Spin A Yarn for Ewe

Wow, has it been a long week. I think yesterday was one of the most emotionally draining days of my life. It was day 4 of the evacuation for my parents and grandparents and we were waiting for word if they could go back home. My mom and I started the day on the computer trying to get the most up to date information. The first trip was to her local fire department website. It said that they would hopefully be letting people back in later that day and they also had a list of homes destroyed. This was a list we had been looking at closely as there were homes destroyed all around my parents. As we scrolled down looking at a list that was much longer then the night before we came to her street. Their address was on it. I felt horrible as getting bad news this way just felt cruel and since I was running the computer I felt even more responsible. We hugged and cried for a while then pulled it together as we wanted to be SURE before we said anything to my grandparents. No need to upset them if it was wrong and since we had been told the house was okay the day before we sure were hoping it was. We spent the next few hours calling any one my parents knew in the area who might have access to the mandatory evacuated area to please, please drive by and look. We found 1 man through his wife who said that she would hunt him down and send him to the house. It took a few hours but then we got the call. He and another friend of my parents were on the property and the house was STILL THERE! It was very, very close (within a few feet) but the house was still there. The landscaping was burnt and quite a few of the trees gone but really it survived undamaged. A detached studio/garage/guest house had the patio cover burnt but that was all. Both of the men (they are on the fire protection board for the area) said that the reason the house survived other then the fact that 4 firemen risked their lives to save it was because of the landscaping my parents had. My parents are huge fans of xeriscape/succulent/cactus and that is one of the reasons the house survived. Hard to believe but true. Here is what happens to succulents in a fire.

Yes, that is the edge of the house in that one above.

Verus the palm trees that burned to nothing.


They are definitely poster children for this type of landscaping saving homes. The fire departments around here are always saying it works but it is hard to believe until you see it. She plans to take lots of pictures. They were all able to leave and go home yesterday afternoon. My grandparents home was very safe and never in harms way so they had power, water and phones as soon as they got home. My parents went home to a house with none of that but the fact that it was standing was all they cared about. They were told they would have power within a couple of days but within an hour of getting home it was on. They are so thrilled and hope to hunt down and personally thank the firemen who worked so hard to save their home and all the others around them. There are still fires burning around here and until they are all out we won't feel completely safe but for now we are breathing a sigh of relief.

I did do some knitting but chose the easiest thing I had going since any concentration was on other stuff and Hidcote is too close to finishing to mess up now. I am way farther along on Icarus then I thought I would be and I finished Clue 3 of the Secret Stole before this all started so I am ready to tackle Clue 4 which comes out today. Hard to believe it is Friday as the last 4 days just seem to have melded into one big long horrible day.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks so much for all the notes of support. It was nice to read them and know that others were out there thinking of us.