charge you $125 to do it because you have rose-colored glasses on and cannot possibly see all the bad things that are wrong with this house you're about to sink the next 30 years of your life into.

Buyer: Wow, good point. Mr. Inspector, what's up with the house?

Inspector: Well, Buyer, here's an 18 page list of things wrong with it.

then

Buyer: Dear Seller, here's a laundry list of things we'd like you to fix before we buy it.

Seller: Dear Buyer, stick it up your butt, you're getting a great deal on the house. We'll fix three of them.

Buyer: Thank you.

Again, in most states, that's how it goes. But not, my friends, in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Here, you see, we have to have another inspection done by the Township. They come out and look over the house again with a finer tooth comb, and then they give you a list of what they want fixed.

Strike that last part...they give you a list of what you HAVE to fix. Like, fix or they won't let you sell the house. They'll decree it unfit to live in unless you fix it. Apparently, in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it's not okay to just have handrails on your steps. They have to be up to code. And I get that crap, because I worked in insurance and I know all about liability, blah blah blah. Here's the thing: we only bought the house two years ago. And it passed inspection two years ago.

Freakin'. Passed. Inspection.

Same handrails. We didn't change them, we didn't touch them. Nada, nothing, zilch. The same handrails that two years ago passed U&O were deemed yesterday to be wrong enough to fail us. Same. Handrails. And before any of you smart-types add a comment below and say, "Well, code could've changed in two years" the answer is no, it didn't.

How do I know? Because I talked to two code administrators at the Township today and they assured me code had NOT changed in the past two years. In fact, it hasn't changed in the past 40 years.

I asked, then, how the hell the handrails passed inspection two years ago and not now. Their response? "Well, Mrs. DeFrias, all we can tell you is that the inspector must have missed that when he did the inspection two years ago."

I'm sorry, but what?! I get that maybe they'd miss an electrical outlet behind a dresser, or a smoke alarm behind a beam, but a handrail that you have to hold on to as you climb the stairs to the second floor?! So now we have to shell out nearly $1,000 (that's on top of the money we spent on the buyer's other requests -- but she really was a doll through the whole process so far) to get all the handrails in our house, on our deck, and to the basement fixed. Because if we don't fix it, the Township will deem our house uninhabitable and we will legally not be allowed to sell it.

Oh, and did I mention we have 6 days to do it because closing is Friday, a mere week from right now?

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania my ass.

On the blog again...

So I've been reading my friends blogs for a while now, and I find myself intrigued by all the great things they're saying. I also get to learn about cool new things, like organic food and the CSAs they come from. In fact, I read the blogs more than I read the news...to the point that I have begun telling my other friends they need to blog about their lives -- mostly because they're lives are funnier than mine and I like to laugh.

Sure enough, one of them, Coreen, took me up on it and now the Greater Good gets to read The Adventures of Captain Fussypants & Caleb the Wonder Dog. Coreen's a long-time friend, one-time writer of mine back in my ScoopMe days, and a great scribe with a sharp wit.



I highly recommend her blog about the joys of being a new mommy.

Now that I'm living 3,000 miles from my family (again), I also figure this'll be a good way to keep them in the loop of what's going on. Will people read? Eh, who knows. At least I know Aunt Kathy will check this space regularly.