It's my second day back at work since the end of my vacation. We never ended up going anywhere during my time off. The funeral went well on Saturday. The reception was very hot outside, but was very nice overall. Saturday night we agreed to let Zach stay the night at our place and play games etc. We watched Black Sheep and all fell asleep quickly. Sunday Zach stayed until about 4:30pm before we took him home. It's felt good to be back at work and I've been getting quite a lot done, though I've still got quite a lot to do. I'm planning on taking some more time off next month and hopefully we can get out of Stockton a bit more.

Man, what a crazy fuckin month. Eighmee's sister Susie had some recurring complications due to her bout with cancer which landed her back into St. Joseph's hospital early this month. Things got worse and she was transfered to UC Davis medical center. Family and friends were abundant there. I went with Eighmee there, and we spend the majority of the weekend of the 10th through the 12th and watched her condition continue to worsen until we ultimately lost her in the mid-morning of Sunday, September 12th. Everyone was in shock as we all thought she'd been out-of-the-woods for weeks.

I'd previously put in for Thursday 16th through the 26th off as we'd made plans to go to Washington for Mike Lockwoods wedding. We had hotel reservations and he was very excited we were going to be there for him but with funeral arrangements and the general condition of the family the trip was just impossible.

We've been spending a lot of time with Eric and her family, and Eighmee and I have been spending a lot of time with her parents separately too. There have been many gatherings at Eric's for funeral reception preperation, and we've been trying to do what we can to help. The funeral will be tomorrow, Saturday the 25th. Earlier this week we picked up her parents in Valley Springs and toured the area to see the wilderness fire damage from early this month. We went to the Folsom Antique Plaza and had a good time.

The Sunday after the funeral, we've made plans to go with her parents on a trip to Yosemite for the day. It's been the one thing I've really wanted to do on my "vacation", and have really wanted to do since I lost my dad. So hopefully it'll be a nice healing trip for all of us.

Okay, I'm gonna leave it at that to avoid getting into the endless details this month has washed upon us, so until next time...

Man, I have had enough with fire. Wednesday I got home from work. Eighmee and Ryan were going to head to the mall since it was Sean's birthday. Around 7 p.m. we heard some commotion going on outside, and we figured "just the neighborhood kids on their bikes". But it was wasn't moving, and it was loud. I looked out the blinds and heard people yelling across the street. I saw people running about, but couldn't see well from the glare from the sun on the window. I walked outside and down the steps, and immediately saw the condo directly across the street from us... well, the roof was on fire. I ran back inside to alert Eighmee and Ryan who came running out. Someone had been driving by and saw it and alerted a neighbor. The condo that was on fire was uninhabitted, but the adjacent condos were all lived in. No one was home at the one next-door, so the neighbors had forced open his garage door and rescued his pets and motorcycles. There was a white MPV minivan in the driveway, and the guy who'd stopped broke it's window and rolled it back into the street. Just then the third condo over, the old lady who lived there came running out hysterical. A older guy who'd been rescuing the pets came walkingo out into the street says, "has anyone called 911", looking at me. I'd see a lady on my side of the street on her cordless phone the whole time, so I pointed at her. She acknowleged she'd called for help. Only probably three minutes passed from the time I walked outside and the first fire truck arrived a small Dodge Durango. By the time he appeared, the fire had already completely spread to the second condo over (the one with the pets, motorcycles and van). Within seconds there was a ladder truck, 4 fire trucks, a medic, a Fire Command Center van, and cops blocking traffic.

The first thing they did was soak the old ladys condo, and cut into her attic to make sure it hadn't caught fire. It was safe, and she visibly calmed down a bit. Most likely, the fire started from an AC unit that was being installed earlier that day on the first condo, as the fire appeared to come directly from the roof. The firemen began drenching the roof from all angles. The interior of the garage of the second condo began to glow orange, and flaming debris began to fall from the roof of the garage. Within seconds, the entire roof of the garage fell in. The firemen moved in and used the now gaping hole into the attic to directly battle the fire. It reportedly took about 40 minutes to get the fire out.

It started getting dark, and they kicked on the generator on the ladder truck. The flood lights made it like day outside. A huge crowd had formed this whole time, and by now Eighmee, Ryan and I had moved back inside, opened the blinds and watched from the window. After it was under control a few of the large fire trucks left, and were replaced by a couple smaller fire pick-ups. Probably with fire inspectors, etc. Most of the remaining firemen were there until about 11 p.m. investigating the fires and interviewing the residents.

One truck with two firemen stayed all night to watch over the people's belongings until morning.

Reporters from the Stockton Record were there, and an article was published on their website:
http://recordnet.com/articlelink/090904/news/articles/090904-gn-1.php

I've archived this article here:
Recordnet Condo Fire Archive

I got home from work yesterday around 5:30. Eighmee was catching some Zzzz's after spending the day with her mom. About 20 minutes later her mom called saying the power was out in Valley Springs, and they saw smoke on the horizon. She asked that we turn on the TV and keep an eye out for news about any fires in the area. I didn't see anything immediately on the KCRA channel, but checking their website showed the headline, "Wildfire Burns Homes in Calaveras County". Just then coverage came on TV, showing helicopter video footage; at that time 1,500 acres and 5 homes had been lost. Checking www.MyMotherLode.com showed detailed information on roads evacuated, and road / highway closures in the area. It was very close to their house. We tried repetitively to contact Eighmee's parents, but it wasn't until about 45 minutes later Paula called here. After relaying the information we decided to head up to offer helping hands if they happen to need help with evaculating. Andrew and Ryan had come over and decided to come with us. We hit numerous road blocks on the way up, but Eighmee's acute knowlege of the back roads there eventually got us there. We found her parents at the top of their court. The fire was visible about two miles out heading toward a ridge. A thick black and white smoke plume was on the horizon with a vivid orange glow near the ground. Wind was blowing directly toward us from the direction of the fire, and the smell of smoke was heavy. Several hours later the wind had luckily died down, but the fire had visibly reached the top of the ridge and begun expanding quickly arcoss the ridge creating a wall of bright orange and white smoke. Periodically you'd see a large tree go up, or hear the pop of explosions in the distance. It was getting dark, extremely dark being without power. The moon was out and very bright against the black sky. Though the fire was no closer, it's expance was daunting, and made us decide to start spraying water. Each of us with flash light, and hose in hand began doucing the hillside, and culverts across the front of the property. The smell of wet grass was now apparent. After an hour or so, around midnight, we pulled out chairs to the driveway and the road to continue to monitor the fire. Though binoculars the firefighters could be seen digging, and running about. They'd beat down one wall of fire, get in their trucks and run to another flare up. Over the next few hours they began to take control. Leaving only individual fire spots across the horizon. By 3 a.m. the orange glow had almost completely dimenished. We were all helluva tired, piled into the car and headed home.

I worked till about 7 yesterday, went home and went for a run. Andrew and Ryan came over and went to Best Buy during my run. She bought The Passion of Christ on DVD. Pat came over later one and Eighmee made some chili-cheese dip w/ Freetos, and we watched several more episodes of the Apprentice. Or rather they did while I mostly played FarCry nearby. :o)