Cousin Noah!

Last weekend Justin's cousin Noah was in town camping with his girlfriend and her family and friends. We met up with them at the campground about 10 minutes north of Santa Barbara. Noah was an usher in our wedding but we haven't seen him since we got married! It was good to see him and fun hanging at the campground. Here's a pic of the three of us:

Aunt Rachael

Congratulations to Abby and Kyle on their new bundle of joy! Ryan Steven Gripp was born yesterday evening around 8:00 PM. Sounds like the new mom was a trooper and the new baby is happy and healthy! We can't wait to meet the new addition to the Gripp family!!

Speaking of which... TWO DAYS!!!!

Here are some things that I am looking forward to in IC/Davenport: (these are NOT in any particular order, BUT number 1 does happen to be the best part!)
1. My awesome family (Both Brummers AND Clarks)
2. Meeting my new nephew
3. Sleeping in an airconditioned house
4. Thunderstorms
5. Green grass
6. Brueggers
7. Mani/pedi with my mom and Megs
8. BIX!!
9. Playing games with the fam
10. Downtown IC
11. The Vine
12. Harris Pizza.... or maybe Happy Joe's Taco Pizza?
13. Burgers on the grill (I'm talking to my dad here!!)
14. Margaritas and Sea Food Vera Cruz at Carlos'

I think I just gained a couple of pounds just THINKING about all the food I'm looking forward to eating! If you're in Iowa and you're reading this- get ready for some good times!!!

50% Contained- Hooray!

50 % contained now! Looking good- except for this:

35% Contained

The firefighters have had a productive couple of days and the fire is now 35% contained. Several of the mandatory evacuations have been downgraded to warnings and people have been able to go back home! We were not evacuated and don't anticipate having to be. They still say the potential for the fire to spread is there and that the hot weather we are expecting in the next couple of days could make things worse. I don't want to jinx it BUT for now, it looks like we are out of the woods, so-to-speak.

The air is so much better today- it's not "snowing" ash anymore- thank goodness. We haven't lost power yet today, but we did for a couple of hours yesterday. Thankfully the firefighters have really done a good job protecting homes and it sounds like there have been zero fatalities due to this fire. Santa Barbara and Goleta residents are extremely grateful to our hard-working firefighters!

I'll post if things get worse but we're praying for continued strength for the firefighters and that the weather would stay favorable for their work.

Here's another map that shows the fire in relation to us:

Fire Update

Fire Location

Here's a map from the news website that I doctored a little bit to give an idea of the fire location:

It's basically raining ash right now outside our apartment. I stepped outside for less than 5 minutes and my hair was full of ash when I came back in. It gets in your eyes and mouth- it's pretty gross. The air quality is really bad- it feels like you're breathing in campfire smoke. So far it looks good for us- we don't think we have much of a chance of evacuating. We lost power for about 2 hours tonight but it's back up now (Yay- I can blog!)

Holy Smoke!

The smoke is getting bad- these are shots right outside our apartment.... It's freaky how the smoke looks like scary clouds- like we're about to have a storm- but no, it's smoke.

FIRE!!

So, last night Anita (Justin's mom) asked Justin if we were anywhere near the forest fires. He responded that no, they're all up north- hours from us. About an hour later we were walking out of the grocery store and noticed that up in the mountains we could see....you guessed it... a forest fire. I couldn't get very good pictures last night (too dark) but I took a couple today. There is so much smoke and ash that you can't see flames right now but here is a status update from our news source website:

GAP Fire Update: (they're calling it the "GAP Fire" I think b/c it occurs in a gap between two peaks)

FIRE STATS, RESOURCES AND CURRENT STATUS
FIRE STATS:
Acres burned: 260 Acreage increase (last 12 hours):
Fireline to build: unknown
Date started: 07/02/2008 5:45 p.m.
Percent contained: unknown
Expected containment: unknown
Injuries: 0
Structures threatened: 200
Structures destroyed: 0
Suppression cost to date: unknown

RESOURCES:Crews: 7 Engines: 20 Helicopters: 4 Air Tankers: 4 Dozers: 16 Total Personnel Assigned: 350

CURRENT STATUS: The Gap Fire started in the West Camino Cielo area late yesterday afternoon, 4 miles west of State Highway 154 and 3.5 miles north of Goleta, CA in the Los Padres National Forest. • Fire is burning in 30-50 year old heavy chaparral fuels (15-20 feet tall), in extremely steep and rocky terrain. Winds out of the north (slight “sundowner” winds) last night pushed the fire downslope to the south at a moderate rate of spread. During the early hours of the fire, spotting occurred ahead of the fire and flame lengths of 10-30 feet were reported.• This afternoon the fire is making a push to the south and is experiencing extreme fire behavior. • Firefighters on the ground, during daylight hours, are aided by fixed wing air tankers and water-dropping helicopters. In addition to the firefighting resources already engage, many additional engines, crews and other equipment are route.

EVACUATIONS:

• A MANDATORY evacuation is in place for residents in Glen Annie Canyon and La Patera Canyon (in the canyons proper).

• An evacuation WARNING is in place for areas above/north of Cathedral Oaks between Glen Annie Canyon and Fairview Avenue.

So, the evacuation warning is obviously precautionary- people in that area are advised to be ready to evacuate, if it becomes necessary. We are about 2 miles from the edge of that warning area- so we are not in any immediate danger.

Still, it's pretty crazy! Here are the shots I took this afternoon, including a crude video and an up-close picture of one of our bike seats - starting to be covered in ash. You can literally see the ash falling- it's pretty small but it's simliar to a very light snow flurry. So light that I can't capture it on film- but you get the idea.

All of the pictures are taken from outside the grocery store near our apartment (about 3/4 of a mile from our place) except for the one below, taken outside our apartment.

SWAMPED!!

The last two days have been the busiest ever for work! I feel exhausted when I get home because we are so busy with calls and emails etc. all day long! The good news is we got our car back and we only had to pay a little over half on our deductible! Hooray!

**If you didn't know, Justin crashed our car a couple of weeks ago (everyone was fine) and we were without a car for 13 days- major bummer!!

I can't believe how much I missed having a car. Then today, I get in it to drive to work and what do I hear on NPR?? The new cell-phone law goes into effect TODAY. No driving and talking on your cell phone unless you have hands-free. Argh!! I do most of my cell phone talking in the car! I know, I know, people always say it is dangerous. But I haven't been in a car accident since I was 16 and I certainly was NOT talking on a cell phone at the time!

Not much else going on here. I'm looking forward to the three day weekend this weekend- especially considering how busy it's been at work. I need some rest! We don't really have any plans but I know that they are having fireworks at the beach. Not surprisingly, several California cities have cancelled their fireworks- money and fire concerns. I think San Diego was actually one of them. I think I heard something like upwards of $40,000 will be saved by NOT having their city fireworks display. I think for $40,000 saved it would definitely be worth it- especially considering the state of things here in California! I mean seriously, they had to implement a law about driving and talking on your cell phone. Sure they say it was about safety, but I wouldn't be surprised if it brings in a lot of revenue for the state of California!

I gotta get back to the midwest.