FIREFIGHTER OF THE YEAR 2008

Last weekend was the awards banquet and dinner for our fire department. It was a nice evening with friends. My husband was almost floored when they called him to the front to accept the award for "Firefighter Of The Year 2008" He was very surprised and honored to accept this as it is voted on by the whole department.

There was a thunderstorm that passed by last night and it started a fire in the hills very close to town. Very early to be dry enough to burn, we are all hoping that we don't have a repeat of last year's fires that burned all summer long and destroyed so much of the natural beauty around us and cost many lives.

The Magic of Fall

Like a curtain that has dropped is Fall. We were down in the valley for a week and when we came home fall beat us to it. The back porch was inches deep with leaves from the 60 year old pear tree. The days are shorter and the temperatures much cooler. The colors are just starting to change. The air feels different, fresher..........After a summer full of smoke from the forest fires it would.

My Dad had his 90th. surprise birthday. It was fun to see my whole family together, three new baby's and one more on the way and two new boyfriends. Families grow and change. Love is the glue that holds us all together through the laughter and the tears. Today my brother is having a huge party to celebrate BEING ALIVE. He is cancer free for one year. He is the bravest person I know, a strong and quiet man. Celebrate LIFE today....it is precious. Love, Diane

Beautiful Monday

As I go off to work I just wanted to wish everyone a beautiful MONDAY!! The forest fire is 100% contained...The smoke is still here from the fire over the hill that is still going. A very small storm passed by yesterday and dropped a little rain with it so that helped. I never thought rain would sound so good...Diane

Lime Complex Fire, Trinity County

Well we have been living in the smoke filled mountains for almost 4 weeks now. The fire fighters are amazing....They are well trained and diligent in their efforts. There have been very few injury's, no structures lost. The forest however has burned close to 140,000 acres. That is not counting the surrounding county's, Shasta Co., Butte Co. and on, and on in California. The president will be in Shasta Co. today and fly over our area and the fires here.

Our friend Fritz took these pictures. The first photo was taken Tuesday about 7:00 p.m. It was quite scary and only about 10 or 15 miles from our town. It looks like two large fires might burn together..I don't know what our forest will be like when this is over, or how long it will take to recover. I remember Yellowstone...new life starts in the spring, slow but sure the renewal comes.

GOD BLESS THE FIREFIGHTERS.....They leave their family's to protect us. We pray for their safe return.

4 x 4 Chunky Book Page & Lime Fire

Helicopter Base

It is still very smokey here and looks like most of these fires won't be out until the rains come. I took a few photos yesterday of the fire camp. They are all on my flickr site. So far no sign of the Marines.

http://flickr.com/ more photos.

I had fun making 4 x 4's yesterday. Her hat says enjoy the journey on metal tag. Happy Monday! Art On! Also played with my lighting again..I think I am getting something setup however I may have to invest in some more equipment...ugg