| Around 6pm we noticed a plume of smoke out in the hills. By
11pm, there was an orange glow in the distance. By 1am we could see
something like this from our front porch and started to pack up!
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| We spent what was left of the night at a hotel "way" down in Poway,
thinking that would be far enough away. The next morning this was
the view from the parking lot looking directly towards Ramona. By
checkout time, we noticed that the hills near the hotel were
starting to go, so we packed up and moved to a hotel even further.
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| "Daddy, I smell moke"
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| 
| Muir's had enough of smoke and fire... and none of us have had
enough sleep!
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| Driving back into the Estates, we saw this power pole that almost
survived. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, when asked if
he thought his legs were too long "Well, I think they're just
right... they reach from my body to the ground."
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| 
| Less than a mile from our home, this picture illustrates a
consistent theme throughout the estates -- the green belts
burned (notice the foreground and hills in the background) but
the firefighters
were able to save almost all of the houses in between!
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| Unfortunately, a few of them didn't survive.
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| 
| So, I was sitting at the end of Gunn Stage road about 1/2 mile from
the house trying to pick up messages on my cell phone when this
CDF guy walked up, knocked on the window and asked me to please
move my vehicle. Next thing I knew, this helicopter landed on
the street
to pick up two CDF guys and take them somewhere. Fortunately
Muir and Larkin were in the car at the time so they got to watch.
The CDF guys even waved to the kids as they were taking off.
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| The first day of the fire, there were no planes available to help
down here. By the second full day, Ramona airport was hopping!
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| Muir points to a DC4 tanker.
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| Muir stands in front of our favorite airplane, the OV-10A spotter
aircraft.
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| 
| Oh, by the way we're now a three-prius family, at least until
we find a buyer for my old one.
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| This is the view from our front porch. The fire burned up the
hill across the street and claimed one structure. Somehow, not a
single twig in our yard was burned.
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| I've never seen a cat riding a horse before.
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| Thanks to Aunt Jannie, we had an awesome Dinosaur for Halloween.
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| 
| The family visits the next door neighbors. "No candy for us,
thanks!!!"
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| Susan loves her owl.
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| 
| Muir and his tail, Larkin and her inseparable Woobie.
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| I'm ashamed to admit it, but I learned how to make these spiders
watching Martha Stuart when the networks finally decided the fires
weren't interesting any more and returned to their regular programming.
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| 
| Tired of her cat outfit, Larkin tries being a big-footed harmonica
player instead.
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